In a controversial move that has strained its relationships with the European Union (EU) and the U.S., South Africa will on Friday host a 10-day naval exercises off its eastern coast with Chinese and Russian ships. The exercises coincide with the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The South Africa National Defence Force (Sandf) confirmed on 19 January that South Africa will host the navies of China and Russia during a “multilateral maritime exercise” over the period 17 to 27 February.
The exercise, codenamed “Mosi” (“Smoke” in Swahili), will take place around the Durban and Richards Bay areas of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, according to the statement.
It will be only the second time that the naval forces of the three countries have held joint operations. The first took place in November 2019 in Cape Town, just before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Eanwhile, Defence and Military Veterans Minister, Thandi Modise, says she is confident that the multinational maritime exercise between South Africa, Russia and China that will take place over a 10-day period will benefit all three participating nations.
“The envisaged exercise will benefit all countries involved through interoperability of the naval systems, joint disaster systems management enhancement, maritime cooperation and anti-piracy exercises.”
In addition, she said the event known as Exercise Mosi II, will serve as a platform for the three nations to share operational skills, expertise and experience.
This comes after the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) announced last week that it will host the People’s Liberation Army Navy from China and the Russian Federal Navy during the multilateral maritime exercise scheduled to take place from 17 to 27 February 2023.
The maritime exercise will be held in Durban and Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal.
According to the department, this will be the second time such an exercise will be taking place involving the three naval forces with the first one held in November 2019 in Cape Town.
This year’s Exercise Mosi II will see over 350 SANDF personnel from various Arms of Services and Divisions participating alongside their Russian and Chinese counterparts.
South Africa, according to the department, enjoys diplomatic relations with all member states of BRICS (Brazil, Russia and China) at a bilateral level, in addition to the multilateral levels.
“We also enjoy defence diplomatic relations with several countries across all the continents of the world since we have become an integral part of the community of nations and no longer a pariah State.”
In recent months, the department said it had engagements with counterparts in the United Kingdom, China, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.
“There was no hype about any of these countries, especially about the USA wherein we held an even longer exercise, known as Exercise Shared Accord in KwaZulu-Natal last year regarding our military health capabilities,” the department added.
In addition, the department said the SANDF plans and budgets for military exercises with other nations across the globe, both at bilateral and multilateral levels.
Exercise Mosi II, according to the department is no exception, including the Exercise Shared Accord held with the United States armed forces counterparts.
Meanwhile, the biennial maritime Exercise Oxide between South Africa and France also took place in November last year at the Simon’s Town Naval Base.
“We wish to state categorically that South Africa, like any independent and sovereign state, has a right to conduct its foreign relations in line with its diplomatic relations and national interests. South Africa sees Exercise Mosi II as an opportunity to contribute towards further strengthening the strong bonds that exist between South Africa, Russia and China,” the department said.
“Contrary to the assertions by our critics, South Africa is not abandoning its neutral position on the Russian-Ukraine conflict. We remain firm in our view that multilateralism and dialogue are keys to unlocking sustainable international peace. We continue to urge both parties to engage in dialogue as a solution to the current conflict.”
But the latest exercise (“Mosi II”) has come under fire from South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, which claims that with hosting the exercises, Pretoria has “chosen sides”.
“While our government has claimed to be neutral, this is just another of many incidents where the [ruling party] ANC has clearly exposed their favoritism towards Russia and has in fact done nothing but to showcase and prove [the] government’s lack of neutrality in this case,” according to the party’s shadow minister of defence and military affairs, Kobus Marais.
In a statement, he called the war games “nothing more than an expensive publicity stunt.”
Meanwhile, David Feldman, a Spokesperson for the US Embassy in South Africa, told CBS News that the US is “concerned about South Africa’s plan to hold joint naval exercises with Russia and the [People’s Republic of China] in February, even as Moscow continues its brutal and unlawful war of aggression against Ukraine.”
Pauline Bax of the International Crisis Group pointed out that the exercises coincide with the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which she remarks is “diplomatically quite awkward, and something that South Africa could have pushed to another date.”
But South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, who met with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov when he visited Pretoria earlier in January, said that the drills were to be “merely an exercise with friends”.