South Africa’s national unity government at odds over war in Ukraine

A disagreement over the Russia-Ukraine war between members of South Africa’s government of national unity has exposed one of the ideological fault lines that could undermine the new administration’s effectiveness.

Tensions between the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance, the coalition’s two largest members, were heightened last month over their starkly different views on the conflict.

On October 22nd President Cyril Ramaphosa antagonised the DA by calling Russia a “valued friend” at the annual Brics Summit in Kazan, a city in Russia’s southwest.

Russia, Brazil, India, China and South Africa are the original five members of the Brics group of emerging economic powers, but this year they were joined by Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

Ramaphosa’s overt friendliness to Vladimir Putin at the gathering prompted DA leader John Steenhuisen to state that Russia’s longstanding leader and his government were no ally of South Africa’s.

“We cannot and will not agree that South Africa should consider an authoritarian regime, that is currently violating international law by waging an imperialist war of aggression against a sovereign state, as an ally,” he said in a statement.

Since the Russia-Ukraine war began in 2022, South Africa’s ANC-led government has repeatedly refused to condemn Russia for its actions, saying it has adopted a nonaligned stance on the conflict so it could help foster a peaceful resolution to it.

In addition, Ramaphosa has maintained that South Africa subscribes to a multipolar world in which it will not be forced to abandon its independence on the global stage by western hegemony.

Critics of South Africa’s position on Russia under the ANC’s rule disregard these arguments as a smokescreen.

They claim that close mutually beneficial links between some of the former liberation movement’s senior party members and Putin’s regime is the real reason it refuses to condemn the invasion of Ukraine.

However, since losing its parliamentary majority in the May 29th general election, the ANC can no longer take unilateral decisions on a range of domestic and international positions in a government that involves 11 parties.

Democracy Works Foundation’s founder, Prof William Gumede, says it is clear the ANC is struggling to adapt to the reality of the new multiparty government it leads, and that foreign policy was just one area in which this was apparent.

“One of the main principles of the unity government’s framework is that the parties must engage in consensus rather than majority decision-making on positions the state adopts.

“The ANC’s internal culture has yet to reflect this change, and you can see this in its approach to foreign policy – they still think it is their government. The policies the ANC held close before are not necessarily apt for today’s government,” he says.

Towards the end of October another row between the two parties was sparked by DA home affairs minister Leon Schreiber, who lauded Ukraine as a close ally after announcing a new visa-free arrangement for diplomats and officials between the countries.

Afterwards the DA released a statement in which it said: “South Africa’s recognition of Ukraine and its right to sovereignty is a far better approach to addressing this invasion than the ANC’s open support of Russia”.

Ramaphosa’s office hit back against the announcement, calling it premature since Schreiber had not been authorised by the president to make it.

“It is unclear how the minister can announce the signature of an international agreement without prior formal authorisation to do so,” Vincent Magwenya, Ramaphosa’s spokesman, responded on the social media platform X.

The clash over the visas for Ukraine has also been latched on to by the unity government’s enemies, who Gumede believes are trying to manufacture a bigger crisis than actually exists for the coalition.

“This visa-free travel agreement was first tabled three years ago. The DA is really just processing what was already put into the pipeline by the previous ANC government.

“The real issue is the unity government is working out far better than most people expected, so its opponents are looking for an issue to run with that they can use to try to destabilise it,” he said.

Leigh-Ann Mathys, the spokeswoman for the radical left-wing opposition party the Economic Freedom Fighters has called the visa deal a “betrayal” of South Africa’s solidarity with Russia.

In addition, parliament’s main opposition, the year-old uMhkonto weSizwe party, which is led by former ANC and South Africa president Jacob Zuma, has called on Ramaphosa to throw out the visa agreement.

Zuma has had a longstanding friendship with Putin that dates back decades and earlier this year the DA claimed that Russia was funding his new party.

But senior Institute for Security Studies researcher Gareth Newham believes that even though the ANC and DA are tussling over the unity government’s stance on Russia and Ukraine, foreign policy issues are unlikely to lead to its breakdown.

“This disagreement won’t unravel the coalition,” he says. “There are much bigger issues – boarder management, poor education, the introduction of universal healthcare – that can do that. Especially as we approach local elections in 2026.”