Lofty values: SA losing its way

South Africa would not today be a respected participant in multilateral platforms, punching above its weight, if it had not been for its mature transition to democracy.

After decades of conflict between the liberation movement and successive oppressive minority regimes, when the situation came to a head the parties opted to find a resolution at the negotiation table.

The key, but not only, motivation that prompted the ANC and the National Party government to negotiate was that they recognised their mutual interdependence.

Representing different groups in SA society, parties to the negotiations had to, as a starting point, accept the legitimacy of the claim of the other to exist and have a part in a new dispensation.

The ANC under the leadership of Nelson Mandela rebutted all separatist tendencies and notions. It resisted every organisation and individual that suggested the wholesale expulsion, dispossession or annihilation of any group as a condition for a settlement.

These kinds of groupings existed on both sides of the divide. There were those who wanted self-determination for the Bantustans created by the apartheid government so as to maintain control and positions of power.

There were white extremists who violently demanded an Afrikaner state, independent of any political and economic arrangements in a new state.

It was this notion of the need to coexist, but of course without denying or glossing over the fact of the injustices perpetrated by minority rule and the racist policies of the apartheid state, which brought SA to its uneasy peace.

Post-1994, with a constitution that has codified this notion of coexistence, and the values of the legitimacy of every grouping in South African society, it is expected that SA should export these as it plays its role in meditating conflicts and cooperates and supports processes for peace around the world.

And this it has done. SA has been at the forefront of attempts at finding peaceful solutions to conflicts on the African continent. It has been counted on by its neighbours to mediate between warring parties. It has held up its experience as a beacon for all.

Nevertheless, over recent years SA's foreign policy seems to be deviating from these lofty values. SA has acted in a manner that has baffled many in some decisions taken, for instance, at the UN Security Council in respect of Zimbabwe and Myanmar.

The decision to host Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir raised questions about the government's commitment to human rights - leave aside the ideological debates about the International Criminal Court and the African Union's position.

In an unprecedented and unexpected move, the ANC recently hosted Hamas (The Platform of the Islamic Resistance Movement), drawing the ire of Israel.

The ANC-led government has always had an affinity for the struggle of the Palestinians. Coming from a past of struggle for freedom and recognition in their own homeland, the ANC and the majority of South Africans know better than many about the pain of being a second-class citizen in one's own country.

It is not surprising therefore that SA would sympathise with the cause of any oppressed people, including Palestinians.

But when dealing with a complicated situation of intractable conflict that has confounded even the geopolitical powers of the world, sentiment should not be the primary factor that informs policies and actions.

Taking hardline positions for or against one group in relation to another doesn't help anything.

Being a latecomer to the conflict resolution attempts in that region, SA had an opportunity to do for Israel and Palestine what it did for the people of Burundi by bringing the two parties closer.

SA cannot achieve this by embracing Hamas, the official stated aim of which is to see the demise of Israel and its people, without even a statement of condemnation of its violence and jihad against Israel.

It cannot accept wholesale one version about the conflict. This betrays a lack of sensitivity to the complexities and nuances that exist on both sides of the divide.

How can SA ever help the Palestinians gain their freedom and peace if it alienates itself and them from the very Israel they are supposed to be negotiating that peace with?

How will the ANC in any way have the influence with Israel to persuade it to abandon its obstinate occupation of Palestinian territories if it persists with its delegitimisation campaign?

The ANC-led government should resist the temptation of pursuing friendship of the Palestinians at all cost.

The pledge of solidarity to Palestine is becoming the blindfold making the ANC think, like Hamas, that it can deny that Israel exists. But Israel does exist and it has to be part of the solution.

SA's foreign policy approach on this age-old impasse should be informed by pragmatism - finding the best way to bring the Israelis and Palestinians closer to a mutually beneficial resolution.

l Comment on Twitter @nompumelelorunj

lRunji visited Israel, courtesy of ACJ's Project Interchange, where she had the opportunity to engage with pro-Israel lobbyists and pro-Palestine lobbyists