Way back when I was at high school, I used to sit at the same table as perhaps the biggest bully or “strongman” at our school. He was big and muscular with a hoarse voice; a real picture of fearlessness, and possibly of terror for tiny guys like me. This was the guy I found kicking another boy on the ground repeatedly on the first day I arrived at our hostel, despite of the other guy’s profuse apologies.
But, somehow, the big guy never bullied me overtly, and … eh, that’s all I cared about.
His most frequent barking orders for me were, “Mancane yiza ne khwafa pha!” (Young one, go bring us coffee!”
I obliged almost every day for two years.
Whilst I may have been bothered to be addressed in this way by anyone remotely close to my age and size, I was never for a minute bothered by this address from this fellow. Nor do I remember being scared of him – or at least consciously – except of course, for that first day when I saw him kicking the hell out of the little guy on the ground.
Somehow this is what came to mind as I thought about South Africa and its membership of Brics.
I confess, my interest in Brics took a knock during the Jacob Zuma presidency.
Whilst I appreciate the need for South Africa to constantly scout the horizon for friends and allies, the use by Zuma of Brics as a propaganda tool to hide his delinquency harmed its image for some of us.
However, after the recent Brics summit and the big investments and loans, a spark of hope has ignited.
But back to my association with the strongman of our high school, while the obvious personal cost was to defer to his orders and fetch the coffee, there was a deeper and more sinister cost. It lay in the delusional idea that I was maybe part of the “in crowd”, and that sitting at the “cool table” I elevated to the realm of the untouchables, enjoying the automatic protection of the strong man.
This misconception did not do wonders for my academic career. I never put in much effort. I coasted through high school, somehow managing an average pass throughout, in the misguided notion that my progress had been secured.
The memory of this experience is what sparked my concern about South Africa’s involvement with Brics. What exactly is the cost? And wouldn’t it be somewhat naive to assume that the goodwill we have just seen is not without certain expectations?
I mean, how well have we gauged our partners’ intentions and how well have we measured their global strategies to satisfy ourselves that these complement our own?
Of course, a platform for co-operation across borders, especially at this level, is not something to reject. More so when our leaders develop the courage to tell a bigger Brics partner like Vladimir Putin that we will not embrace any ill-considered nuclear deal with his country.
My point simply is this: if, in spite our size, we can stand our ground in the midst of giants, if we can ensure that we act ethically and according to principle, then maybe, unlike me, we can make something of our involvement in Brics.
What we cannot deny is that the global balance of forces is shifting. The driver of that, more than anything, is global economics. And as the world economy reconfigures itself we must not be left behind. Our own troubles, at least mostly, can and will be greatly assisted by a growing economy which deliberately seeks to include every South African.
As more prominent countries fall for the protectionist and populist policies which will ultimately trap them in regression, we must not find ourselves on the side of reduced human co-operation. Our future demands sincere but thoughtful – if not creative – co-operation, not only here but globally.
But as a part of Brics we need to guard against any false sense of security that says South Africa’s membership is enough for our short and long term future. We must hold our own and certainly offer value to our partners, but never in a structure that resembles the old ones that existed between us and our colonisers.
This demands an overhaul of our attitudes, governance systems and value creation platforms. But, when the ANC still feels free to elect into its Gauteng provincial leadership a tainted individual like Qedani Mahlangu, what hope is there really that the ANC is capable of pulling us out of the pit and scaling the heights demanded by our future?..