To many observers, South Africa’s position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not intriguing.
While the country professes to be “non-aligned”, Western diplomats and policy experts point to a series of actions they say prove otherwise.
Their list is long: South Africa abstaining from voting condemning Russia at the United Nations; hosting war games with the Russian Navy; repeatedly and publicly criticizing the United States; and even allegedly loading arms and ammunition onto a sanctioned Russian freighter.
This week, while many African leaders remain on the sidelines, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is attending a Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg along with top ministers.
The ruling party in South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC), has historic ties to the former Soviet Union, but that ideological legacy can usually only go so far.
Usually, money talks. And the US and European Union (EU) trade and aid relationship with South Africa far outweighs the relatively meager contribution of the Russian Federation.
So why is South Africa putting this important relationship at risk? Non-profit investigators from the AmaBhungane Center for Investigative Journalism and anti-corruption activists are looking for answers in an unusual place: the Kalahari Desert.
a lucrative relationship
Miles away from almost nowhere, a giant wall of earth looms over the undergrowth. It’s on the edge of an extensive mine for manganese, a crucial metal for making iron and steel.
The United Manganese of Kalahari (UMK) mines, of which this is one, are highly profitable and the company has close financial ties to sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Another big player in the mines – Chancellor House Holdings (CHH) – is an ANC-linked holding company.
For years, CHH hid its connection to the party, but after extensive investigative reporting by the Mail & Guardian newspaper and other media outlets in South Africa, the holding company confirmed the links in 2021, when political parties were required to start declaring large donations they receive publicly.
Its managing director, Mogopodi Mokoena, told CNN in a statement that Chancellor House is not a funding front for the ANC, but was created to “assist historically disadvantaged South African persons or entities”.
Mokoena is also chairman of the UMK mining group.
In recent years, the ruling party has been constrained by its financial challenges, at times struggling to pay its staff at its iconic central Johannesburg headquarters.
Based on publicly available records, it is the party’s biggest donor in recent years. If you add in contributions from Chancellor House, donations come to at least $2.9 million as of 2021.
In a statement sent to CNN UMK said their donations were all honest.
“Like many international democracies, including the US, the South African legal framework allows private individuals and organizations to make transparent donations to political parties. UMK’s donations comply in all respects with national laws,” the note read.
“Playing a Dangerous Game”
But in a country where the line between the ANC and the government is blurred at best, many here are concerned that South Africa’s foreign policy towards Russia could be affected by the connection.
“I think there is a growing concern that we are more aware than ever. That there may be foreign money of Russian origin that comes into South Africa but flows into different political coffers,” said Karam Singh, executive director of Corruption Watch, an influential non-profit anti-corruption group.
“I think this could have an absolute impact on how South Africa positions itself on certain policies.”
The ANC did not agree to an interview with the CNN despite repeated attempts over several weeks, has not yet provided a statement in response to the specific allegations made to her.
But the donations and links between Chancellor House and the ANC, Vekselberg and UMK troubled opposition leaders and Russia observers.
“I think South Africa is playing a dangerous game here and indeed sometimes politicians are putting the political party, the ANC, before the needs of the citizens because it just doesn’t make sense to be so closely associated with Russia when the stakes are so high and so much is at stake,” said Steven Gruzd, Russia and Africa analyst at the South African Institute of International Affairs.
The US has long treated South Africa with kid gloves, he said, conscious of not risking an important relationship.
Not so in recent months. In May, the US Ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety II, publicly criticized both the government and the ANC for their position on Russia.
In a briefing to local media, he made the charge that intelligence showed that the South African government had shipped weapons to Russia last December on a Russian-sanctioned freighter.
Authorities have denied anything was uploaded, but the claim is now subject to a sealed investigation by the South African government.
But Brigety also questioned the ANC’s persistent criticism of the US and its attitude towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“This is a question of the political orientation of a country’s ruling party and what that means as a party responsible for sending senior government officials to the government of South Africa,” he said.
Mokoena, managing director of Chancellor House, told CNN that the company has no say in ANC politics and that ANC policies depend on the party; he also denied that there was any conflict of interest. He added that the company’s donations to the ANC were transparent and unconditional.
Meanwhile, the presence of Ramaphosa and other African leaders at the St Petersburg summit this week underscores Russia’s importance to the continent and the failure of Western powers to isolate Putin.
The South African government has maintained that its “non-alignment” policy is just that, and that it is what is best for the country and the long-term prospects of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
He bristles at criticism from Western powers, but the recent announcement that Putin will not appear in person at a major BRICS summit in Johannesburg next month appears to have given the country an off-ramp.
If the Russian president had decided to come, it would have tested South Africa’s commitment to the International Criminal Court (ICC), as the ICC has an arrest warrant for Putin on war crimes charges.
long standing ties
The links between South Africa and Vekselberg are not new. Archive footage shows he was present in 2006 at a business forum in Cape Town, signing documents according to Putin looking over his shoulder.
The oligarch runs Grupo Renova, a booming entity with interests in a wide range of infrastructure and mining projects.
The US Treasury sanctioned Vekselberg in 2018 and again in 2022 for supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Spanish authorities and the FBI seized his $90 million yacht, Tango, on the Spanish island of Majorca.
But despite Western sanctions, Vekselberg still owns a significant stake in UMK, according to business records kept in Cyprus.
A CNN asked the Renova Group about Vekselberg’s involvement and possible influence on South African politics.
“The assumption of any influence by Renova is unfounded. There is absolutely no leverage over the ANC and no conflict of interest,” a Renova spokesperson responded in a statement, adding that he is an indirect minority shareholder in UMK.
Non-US companies can often avoid sanctions by reducing a sanctioned individual’s stake in a company to less than 50% and moving their assets into a trust structure.
Vekselberg and UMK appear to have done both, likely reducing the potential for repercussions from the US government.
“Long-term investors are fully entitled to their business interests in a private company,” UMK said in a statement to the CNN .
“Mr. Vekselberg is not a direct shareholder of UMK and does not exercise any management or ownership control over UMK.”
The allegations may not be enough to assuage the concerns of skeptical South Africans, or their dogged media, about the possible fallout from the country’s Russia policy.
“Risk investment, risk trade, risk jobs, risk economic growth, risk currency, risk isolation from the West. I think there’s a lot at stake here,” Gruzd said.
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Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
