anc-russia relations
Tsar-crossed lovers: the ANC and Russia
As Putin’s invasion of Ukraine hits the one-year mark, the ANC’s support for the occupier continues unabated. It’s worth asking about the foundations of this relationship. Political pragmatism? An ideological affinity? Or a shared historical loathing of the West?
With Russian warships at our shores and South Africa’s lamentable record at the UN, where it regularly abstains from voting against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it is right to wonder just how we got here. Most people know the USSR lent the ANC a helping hand during apartheid. But the story is as much about Western betrayal as it is about Russian support.
It goes without saying that the British, as colonial masters in the Cape, had a somewhat chequered record. But it can also be said that there was a progressive arc to colonial laws up until 1892. In 1807, the Brits banned the slave trade (though not the practice of slavery). In 1824, they passed Ordinance 19, which attempted to stop the abuse and ill-treatment of slaves. In 1828, the passing of Ordinance 50 made all free people of colour equal under the law. In 1834, slavery was abolished entirely. And in 1854, Britain agreed to South Africa’s first nonracial constitution, which allowed all men of all races over the age o...
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