Abstract:
South Africa’s growing economic presence across the African continent has
triggered debates in public and scholarly circles as to its intentions. As a result,
this paper traces South Africa’s economic diplomacy in the African continent, in
the DRC in particular. It argues that South Africa’s foreign policy objectives have
been largely geared towards peaceful resolution of African conflicts. This research
will therefore scrutinise how South Africa managed to achieve measurable gains in
the DRC since 1998. It is further argued that Pretoria’s involvement in the DRC’s
complex conflict was boosted and informed by its long-term economic interests in
the region, and advancement of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(Nepad), which puts both its parastatals and private corporations under the
spotlight in the DRC.
