If South Africa continues with its non-aligned multilateral approach there is no risk of attracting adverse attention from the superpowers, CEO says.
South Africa’s non-aligned and multilateral stance amid geopolitical conflicts counts in its favour from a trade and commerce perspective, says Sim Tshabalala, CEO of Standard Bank Group.
Focusing on how geopolitical factors could influence South Africa’s trajectory, Tshabalala emphasises that if the country continues with its non-aligned multilateral approach, there is no risk of attracting adverse attention from any of the superpowers .Events in the Middle East and Ukraine could spiral further out of control and become much wider wars.
South Africa has, in the past two years, elicited criticism, specifically from the US, over its refusal to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In addition, South Africa participated in a 10-day joint military exercise with Russia and China early in 2023, which some foreign and domestic critics said was tantamount to endorsing the Kremlin’s attack on Ukraine.
“Reportedly a cessation of what the South African government perceives as disproportionate and indiscriminate military action. South Africa does not deny Israel’s right to existence or to defend itself. It continues to support a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine and continues to explicitly reject anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of racism,” he notes.
There is already proof – Standard Bank’s Corporate and Investment Bank division has a pipeline “full of infrastructure projects” funded by the US, China, and Europe, he added.Tshabalala deliberately steered clear from making pronouncements on the recent national elections in South Africa, where the ANC’s support fell by 17 percentage points from the previous election to a mere 40%.
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