African solutions for African problems: quiet diplomacy and South Africa's diplomatic strategy towards Zimbabwe
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Date
2016
Authors
Landsberg, Chris
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Humanities, University of the Free State
Abstract
Zimbabwe is not just a foreign policy issue for South Africa; it has become a domestic policy concern.
Political, socio-economic and cultural issues have coalesced in a manner that have forced the Zimbabwe
question onto the domestic agenda, and South Africa has opted to respond to the Zimbabwe challenge
by way of the foreign policy strategy of “quiet diplomacy” as a form of “African solutions for African
problems”. This policy was associated with South Africa’s former president, Thabo Mbeki, but contrary
to popular perceptions, the Nelson Mandela and Jacob Zuma governments also supported this strategy,
even though they claimed that they distanced themselves from it. Six years after Mbeki’s departure as
head of state, and into the Jacob Zuma-led presidency, the claim that there was a fundamental break
with the policy of quiet diplomacy by Zuma, and that his administration pursued a fundamentally
different strategy to that of his predecessor, was far-fetched. This article considers the concept of quiet
diplomacy, initially seen as a form of African containment, representing methods used to first try and
stop conflicts from spiralling out of control; secondly by reversing the effects of conflicts; and thirdly
by rolling back conflicts by means of peaceful settlements of disputes or peace settlements; after which
a country could be stabilised politically, and socioeconomically. The analysis then traces Jacob Zuma’s
approach towards Zimbabwe and how his new administration came to endorse and support the 2008
Global Political Agreement (GPA), which they inherited from the Mbeki government, despite the rhetoric
calling for a different approach.
Description
Keywords
Quiet diplomacy, Containment strategy, Mbeki administration, Zuma government, Government of National Unity (GNU), Global Political Agreement(GPA), Road-map, Africa
Citation
Landsberg, C. (2016). African solutions for African problems: quiet diplomacy and South Africa's diplomatic strategy towards Zimbabwe. Journal for Contemporary History, 41(1), 126-148.