Minister Ronald Lamola: 2026 Foreign Policy Outlook

Executive Mayor,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Greetings,

We meet today in an atmosphere of global unease. The events of the last few days and recent years have placed the world on shaky ground. We see rising geopolitical tensions.

So, as I begin my remarks this morning, I want to lean on Nelson Mandela’s words, the founding President of our democratic nation.

Writing as a president in waiting about South Africa’s future foreign policy, President Mandela argued:

“Because the world is a more dangerous place, the international community dare not relinquish its commitment to human rights.”

In setting out the pillars upon which our foreign policy should rest, Mandela stressed that

“the considerations of justice and respect for international law should guide relations between nations.”

I lean on President Mandela deliberately.

Nowadays, much work is being done to use his words and repurpose his actions in service of projects he would have rejected. We are all aware of attempts – both domestically and abroad – to cast the Mandela administration’s commitment to reconciliation and nation-building as incompatible with the imperative to address historic injustice.

I return to President Mandela this morning because this session is about South Africa’s foreign policy outlook for 2026 and beyond. The words I quote here come directly from his writing, penned to share with the world what would define the foreign policy of a democratic South Africa.

In these reflections, Mandela was not merely speaking for himself. He reflected the collective aspirations of the South African people. His words echoed the Freedom Charter and anticipated the constitutional framework of a nation emerging from a system that, in his words, had corroded the very essence of life. That system was apartheid.

He was also sketching the contours of South Africa’s future foreign policy and outlining how a state that was once a pariah on the international stage would use its repressive history as a source of strength, inspiration and soft power.

He reminded the world that our foreign policy is firmly rooted in the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist tradition.

A Foreign Policy for Dangerous Times

While the world Mandela described in those reflections has changed dramatically, geopolitically, it remains a dangerous world. If anything, the dangers have multiplied, and the need for principled conduct in international affairs has only sharpened.

In the last few days, these dangers have become glaring and have tested the very meaning of international law and the durability of multilateralism.

The unilateral military strikes carried out by the United States of America against Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro and his spouse from Venezuelan territory to stand trial in the United States point us back to what Mandela meant when he spoke of the dangerous times haunting the world.

These events alone threaten to reduce the United Nations Charter to ashes and to turn multilateralism into a shrine – something honoured through symbolism but violated in practice.

As the machinations of powerful states threaten to return us to an era when international relations were defined by trusteeship, mandates and spheres of influence, the need to stay true to our values and principles couldn’t be more pressing.

Chief among the principles we have sworn to uphold is the sovereign equality of all nations.

When we placed our signatures upon the UN Charter, we made a solemn covenant.

We agreed to replace the sword with the statute, the battlefield with the negotiating table.

We pledged to refrain from force, understanding that to violate the territorial integrity of one is to violate the peace and stability of all.

As multilateralism is dismantled by the stroke of a pen and institutions that took 80 years to construct are threatened by decrees from the mighty and powerful, the urgency and superiority of dialogue and diplomacy couldn’t be more evident.

In this challenging environment, South Africa must continue to advocate for a rules-based international order grounded in international law. The doctrine of “might is right” must not be allowed to will the day. The rule of law remains fundamental to global stability, legitimacy and governance.

It is for this reason that we reaffirm our commitment to multilateralism, with the UN at its centre.

This moment of great geopolitical strife will determine whether the UN delivers on its promise or whether the world returns to the age of the League of Nations. An age of wars, fragmentation and racial hierarchy. We hope that stability and peace prevail.

If multilateralism is to survive the current geopolitical headwinds, reform is no longer an option.

Mandela’s words remain instructive:

“The United Nations should not be dominated by a single power or a group of powers, or else its legitimacy will continuously be called into question.”

The UN, and especially the Security Council, to borrow his words once more, must “reflect the full tapestry of humankind.”

African Agency in Dangerous Times

Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

The world is a dangerous place today, not only because of brazen self-interest and a wanton disregard for international law. It is also dangerous because the unequal economic relations our anti-colonial forebears sought to overturn remain largely in place. Our G20 Presidency shone a spotlight on these inequities.

Allow me to recall a few statistics that came to light during South Africa’s G20 Presidency.

• The top 10% of the world’s wealthiest people own 75% of global wealth.
• More than 750 million Africans live in countries that spend more on servicing debt than on hospitals and classrooms.
• Since 2010, Africa’s debt has increased by more than 180%. This prompted the African Leaders Debt Relief Initiative to warn that we face the worst debt crisis in 80 years.
• To make matters worse, developing regions that have contributed the least to climate change carry the heaviest burden of its impacts. Our continent receives less than 5% of global climate finance.

These realities explain why our G20 presidency foregrounded inequality, debt sustainability and a fair climate finance architecture. We not only surfaced the challenges but, speaking with one voice as the African continent, tabled solutions centred on ordinary people.

Another area where we are advancing solutions is in how Africa manages its abundant mineral resources.

Again, the statistics are striking:

• Between South Africa and Zimbabwe lie over 90% of the world’s platinum group metals.
• Over 70% of the world’s cobalt production comes from the DRC.

From Kolwezi to Rustenburg, Africa holds the key to the transition to a low-carbon economy.

But the danger of our times is that a new scramble for these minerals could usher in another era of plunder on our continent.

Together, our responsibility is to champion an approach that ensures this global appetite for critical minerals translates into shared prosperity for resource-rich countries.

Through the Critical Minerals Framework and other instruments, we can ensure that our endowments do not become a curse or an obstacle to our development.

Diplomacy must deliver

Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Far too often, our critics argue that South Africa is too concerned with the rest of the world while our country faces pressing challenges of its own. They argue that all politics is domestic and foreign policy is a distraction from bread-and-butter issues at home.

This is a false choice.

Foreign policy is one of the tools we use to create the conditions for inclusive growth, decent work and a dignified life.

Besides, recent years have shown that developments far afield can have real consequences here at home.

The right question is not whether we should engage in world affairs, but what that engagement delivers.

Diplomacy must deliver tangible improvements in people’s lives.

One clear way to secure these tangible improvements is to deepen intra-African trade. Today, trade within SADC is estimated at 21%, while trade across Africa is amounts to 16%.

Yet we know that when African countries trade with each other, more than 60% of what we trade is processed or semi-processed, meaning more value added at home, more jobs and more opportunity. We also know that the full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area could unlock a market of USD$3.4 trillion.

That is why we are accelerating its implementation and strengthening our Economic Diplomacy Strategy, so that our partnerships serve our people and contribute to shared prosperity.

Let me conclude by saying this:

In the face of the raw exercise of power, Mandela’s teachings remain incisive. Principle is not a costume you wear when convenient and tear apart when it feels too heavy.

To ask us to abandon Ubuntu, justice and the quest for human dignity for the sake of appeasing those who resort to raw power and falsehoods to enforce their will is to ask us to shed our identity.

South Africa is the 20th century’s biggest beneficiary of international solidarity. What explanation will we offer to posterity if we discard our values and identity at the altar of expedience?

I thank you.

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