South Africa believes the heads of state and government of Brazil, India, China and South Africa—President Lula, Prime Minister Modi, President Xi and President Ramaphosa—should step forward to play “a leading role” in bringing about a negotiated end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor told India’s WION TV on March 5, after attending the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in New Delhi. She elaborated:
“We are looking forward to India, Brazil, South Africa and China playing a leading role in drawing the parties together, because one of our members is Russia, as BRICS. And we think that four leaders actually have a very vital role that they could play in becoming a convening group to draw the parties together…. We need to see them coming together and really assuming a very critical leadership role at this time because I believe leadership is missing. And you need this kind of charismatic leadership that is devoted to peace.”
Pandor pointed to the example of how South Africa’s struggle against apartheid was finally “through negotiation.… We sat down with persons who are essentially our enemies, who killed and arrested our fathers and mothers, who denied us educational opportunities and denied us basic human rights. But in the end, encouraged by the world, we sat down and negotiated a settlement.”
