BRICS 2024: South Africa's missed opportunities in the energy sector
The BRICS 2024 Kazan Summit has come and gone. The South African government, accompanied by state-owned enterprises and a business delegation, enjoyed a week-long, mostly business-class flown, 5-star hotel experience—an all-expenses-paid getaway in the beautiful Kazan region of the Russian Federation.
You have to hand it to the South African state: no expenses are spared when it comes to spending taxpayer money on almost worthless, senseless trips to attend conferences that rarely yield any meaningful socio-economic benefits or tangible outcomes post-summit. These events seem to amount to nothing more than fruitless, wasteful expenditures.
Last year, I wrote an extensive column on the BRICS 2023 Sandton Summit, which was hosted by South Africa. In that piece, I highlighted a list of key opportunities that were easy, low-hanging fruit for the South African delegation to grab and implement within a reasonable time frame. These were not complex, high-tech opportunities—they were straightforward, implementable projects in the energy sector. Can you imagine what other opportunities might exist in other sectors?
So, what is stopping this country from moving forward? Is it the calibre of the current leadership steering the ship?
In the energy sector, and according to the outcomes of the 2024 BRICS Kazan Summit, there seems to be no urgency to act on turning the economy around or reversing the current economic slowdown. I had hoped that this year’s Kazan Summit would present another opportunity to close such deals. The energy sector alone presents countless opportunities, yet the South African economy is still hovering below a 1% growth rate. Why?
Here’s a quick recap of the 2023 energy sector opportunities I identified in my column titled BRICS: SA Needs to Ink Energy Deals with Its Partners, published on August 23, 2023.
In that column, I outlined several strategic areas of collaboration with BRICS countries that could have led to immediate and impactful partnerships in South Africa’s energy sector. These were win-win opportunities, which could have easily provided foreign direct investment into the country’s economy. Here are just a few:
– Oil and gas opportunities
– Grid upgrade infrastructure
– Roads, rail, and sea freight energy transport infrastructure
– Ports and harbour facilities
– Coal, gas, nuclear, and hydro power stations
– Renewable energy smart cities projects
– Hydrogen economy projects
– Strategic economic infrastructure projects
– Nuclear science and technology
All these represent billions in capital investment for South Africa, yet none of these opportunities have been fully seized. In total, the BRICS economic bloc, with its five permanent member countries, has a combined GDP of about $27.65 trillion (R520 trillion) according to 2023 figures. And with the admission of new BRICS+ (BRICS Extended) member countries, the total GDP of this bloc now dwarfs the global economy, splitting the world into two-thirds BRICS and one-third US/EU.
The Kazan Summit’s declarations solidified this bloc's influence and outlined a clear pathway for shaping the future of global geo-economic and political relations, advocating for peaceful cooperation, and advancing trade and economic development. If the BRICS bloc achieves the objectives outlined in their declarations, the world will not be the same—especially the developing world, still recovering from the setbacks of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Each of the opportunities I mentioned above represents a significant capital investment into South Africa’s economy—but only if deals are signed, implemented, and executed effectively. Sadly, very little, if anything, has been done to close any of those deals. So, how have we as a country managed to waste such a historic opportunity?
It will be a few years before the BRICS Summit returns to South Africa. Meanwhile, amongst the giants of the global economy, China stood out at this year’s summit as a key partner. In 2023, President Xi Jinping arrived in South Africa for his first state visit a day before the BRICS Summit. During that visit, South Africa was in the midst of the worst energy crisis in its history. The country’s crippling load shedding was at an all-time high, and no one could imagine a day without power cuts. In the face of this crisis, all South Africans wanted were solutions—any solutions—to end the rolling blackouts and restore energy security.
So where does this leave South Africa now? To summarise some of the key points from the BRICS 2024 Summit, the world is moving in a direction that South Africa should be eager to join. This year, the BRICS+ group grew to 13 members, with even more countries expressing interest in joining.
Despite this momentum, some critics remain. Economist Professor Patrick Bond of the University of Johannesburg has long argued that there is nothing truly transformative about BRICS+. According to Bond, BRICS is a “sub-imperial” formation that only legitimates the existing global economic order rather than disrupting it. He claims that the BRICS bloc expands the existing world system rather than offering a truly alternative approach.
While I respect Professor Bond’s viewpoint, many others—including myself—believe that BRICS does have the potential to reshape the global economic landscape. Free speech and the right to critique are fundamental, but I am inclined to think that BRICS represents a real opportunity for global economic cooperation, especially for developing nations like South Africa.
However, the BRICS 2024 Summit, hosted by Russia, did not focus much on de-dollarisation, despite it being a hot topic in global economic discussions. Instead, the summit's declarations highlighted concerns over Western sanctions, which have increasingly targeted key strategic energy infrastructure in an attempt to destabilise regional energy security and sovereignty. Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that, back in 1992, the G7 nations controlled 45.5% of global trade, while BRICS countries accounted for just 16.7% of global GDP. Fast-forward to 2023, and BRICS now accounts for 37.4% of global GDP, while the G7's share has shrunk to 29.3%.
BRICS countries now play a dominant role in global exports of energy, metals, and food. By 2030, BRICS is expected to generate most of the world’s GDP growth. This represents a significant shift in the global balance of power, and yet South Africa is missing out on the opportunity to align itself with these rising economic powers.
There is no logical reason why South Africa should continue to miss out on these crucial trade relations, partnerships, and collaborations with BRICS countries. We need economic growth to prosper, and BRICS presents the perfect opportunity to achieve that growth—especially in the energy sector.
It’s time for South Africa to shake off its lethargic attitude towards BRICS opportunities and start signing these deals. The time for talk is over.
BRICS reminds me of the Alaskan tundra wolf (Canis lupus albus), a mighty predator in one of the harshest environments on Earth. At 39.9kg to 50kg, with a length of up to 6 feet, these wolves are a force to be reckoned with. Similarly, the BRICS bloc—represented by countries across Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa—has positioned itself as an economic powerhouse that is poised to lead the world into a new era of prosperity. Like the tundra wolf, BRICS is prepared to thrive in its environment, and South Africa must be part of that future.
Let’s seize this moment, embrace the opportunities, and put ink to paper on the deals that will secure South Africa’s economic future.
Crown Prince Adil Nchabeleng is president of Transform RSA and an independent energy expert.
* The views in this column are independent of “Business Report” and Independent Media.
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