Foreign Minister Wadephul on South Africa: "This Voice Should Be Heard"

At the conclusion of his four-day trip, Foreign Minister Wadephul criticises South Africa's exclusion from the G20 summit in the United States in December and promises that Germany will advocate for the country.

The German Foreign Minister is sitting next to his South African counterpart and begins with a geographical observation. "Dear Roland, from Kiel Bay, where I live and come from, to the Cape of Good Hope is a good 10,000 kilometres as the crow flies."

But between the two men, the path to common ground appears to be much shorter. Roland Lamola, at any rate, is so full of praise that the name Wadephul almost rolls off his tongue as "wonderful."

The South African Foreign Minister can strike a different tone, however. Such as when the conversation turned to his country's disinvitation from the G20 summit in Florida in December. US President Donald Trump had decided he did not want South Africa there.

"We Are Not Just Any Country"

Lamola turns cutting. "We are not just any country that you invite or uninvite. We are a founding member of the G20," he says. Trump went ahead with it anyway.

Minister Wadephul is sitting in Pretoria beside his South African colleague and knows that Germany must once again take a position. Along the lines of: against Trump, but diplomatically. South Africa, Wadephul finally says, is and will remain a partner. "Its voice carries weight and influence worldwide. This voice should be heard. That is why South Africa is and will remain an indispensable member of the G20 for us."

Trump, meanwhile, speaks of a genocide against white farmers and had himself boycotted the G20 summit in Johannesburg in December. South Africa's minister is angry. "Is it really a G20 summit if a founding member is absent? Is that what you want to call it?" he asks.

The question was rhetorical. Wadephul says later that Germany will not boycott the summit, but will speak up for South Africa.

Keynote Address to Students

He had already done so that morning, in a keynote address to students in Johannesburg. The message: South Africa is the voice of Africa, of the Global South. And Africa as a whole needs a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. There can be no representative UN without an African seat on the Security Council.

It sounds like a great deal of agreement on Wadephul's final stop in South Africa. But there are also points of discord, for instance over the war in Gaza. South Africa has taken Israel to the International Court of Justice, alleging genocide. Germany sees it differently, pointing to the right to self-defence.

South Africa and the Iran War

But Wadephul also says that international law applies to everyone. "That is why I also speak critically with my Israeli counterpart about settler activity in the West Bank. But I state with equal clarity that Iran is violating freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz through the laying of mines and the shelling of ships, as has now occurred."

On the subject of the Iran war: Africa is feeling the consequences severely. There are the three Fs – fuel, fertiliser, food. These too were topics Wadephul discussed with his South African counterpart.

Following the meeting, Wadephul heads back to Berlin. There will be some holiday, but first a special session of the parliamentary group. Though the session is unlikely to be more exhausting for the Foreign Minister than visiting three African countries in four days.