As global events would have it, South Africa begins 2024 riding the crest of moral rectitude for its insistence, through the genocide convention case it lodged against Israel, that the mutually agreed and binding principles of a rules-based international order be upheld, regardless of contemporary geopolitical expediencies and inconveniences.

There can be no doubt that the case and the cogent and expert manner in which it was argued by South Africa’s representatives, both in the court itself and in the court of global public opinion, has been hugely consequential for brand South Africa on the global stage.

What’s also not in doubt is just how on-brand for South Africa this action is. Even critics would have to acknowledge the consistency with which, on the continental and global stages, South Africa has, over the past three decades of democracy, consistently championed the principle of resolving conflict through dialogue, respect for human rights, preservation of human life and an all-round more just, equitable and sustainable world.

It’s that inclination that has seen this country deftly play the role of peacemaker in complex and at times seemingly intractable conflicts and disputes over the past three decades, from the DRC to Burundi, South Sudan to Lesotho, Palestine to Madagascar and many other countries and regions.

All this while consistently taking the lead in epoch-defining global conversations such as sustainable development and climate change (witness the central role South Africa played in stitching together global consensus around the Paris Climate Agreement?), boundaryless humanitarian intervention in times of crisis (as exemplified by agencies such as the globally-respected Gift of the Givers), as well as the reform of institutions of global governance.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Five years after Paris Climate Agreement, why is SA’s response to climate crisis so lethargic?

This natural inclination flows not only from our apartheid history-inspired collective “never again” resolve against human rights abuses, subjugation, human suffering and violations of dignity. It also flows from the premium our nation places on human life and dignity, informed by the unwritten, yet universally acknowledged and revered underpinning value of our constitutional order, ubuntu.

Based on this principle, South Africa has over the past three decades carved out its unique brand as an actor on the continental and global stages. This is attested to by the unwavering domestic support our country’s successive administrations since 1994 have enjoyed in living out our values on the world stage, even where this has meant a significant investment of South African financial and other resources, and in many instances, peacekeeping personnel — blue helmets and boots on the ground.

The flipside of unapologetically staking a claim to a global leadership role is that it has rightly resulted in the eyes of the world almost constantly being cast upon us as a country. It has therefore never been more important that we give a good account of ourselves, both on the international and domestic stages.

Davos platform

It was then perhaps fortuitous that the ICJ ruling came a mere few days after a formidable South African delegation had just returned from the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Fortuitous because the overall aim of the delegation’s participation at the meeting was to position the country as both a competitive business and investment destination, and also a partner in global governance.

What wasn’t fortuitous, but rather happened by design, was the country’s continued championing at the WEF meeting of the principles it has long espoused, including its call for the existing multilateral institutions to be strengthened and reformed in order to promote inclusiveness and engender trust. This position plugged neatly into this year’s theme at Davos, which was about “restoring trust”.

Read more in Dail Maverick: World’s most critical issues are aired at Davos — and SA has a chance to state its case

If the country’s position on how to restore trust in the international system of governance could be summed up, it would entail the multilateral institutional reforms mentioned above, its commitment to climate sustainability and an energy transition that is, at the global level, based on the principles of equity and differentiation, as well as its advocacy for the African agenda, best exemplified by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Far from being geopolitical niceties detached from our domestic realities, at Davos South Africa was able to coherently draw a line between these global priorities and our country and continent’s economic recovery and future sustainability.

It was able to do so because it doesn’t really require much force of argument, for example, to demonstrate that an energy transition implemented at a global level in a just, equitable and orderly manner allows a country like South Africa to pursue the green industrial development outlined in its just energy transition implementation plan, while simultaneously managing to achieve its ambitious emission reductions and fostering resilient economic growth.

When the globally agreed just energy transition unfolds on this principled basis, the domestic conversation about it will not just be framed as one about “cushioning”, for example, coal-mining town communities affected by the march to cleaner energy. It will instead be a conversation about sustainable new economic sectors, requiring and providing avenues to new, clean-energy-related skills, SMME opportunities, and ultimately advancing our country’s transformational goals through greater economic inclusion, for example, of women and the youth.

Similarly, it is not difficult to make the argument on a stage like Davos that the AfCFTA’s anticipated creation of the largest free trade area in the world, with the latent potential to boost the continent’s income by $450-billion by 2035 and lift 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty, is a common good whose success should be supported by all global partners. The examples in this vein are innumerable.

The bottom line is that it was important for South Africa to expound on the WEF stage the message that says what is in South Africa’s national interest can, must be, and for the most part usually is, simultaneously in the continent’s and all of humanity’s best interests.

While on the global stage, South Africa’s leadership, agitation for reforms and exacting of fidelity to principles of a rules-based international order is to be commended and undoubtedly deposits much stock in our country’s brand, such a leadership role comes with the concomitant responsibility to be a worthwhile partner for sustainable human development.

Staying the course on our domestic reforms

This South Africa can, and has begun to do by steadfastly staying the course and seeing through our domestic agenda of economic reforms. Calling on global partners to support our country in championing the trade and investment opportunities to be unlocked by AfCTA would ring hollow if it wasn’t coupled with sustained policy reforms and practical interventions to address our own energy and logistics crises that, unchecked, have the potential to undermine our status as the gateway to southern Africa and the rest of the continent.

This is why it was important for the country to account to global partners at Davos for its ongoing reforms that are, among others, aimed at facilitating the ease of doing business and investment and resolving challenges in energy, freight and logistics, water, digital communications and the country’s migration and visa regimes.

Staying the course on these and other interventions linked to our country’s apex economic policy, the South Africa Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, will make it easy to maintain the credibility our message carries at platforms like Davos when we make the case that South Africa remains a competitive business and investment destination.

Therefore, coherence and consistency in the clear statement of our investment case, coupled with steadfastness in implementing the reforms to which we have committed ourselves, will not only lend further credibility to our brand as it plays on the global stage, but will also move humanity in its totality modestly, if commendably, closer to the sustainable development goals we rightly champion so vociferously. DM