Last week President Zuma made his first official visit to India since being elected as president of the Republic of South Africa a little over a year ago. It was, however, his second visit to the subcontinent; he made the first in June 2008, after becoming president of the ANC at the end of 2007.

According to the official rhetoric, the visit marked a significant moment in the history of Indo-South African relations. It signalled the continued commitment of South-South cooperation, the strengthening of mutual support for each other’s candidature for a permanent seat in the reformed United Nations Security Council and a sustained momentum towards speeding up reform of the UN and international decision-making institutions to reflect contemporary realities.

And, yet again, another ‘strategic partnership’ was born as noted in the press state issued by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.

Strategic partnerships have indeed become the new lexicon in the search for pushing towards a multilateral international order by the global South. It is often inserted into various summit declarations as some kind of expression of mutual benefit. It is a catchphrase of the 21st century that policy-makers and our inspired leaders effortlessly roll off their tongues without hesitation or consideration of whether there is any substance to it.

The attraction of establishing ‘strategic partnerships’ reminds one of bees to honey or moths to a flame.

But have we ever stopped to ask ourselves what does a ‘strategic partnership’ mean? On whose behalf are these strategic partnerships being negotiated? And more importantly who benefits from them?

Let’s be honest, what was President Zuma really doing in India? What type of ‘strategic partnership’ was being forged? And who were the strategic partners in this strategic partnership?

President Zuma’s visit to the Indian subcontinent was not really about reaffirming political platitudes. This was done not long ago at the IBSA Summit hosted in Brazil and frequently at various other forums, diplomatic engagements and political networks.

The visit was really about cementing economic ties and commercial partnerships, with each side wanting to break into the other’s market. This message was clear – firstly with the 200 or so South African business people and captains of industry that were in tow, and secondly wherever President Zuma made official appearances and gave keynote speeches.

Of course, all this was done in the name of promoting regional economic integration and the markets of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), Southern African Development Community (SADC) and across the continent as a measure of good neighbourliness. Without a doubt, this is not really about Pretoria’s sub-imperial economic intentions. That would be blasphemy in the gospel of the Global South’s strategic partnerships.

Yet lets consider the following excerpts and quotations:

‘We have identified India as a strategic partner for South Africa with good reason. This country boasts a burgeoning middle class of approximately 300 million,’ Zuma said while addressing business CEOs from India and South Africa.

‘We wish to expedite negotiations on a preferential trade agreement between India and the Southern African Customs Union, so that we may realise the great potential that exists by bringing these two markets closer to each other,’ Zuma said in his prepared remarks to the Business Interactive Session in New Delhi, India.

‘There are around 200 million in the southern African region alone and 1 billion across Africa,’ said Zuma, adding that this presented a massive business opportunity for both India and South Africa.

And then there were other more straightforward clues:

- The re-launch of the India-South African CEOs forum
- The intention to expand bilateral trade from US$7.5 billion to US$10 billion over the next few years.

In addition, three accords were signed aimed at underscoring this new economic synergy:

- An air services pact that provides for additional air routes between Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg and Mumbai and and Thiruvananthapuram in India.
- A Memorandum of Understanding on agricultural cooperation, and
- An MOU between the Foreign Service Institute of India and the Diplomatic Academy of South Africa

The Joint Commission, which is scheduled to meet later this year is mandated to implement the above decisions.

President Zuma himself admitted that ‘it is in the economic sphere, that this relationship is going to be most keenly felt, and in which it is going to have the most lasting impact.’

So who are we kidding? The strategic partnership is really about the business of business is business.

South Africa represents a strategic market for Indian investors wishing to use this strategic space to push into the continent. South Africa’s economic infrastructure provides the impetus for this, and Indian investors – like all others – want a base from which to propel their onslaught into continental markets.

This was explicitly acknowledged by commentators who have noted that South Africa is not only ‘a country with vast potential, it can also serve as a gateway to other African countries’.

Second, the visit was really about connecting the economic and corporate elites from both sides with the respective governments acting as the enablers of the pending commercial partnerships. But this was done through the lens of leveraging the deep historical political leverage for commercial gains.

With most of the mainstay of the South African corporate sector prowling for economic ventures with their Indian counterparts, President Zuma and his counterpart Prime Minister Manmohan Singh encouraged the private sector to increase trade and investment ties. Currently, Indian investment in the SA market is around US$6 billion.

It is anticipated that the footprint of India Inc would increase – likewise with the South African corporate sector, through mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures. Already First Rand National, one of the four major banking institutions in South Africa, has signed an MOU with JM Financial Group to provide cross border merger and acquisition advisory services to Indian and African corporates.

Therefore, while we are led to believe that these mutual economic exchanges are going to be the panacea for sustainable development, it is frustrating to see how the political rhetoric is being manipulated to create a more embedded Southern capitalist class.

While platitudes are played about the historic connection with the Indian diaspora in South Africa and the vital role this community plays in strengthening the relationship, the political leadership from both sides need to understand that pushing this idea does not have any relevance to the engagement.

For most of the Indian diaspora living in South Africa, the connection to India is redundant. Most have lost contact with their roots. Neither have they visited India because they cannot afford to nor can they take advantage of the opportunity to apply for permanent residency in India. After 150 years, India cannot claim a link to South Africa through the Indian diaspora – for most in this community the struggles are about finding their identity in a post-apartheid South Africa, dealing with deepening socio-economic struggles. Their link to the ‘Motherland’ is only through Bollywood, and that’s where it ends.

If anything, it is elites from the Indian diaspora who gain more leverage from the engagement with their Indian capitalist cousins. For the bulk of the working class and indigent from the South African Indian diaspora, the struggle remains a daily fight for survival as a minority in post-apartheid South Africa.

So as much as it was Gandhi’s heartfelt desire that: ‘The Commerce between India and Africa will be of ideas and services, not manufactured goods against raw materials after the fashion of western exploiters’, we cannot deny that in the foreseeable future New Delhi’s role in the Great Game should not be treated lightly just because of its muted presence, the fact that it shares the same democratic traditions as Western powers and offers better business acumen.

Like most emerging Great Powers the significant question now in the current eye of the changing global economic landscape is whether it will be business as usual for Indo-(South) African relations or whether New Delhi offers something different. Judging by Zuma’s visit, it does not seem that something different is very likely.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Sanusha Naidu is research director of Fahamu’s Emerging powers in Africa programme.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.