Emerging ‘Donor’, Geopolitical Actor: South Africa in the Global Terrain

Abstract

An active participant in the various global debates and motivated by a desire to address global inequalities and power imbalances in rule-making, South Africa seeks to balance its domestic imperatives with an enlightened developmentally-minded foreign policy where Africa is the priority. Since 1994 South Africa has initiated many activities that may be described as development cooperation. However, with the exception of the African Renaissance Fund (ARE), it has lacked an overarching architecture for its assistance, which has been fragmented among various departments and agencies with very little coherence, bar their focus on Africa. The establishment of the South African Development Partnership Agency (SADPA) within the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) by the first half of 2012 is poised to address many of these shortcomings, ensuring greater intra-governmental coordination and evaluation. In embarking on this path, South Africa will engage more in the future structure of international development, arguing for a broader definition of development cooperation and a framework that has evolved with input from the South. The fluidity in global development provides an opportunity for South Africa to help bridge the divide between North and South, and encourage policy innovation in the aid debate.¹