JOHANNESBURG, South Africa: South Africa’s hosting of a BRICS – a grouping of the world economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa formed by the 2010 addition of South Africa to the predecessor BRIC – summit next week has turned a spotlight on ties between Pretoria and the Kremlin that are cosy and, for some, a puzzle.
During the Cold War, Moscow and South Africa’s African National Congress forged relations when the Soviet Union backed the ANC’s fight against apartheid.
Those ties remain steely strong despite historical and ideological shifts that — logically — should have caused them to part company long ago.
In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, sowing the seeds for nationalism in its core member Russia under Vladimir Putin.
In South Africa, though, the victory over apartheid brought in democracy and Africa’s most liberal constitution, bequeathing the ANC with a worldwide image as a liberator.
Analysts seeking to understand the odd-couple relationship suggest ideological cracks are cemented through historic and personal bonds — but there are likely to be less-stated needs on both sides, too.
“You could say their alliance is a friendship that was built on blood… and bullets,” said political analyst Sandile Swana.
Politically, they make for “some strange bedfellows”, said Steven Gruzd, at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). —AFP/APP
