Examine India and South-Africa co-operation through bilateral and multi-lateral forums. (2026, 15 Marks)
India–South Africa ties rest on a shared political biography: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi forged satyagraha in South Africa, and in 1946 India became the first state to cut trade with the apartheid regime. Since full relations resumed in November 1993 the partnership has run on two tracks. Examined closely, the multilateral track carries the substance, while the bilateral track is solid but under-built.
The bilateral track
- Framework: the Red Fort Declaration (March 1997), signed by Nelson Mandela and H. D. Deve Gowda, made South Africa India’s first strategic partner; the Tshwane Declaration (October 2006) added defence, science and joint positions in multilateral forums. A Joint Ministerial Commission of foreign ministers sets the calendar.
- Economy: two-way trade was about US$18 billion in 2024-25, India selling fuels, vehicles and medicines and buying coal, gold and minerals; Indian IT, automobile and pharmaceutical firms hire locally.
- Defence and skills: a Joint Defence Committee, a 2024 submarine-rescue agreement, IBSAMAR (eighth edition off Simon’s Town, October 2024), ITEC training and the Gandhi–Mandela Centre of Specialisation for Artisan Skills (2021).
- Ecology: South Africa supplied twelve cheetahs to Kuno in February 2023, the second batch of India’s reintroduction project.
- Gap: the India–SACU preferential trade agreement, under negotiation since the late 2000s, was revived only in August 2026.
The multilateral track
- IBSA (2003): South Africa is a co-author, not a follower. Leaders met on the G20 margins in Johannesburg on 23 November 2025, hosted by Cyril Ramaphosa with Narendra Modi and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
- BRICS: South Africa joined in December 2010. Under India’s 2026 chair, the New Delhi Declaration (September 2026) criticised unilateral tariffs and sanctions and sought IMF, World Bank and WTO reform.
- G20: the African Union became a permanent member at New Delhi (9 September 2023) on India’s proposal; South Africa’s 2025 presidency held the first summit on African soil (22–23 November 2025), adopting a declaration despite a US boycott.
- WTO: the two co-authored the TRIPS waiver proposal (2 October 2020) and at MC14 in Yaoundé (March 2026) jointly blocked incorporation of the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement.
- Others: BASIC on climate, the Commonwealth, and IORA, which India chairs for 2025–27.
Limits
- Thin commerce: investment is modest, and anti-dumping actions, tariffs and visas irritate business.
- Divergent formulas: South Africa is bound by the AU’s Ezulwini Consensus (two permanent African seats with veto), India by the G4 text.
- Different priorities: India did not join South Africa’s ICJ genocide case against Israel (December 2023).
- Capacity: low growth, power shortages and unemployment above a quarter limit what Pretoria can deliver.
Conclusion
In constructivist terms, a shared post-colonial identity makes the two natural co-authors wherever developing states’ policy space is at stake, and Amitav Acharya’s “multiplex world” (2014) rewards exactly such issue coalitions. The partnership will deepen only when a SACU agreement and investment give the bilateral track the weight the forums already have.