South Africa has completely fallen under the spell of Russia, China, and their satellites. Once, we were a reliable international partner, respectful of the international rules-based order, but that has now all changed, argues Pieter du Toit.
South Africa`s unhinged foreign policy unmoored from logic and reality, that is reached new levels of incomprehension last week during another vote related to Ukraine.
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for closer cooperation between the global body and the Council of Europe, an organisation established after the Second World War to protect and promote human rights. The text of the vote contained a paragraph in which it condemned `the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, and against Georgia prior to that`, and proceeded to emphasise the importance of human rights.
Out of the countries present, 122 voted yes, five voted no and 18 abstained. Surprisingly �` but correctly �` China, India and Brazil, all who have been either vocal in their support of Russia (or refused to condemn the invasion), voted yes.
South Africa, as has become its wont, abstained, alongside other countries which either abstained or voted no, like North Korea, Iran, Nicaragua, Russia (obviously), Belarus, and Cuba. All countries with an atrocious human rights record, on the periphery of global affairs, removed from any influence, and none considered an attractive investment destination.
But here we are, South Africa, aligned with these actors and further telling those countries that matter �` countries that have actual skin in the game �` to sod off. South Africa, is the refrain, will not be dictated to who its friends are. And Russia is a friend, as Naledi Pandor, our foreign affairs minister, has repeatedly said.
Tone has changed
Western diplomats in this country have basically given up on us. Initially, when our push to Beijing and Moscow was at its most earnest, they really tried to understand and even accommodate our drift towards totalitarian and repressive states. One senior envoy even said it won`t damage relations with our big trading partners and that it’s all part of global realignment that happens periodically. And anyway, he argued, good sense always prevails in the end. But that tone has now changed.
It is clear that South Africa, forever kvetching about what it is owed by the West, has taken an antagonistic

position towards its historic partners, simply for the stake of sticking it to Europe and the United States. And diplomats now recognise that, increasingly looking at what we say and how we conduct ourselves on the world stage with a shake of the head and a laugh. `What are you guys doing?` is the regular question.
South Africa, by deed and omission, has now firmly established itself as an intransigent friend of despots and dictators. It regularly welcomes Russian craft and military materiel to these shores, absolutely adores the attention by scoundrels like Sergei Lavrov (Pandor was giddy with excitement to meet him), and sees it fit to berate countries that actively invest in and support South Africa.
We have all of a sudden developed an enormous sense of entitlement, an attitude that has not gone unnoticed abroad. Meetings between South African ministers and counterparts from countries we now regard as adversaries �` despite those countries continuing to invest billions of dollars here �` are, as a matter of course, prefaced by declarations about what `the West owes us`.
One senior diplomat, from a country with deep historical ties to us, laughed when talking about getting some face time with the president or Pandor. It doesn`t happen, the plenipotentiary explained. Requests often go unacknowledged or are sneered at by South African officials, with many countries from `the West` regularly sidelined or ignored.
South Africa`s foreign policy is childish, self-defeating, and unsophisticated. It seemingly makes no provision for the sweep of history since World War 2, nor does it stay true to the human rights tenets in our Constitution. It certainly does not have the presence of mind to adapt to the changing geopolitical environment, nor does our government and its officials have the dexterity to reconcile principle with national interest.
We`ve completely fallen under the spell of Russia, China, and their satellites. Once, we were a reliable international partner, respectful of the international rules-based order, respected for our moral and ethical positions and sober-minded about which relationships we should invest time and effort in.
That`s now over. We`re now with the also-rans. What a pity. V.4820

There are fears that more people will be separated by the introduction of a minimum salary level for those wanting UK family visas. Families living in the UK and abroad have raised concerns about what new rules will mean for them as they try to reunite with foreign spouses. In December, the Home Office, which says migration to the UK is too high, announced a package of measures to reduce net migration, following a spike in arrival numbers. V.5318
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An Ethiopian asylum seeker, who does not speak English, claims he was duped by a senior immigration official into paying an admission of guilt fine when he thought he was paying for bail.Two Western Cape High Court judges have condemned the official`s `deplorable` behaviour, set aside the fine, and ordered the immigration official be taken off the case. Tsegaye Esyas claims Annelise van Dyk treated him like an animal which led to him attempt suicide while in police cells. V.5320
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EREMY MAGGS: I want to stay with crime now. Individuals with a criminal record may be faced with significant challenges when seeking employment, I think that’s a given. Here in South Africa, employers may legally exclude an applicant from consideration for a position if having a clean criminal record is what is termed an inherent requirement of the job. That phrase, inherent requirement, is important, but what exactly does that mean, and when can an applicant be lawfully excluded for having a criminal record? V.5321
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As a South African who has adopted a nomadic work lifestyle alongside my wife, Ingrid Lotze, I’ve been an interested observer of South Africa’s snail-pace digital nomad visa (DNV) development process. Despite the optimism surrounding its introduction, the visa seems to miss several crucial marks for digital nomads like us. V.5322
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DA MP says hours lost continue to result in persons being unable to collect their ID documents due to unmanageable queues The DA has been inundated with complaints that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) systems are offline, resulting in long queues and delayed processing of documents. Through questions posed to the Minister, the DA can now reveal that the DHA has lost over 77 years’ worth of working hours due to system downtime and load-shedding from 2019 to date. Concerningly, this data only relates to hours lost for the application of smart IDs, meaning decades more of working hours could have been additionally lost in other spheres such as passport or visa applications. V.5314
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Home Affairs’ seemingly endless court battles set the department back more than R110-million between April 2023 and the end of February this year. This was revealed in a written parliamentary response by minister Aaron Motsoaledi. He said the department accumulated a litigation bill of R117 692 996.3, higher than the R72 637 944.51 spent the year before. V.5315
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Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) this week revealed that Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) has achieved a ground-breaking milestone by processing more than 10 million passengers over a single financial year. This is the highest number of regional and international passengers processed since COVID-19 V.5316
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In recent years, South Africa has seen a significant influx of immigrants from various African countries, as well as other parts of the world. This has raised important questions about the country`s immigration policies and their impact on job creation for both locals and immigrants. The South African immigration system, like many other countries, is a complex and ever-evolving process that aims to balance the country`s economic needs with its social and cultural interests. Let`s take a closer look at how this system intersects with job creation in South Africa. The South African government implemented the Immigration Act of 2002, which outlines the country`s immigration policies and procedures. Under this act, foreigners are required to obtain a visa or permit to enter, work, or study in South Africa. The type of visa or permit required depends on the intended purpose of the individual`s visit and their country of origin. V.5312
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Due to system downtime and load-shedding, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) lost nearly 141,000 hours of Smart ID application and production time between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 financial years. Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed this figure in a recent response to questions raised in Parliament by Democratic Alliance MP Adrian Roos. Motsoaledi provided a breakdown of smart ID production and application hours lost to technical difficulties and load-shedding per province for each financial year from 2019/2020. These disruptions hit home Affairs offices in the Eastern Cape the hardest, with over 34,000 hours to rotational power cuts and system downtime. Mpumalanga offices lost the next-highest number of hours at 17 V.5313
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Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has said the public has shown great support for the final White Paper on citizenship, immigration and refugee protection which appeared in the Government Gazette on Wednesday. Briefing the media, he addressed what he saw as a long-overdue need to replace an outdated Citizenship Act, as well as enact proposed changes to existing legislation. V.5306
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