South Africa Courts Iran

Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images

South Africa Courts Iran

Pretoria’s support of Tehran demonstrates its anti-democratic and anti-West leanings.

The South African anc-led government continues to show solidarity with Iran even as the West grapples with trying to stop the Islamic Republic from becoming a nuclear threat. In late January, South Africa’s parliament speaker visited Iran, voicing support for its nuclear program and calling for an expansion of relations between Pretoria and Tehran. Iranian officials also expressed a desire to enhance ties in all areas with South Africa, and for South African investors to be more active in Iran’s economic projects.

South Africa’s Speaker of Parliament Max Sisulu met with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Larijani, in Tehran on January 23. According to the Tehran Times, Larijani said “that the South African parliament speaker’s trip to Iran can pave the way for the expansion of relations between the two countries in the political, economic and parliamentary spheres” (January 24).

Iran’s finance and economic affairs minister, Shamseddin Hosseini, said trade between Iran and South Africa, currently at $150 million, must increase. “He said that the two countries will soon hold a joint economic meeting and an Iranian delegation plans to visit South Africa to review financial venues” (ibid., January 26).

In calling for an expansion of ties between the two countries, the South African Parliament speaker said “that Iran’s Islamic Revolution inspired the South African people in their struggle against apartheid. Mr. Sisulu also criticized the U.S. for applying double standards toward Iran’s nuclear energy program while turning a blind eye toward Israel’s nuclear activities, and said South Africa supports Iran’s right to have a peaceful nuclear energy program” (ibid.). Sisulu reportedly referred to America’s policy on Iran’s nuclear program as an “arrogant one.”

Iran’s irib reported that Sisulu “called Iran … a civilized and powerful country with plenty of capacities for growth …. He described Iran [as] a friend of African countries, especially South Africa ….”

South African Member of Parliament Ian Davidson, chief whip of the opposition Democratic Alliance, released a statement yesterday, asking, “Why is South Africa’s Parliament courting Iran?” Davidson confirmed Sisulu’s visit to the Islamic Republic at the invitation of Larijani, pointing out:

The visit coincided almost exactly with Iran’s execution of two opposition activists, convicted of “trying to topple the Islamic establishment” after they were linked to protests that took place last June, following the disputed Iranian presidential election. …The question is: Why is the speaker of South Africa’s Parliament visiting a country with such an appalling human rights record and, instead of speaking out against the obvious abuses, using it as a platform to attack the West? The answer is: because the anc, from Zimbabwe through to Iran, has always placed a country’s historic ties with its liberation cause above any other consideration; and so principle has been subverted by political solidarity and our international reputation on human rights reduced to nothing more than empty rhetoric and meaningless gestures.

Davidson notes that President Jacob Zuma is continuing the same policies as his predecessor Thabo Mbeki, who “ensured that South Africa’s international reputation as a champion of human rights was fundamentally tarnished by its approach to Zimbabwe and its conduct in the United Nations.”

South Africa has consistently sided with Arab and Muslim entities, and against American and Israeli interests, in the UN.

“It appears that Jacob Zuma’s administration has picked up exactly where Mbeki left off and that, as has been the case for years, party political consideration trump our legislated commitment to human rights,” Davidson stated.

South Africa has in fact been courting radical regimes and turning its back on the West since the African National Congress (anc) gained power back in 1994. In September 1996, President Mandela honored a visit by Iranian President Rafsanjani with a 21-gun salute. Before coming to power, the anc, together with the South African Communist Party (sacp), forged close relations with countries such as Libya, Cuba, Morocco, Russia, Indonesia and Iran. “It would indeed be naive to assume that those who financed the anc/sacp struggle … would not be repaid with valuable political and economic agreements,” we wrote back in 1999.

This is precisely what is happening with Iran.

The Economist reports:

Iran has for many years supplied South Africa with a lot of oil. But economic ties have tightened. Private South African companies are investing heavily in Iran. For instance, mtn, a mobile phone company, invested $1.5 billion-plus in Iran in 2007-08 to provide coverage for more than 40 percent of Iranians. In return, South Africa has been one of Iran’s doughtiest supporters at the UN, abstaining on a resolution to condemn Iran’s human-rights violations and arguing against further embargoes and sanctions over Iran’s nuclear plans.

South Africa’s close relationship with Iran bears particular importance in light of the fact that South Africa is a nuclear power—and Iran is an aspiring nuclear power. If the anc government in the past has allowed the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization to establish training camps in South Africa, it should not be presumed that nuclear assistance would not be given.

Additionally, South Africa has been cultivating a close relationship with Russia. These two countries together possess most of the world’s strategic minerals—some 90 percent of them. In a booklet written back in 1997, we drew attention to the potential danger in South Africa’s growing ties with both Russia and Middle Eastern countries: “As some astute Western analysts have suggested, if an African National Congress (anc)-South African Communist Party (sacp)-dominated government in South Africa forges links with the Islamic-Arab crescent in consortium with Russia, only those who bow to radical Islam and a Communist-led anc may get their raw materials!”

As we have pointed out previously, the relationship between South Africa and Iran is one to watch. Read Gareth Fraser’s article “Ready to Explode?” for details on the significance of this relationship.