Peter Vale
THE deepening tension between KwaZulu/Natal and the national government may unlock, in South Africa, one of the central features of the post-Cold War world: How much international power should central states devolve to their constituent parts?
The shifting contours of international relations have moved old debates about federalism in entirely new directions. As instantaneous communications effortlessly move global capital around the world, the making of international affairs — quite paradoxically — has shifted towards local communities. In South Africa this has opened a question around the degree to which provinces can initiate actions which will, with time, influence the outcome of the country’s foreign policy.
In important and innovative ways, all of the country’s provinces have been conducting foreign policy of sorts this past year. In some cases this has been quite natural. Seven of them abutt a single, or several, international borders. Only two — Gauteng and the Western Cape — do not directly touch foreign soil. These, however, interface with intense international traffic: the former through the country’s busiest airport, the latter through the harbour in Cape
But as South Africa has moved out of isolation, each province has been forced to respond to new-wave international impulses. In a public wrangle which increasingly resembles the notoriously shallow “total onslaught”, migration and narcotics have been the most visible. But some provinces, notably the Free State and the Eastern Transvaal, have had to contend with the geographic- specific challenge of cattle rustling.
Regional leaders have also been travelling. Most have made the now ritual journey to Taipei where, notwithstanding disclaimers to the contrary, the Taiwanese government has tried to influence a distinct policy outcome within South Africa. Others have been to Europe, the US and Japan. Some, notably Gauteng’s Premier, have been decorated by foreign governments: in Tokyo Sexwale’s case, the French Legion
There is, of course, a certain poetic justice to all this which should not escape the citizens of the Eastern Cape. In apartheid’s heyday, that province boasted two nominally independent states — Transkei and Ciskei. Today its leaders and citizens enjoy a greater degree of international interaction than ever did the hapless leaders and officials of those internationally-orphaned and wholly discredited institutions.
But poetic justice — however fitting it seems — cannot hide the fact that greater international links at the local level mean that the central state is losing its capacity to exclusively determine the country’s foreign policy. As provinces and actors within them become more self- assertive, the processes of international interaction are programmed to deepen. The challenge for central government is to steer the unfolding tide of events towards a course which will benefit all South Africa’s people — not just those in the rich, well-endowed provinces.
This will not be easy. Those who make foreign policy are notoriously deaf to issues of local politics. This is not a uniquely South African trait — serving abroad, the testing ground of a successful diplomatic career, removes even the most caring professional from the intense struggles within local communities. And it may be helpful, rather than mischievous, to point out that those who made apartheid foreign policy — many of whom are surviving the transition — were entirely cavalier about the plight of dispossessed rural South Africans, who they portrayed as happy tribal people going about their traditional business.
True, things have changed and the present constitutional configuration gives those outside of the immediate system which determines foreign policy a great purchase on international outcomes. But this does not mean they will be able to influence outcomes which may touch them where and when it hurts the most. The best example of this is whether — as seems likely — the large textile factories in the Eastern Cape are pressured to close in the face of foreign competition. Bisho will be positioned to influence a caring and politically meaningful response from central
Co-ordinating these various impulses into a coherent foreign policy will require both astute diplomacy from the Department of Foreign Affairs and an intense sensitivity to local issues.The wheel of international change in the aftermath of the communications revolution has produced both globalisation and localisation. How successfully its unfolding is guided may well be the issue which bloods South African diplomacy and — as importantly — sensitises it to the people’s hopes and fears.
Peter Vale is Professor of Southern African Studies at the University of the Western Cape. He writes on South Africa’s international relations for the WM&G