ISS Today: South Africa’s Zimbabwe dilemma By ISS Today issafrica
Established during the tenure of former presidents Robert Mugabe and Jacob Zuma, the commission has been little more than an annual symbolic gesture of friendship between the two. Ramaphosa’s team sent ahead of the Bi-National Commission engaged in robust meetings with key players in the private and public sectors presumably to try to establish how South Africa could help its beleaguered neighbour.
So why has South Africa taken up the ‘sanctions must fall’ mantra while staying silent on the human rights abuses, killing of protesters and a heavy-handed clampdown on civic space during the January fuel hike protests? At the same time, well aware of the depth of Zimbabwe’s economic and currency crises, South Africa knows that giving bilateral aid of $1.2-billion wouldn’t necessarily stabilise its neighbour’s economy. Without addressing the enduring currency, any bailout would be sucked into an economic black hole just to have Zimbabwe requiring more. The shortage of hard currency only begets more shortages.
Further, a bailout would put South Africa in an invidious position. South Africa is itself in the throes of economic stagnation emerging from sluggish growth of 0.8% in 2018. The country’s unemployment rate is currently hovering above 25% – one of the highest in the world.
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