The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is on a historic visit to South Africa, signaling a spectacular improvement in the formerly contrary relations between the two nations.
The visit marks a diplomatic breakthrough for the Ukrainian chief in his efforts to counter the strong and growing influence of Russia in Africa.
“I am sure that Russia will be annoyed by the visit, but I do not think it can do much,” said Steven Gruzd of the South African Institute for Institute of International Relations.
In addition to a brief stopover in Cape Verde in 2023 when she went to Argentina, this is the first visit of Zelensky in Africa since he became president of Ukraine in 2019.
Ukraine seized the diplomatic importance of African states, when many of them – whose regional power in South Africa – refused to condemn the large -scale invasion of its territory by Russia in 2022.
“Ukraine has neglected the continent in terms of foreign policy, but that has changed it in the past three years, doubling its embassies from 10 to 20,” Gruzd told BBC.
“But it is in a very crowded space – Russia, China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are all trying to increase their influence in Africa.”
Zelensky’s visit to South Africa at this stage is particularly important, because Ukraine’s relationship with the United States – its main weapon supplier – has embarked on since US President Donald Trump took office in January.
He took a military break, denounced Zelenksy as a “dictator” and accused Ukraine of being responsible for the war.
“Ukraine needs every legitimacy that it can obtain internationally – not only in Europe. Wars are not only won on the battlefield, but also in the courts of public opinion around the world,” said Professor Siphamandla Zondi, political analyst at the University of Johannesburg.
For the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, the visit is just as important, because his country is also subject to intense pressure from the Trump administration.
“The United States has overturned diplomacy,” said Gudz, adding: “Everyone is looking for new friends.”
Ramaphosa considers Zelensky’s visit as an attempt to strengthen his references as a peacemaker, saying that their talks will focus on efforts to find “a path to peace”.
The South African chief added that he and Putin had a telephone conversation before Zelensky’s visit.
“We both stated the strong bilateral relations between our respective countries,” said Ramaphosa in an article on X.
“We also undertook to work together towards a peaceful resolution of the Russian-Ukraine conflict,” he added.
Ramaphosa first tried to assume the role of peacemaker in 2023 when he led a delegation of African leaders in kyiv and Moscow in order to mediate the end of the conflict.
The initiative intervened while South Africa was faced with a reaction from the administration of the president of the time, Joe Biden, who questioned his neutrality professed in the conflict after having organized a naval exercise with Russia and China.
Relations worsened after the Washington ambassador to Pretoria accused South Africa of providing weapons and ammunition to Russia.
Ramaphosa then appointed an investigation led by the judge to investigate the allegation. He found no evidence to support the complaint of the ambassador, but relations between South Africa and the Biden administration remained tense.
The links of South Africa with Russia were not a painful point for Trump, because he also heard with Putin and pushed Zelensky to conclude an agreement with the Russian chief.
However, Trump’s relations with South Africa have reached the bottom of the rocks above its genocide affair against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and for what it calls “unjust and immoral practices” against the Afrikaner community of the White Minority – an allegation of the government of Ramaphosa Nie.
Professor Zondi said that South Africa should ensure that Ramaphosa’s talks with Zelensky did not harm his attempts to repair relations with the Trump administration.
“South Africa will want to explain that this adds to efforts to strengthen peace, and its role is not in competition with that of (we),” he added.
The analyst said that he also expected Ramaphosa to concentrate on the strengthening of trade links with Ukraine, because the economy of South Africa was in crisis, with low growth and high unemployment.
“Any volume of trade, whatever the small size, is critical for South Africa,” he said, adding that strong relations between the two nations could also benefit Ukraine in its efforts to extend its influence on the continent.
“South Africa could be the gateway from Ukraine to Africa because of its ports and its financial systems,” said Professor Zondi.
If this happens, it would mark a new chapter in Ukraine-Africa relations, but not necessarily at the expense of Russia.
“Russia and Ukraine are the largest cereal exporters in Africa. Africa needs both. We cannot expect the teams cannot choose,” said the analyst.
