News24 | FRIDAY BRIEFING | The in-betweeners: Why is SA not at the middle powers table?

Graphic: Sharlene Rood/News24. Images: stu kaii/Getty Images; Makstorm/Getty Images; wildpixel/Getty Images

Kenya in, SA out as the new world order takes shape

South Africa as a dominant economic player on the continent has long positioned itself as a middle power. Globally, the country is regarded as punching above its weight, having hosted the 15th BRICS Summit in August 2023 and being the only African country to host the G20 summit of leaders.

In December 2023, SA lodged a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. But while the country was experiencing its most consequential international activity, it was dealing with a period of domestic difficulty – the economy remained stagnant, unemployment continued to grow, and corruption continued to be a blight on South Africa’s image.

It is precisely this domestic weakness that undermines SA’s credibility as a middle power, a vulnerability the Trump administration has been quick to exploit via tariffs, aid cuts, refugee policy, visa restrictions and exclusion from the 2026 US-hosted G20 summit.

At the same time, the Trump administration has been involved in a superpower showdown with China, which threatens to result in a new Cold War.

Following on from his speech at Davos earlier this year, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has doubled down on pushing for a middle powers coalition to forge a new partnership in the face of threats to the world order.

Together with Brazil, the EU and Kenya, Carney launched the Partners for Multilateralism on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York earlier this week. Australia, Barbados and India joined the inaugural summit, with a further 15 countries – from Finland and Norway to Türkiye and Uruguay – also signing on.

South Africa, a country that prides itself on its non-aligned posture and its role in BRICS, was absent.

SA’s close alignment with Russia and China through BRICS, combined with the domestic dysfunction that has eroded its institutional standing, might be some of the reasons it was left on the outside of the grouping.

In this week’s Friday Briefing, author and journalist John Matisonn reflects on what South Africa needs to do back home if it has any chance of being part of the middle powers grouping. Read Matisonn’s view here.

In his submission, analyst and News24 columnist Dr Mpumelelo Mkhabela writes that Trump’s tantrums are a fad. He says what we should be concerned about is our real sovereignty problems at home. Read that analysis here.

We also have a Q&A with Solidarity’s Jaco Kleynhans, who was at the forefront of pushing for Trump’s interventions in South Africa. He tells in-depth writer Muhammad Hussain what he hopes US pressure on Pretoria will achieve. Read more on that here.

We end this edition with a Q&A with Cosatu general secretary Solly Phetoe on the future of the trade union federation after its national congress collapsed. You can read more on that conversation here.