Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga can brace for incoming verbal and written broadsides relating to the BRICS Plus naval exercise from at least one public representative post the Presidential State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 12 February.
Will for Peace is currently (9 to 16 January) underway in and off Simon’s Town, SA Navy (SAN) fleet headquarters, led by the People’ Republic of China (PRC) – in the form of its PLAN (People’s Liberation Army Navy). Participating countries are, in alphabetical order, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Islam, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Chris Hattingh, who represents the Democratic Alliance (DA) on both the Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD) and the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans (PCDMV), has taken the powers that be at the South African defence ministry, the Department of Defence (DoD) and the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) to task on the exercise.
He maintains the PRC-led exercise includes Iran and Russia – both countries “heavily sanctioned and involved in active conflicts”.
“Calling the exercise ‘Will for Peace’ does not change the reality. At the same time, China is conducting large scale military exercises rehearsing a possible invasion of Taiwan. Using the language of peace to describe this kind of military alignment is misleading. South Africa’s policy of non-alignment is losing credibility because our words and actions no longer match.
“South Africa’s entrance to BRICS was purely for economic purposes and not to challenge or undermine the international rules-based order through blatant and weaponised antagonism brought about by rogue-aligned military exercises.
“While the government insists it is neutral, defence co-operation with democratic partners is falling apart,” he noted, pointing to joint exercises with the United States (US) cancelled, US participation in AAD “failed” and trust damaged.
Confirmation of a vessel each from the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN) and the IGRC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) Navy according to Hattingh raises further questions about Will for Peace. It also, he said in a weekend statement, “materially changes the character of the exercise and significantly alters its legal, diplomatic and geopolitical consequences”.
“The IRGC is a sanctioned and highly politicised military organisation that plays a central role in Iran’s regional proxy wars, missile and drone programmes and destabilisation across several regions,” the statement continues.
“This does not reduce the serious concerns already raised about Iran’s participation as a state. Iran remains deeply sanctioned and actively involved in conflict and instability. The presence of an IRGC vessel does not replace that concern, it deepens and escalates it. It takes this naval exercise from controversial co-operation with a sanctioned state into direct engagement with a designated revolutionary military organisation at the centre of Iran’s coercive regional strategy.
“Allowing an IRGC naval platform into South African waters goes beyond normal state-to-state naval engagement. It creates real legal, diplomatic and strategic risks, including reputational damage, exposure to secondary sanctions, and harm to South Africa’s international partnerships.
“For this reason, the difference between Iran’s regular navy and the IRGC is not technical or academic. It has real political and legal consequences in the international system. Engaging Iran’s regular navy is already politically and diplomatically contentious; engaging the IRGC takes it into a far more serious and dangerous category.” The statement has Hattingh saying.
He will “demand clear answers” from President Cyril Ramaphosa’ Cabinet minister entrusted with the defence portfolio in the upcoming first Parliamentary session of 2026. “She has a duty to explain why this distinction was considered acceptable, what risk assessments were done and what legal and diplomatic advice informed the decision,” he is on record as saying with additional questions as to who authorised the IRGC hull’s participation, what legal and sanctions advice was sought, was there a risk assessment and were diplomatic consequences considered.
“Parliamentary oversight will be pursued to ensure South Africa’s defence and foreign policy is not quietly shifted in ways that damage our interests, credibility and standing in the world,” he warns ahead of SONA and Parliament resuming next month.
The possibility of Will for Peace impacting negatively on South African foreign policy, particularly as regards International Relations and Co-operation Minister Ronald Lamola’s defence of the exercise, was condemned by DA International Relations spokesperson, Ryan Smith.
“Lamola’s utterances” Smith said, “demonstrate a deep ineptitude for foreign affairs from South Africa’s chief diplomat who frequently uses undiplomatic language, clings desperately to outdated 1960s ANC ideology and cares more about his party political dogma than the national interest”.
“Minister Lamola is the civilian authority responsible for ensuring that our international engagements align with the Constitution and the national interest. Yet despite clear knowledge of the participation of Iran’s IRGC, a sanctioned military entity currently implicated in the violent suppression of civilian protests, the Minister continues to defend South Africa hosting military exercises with nations actively involved in reversing and stifling the universal freedoms enshrined in our constitution.
“This open defiance is a blatant abdication of Minister Lamola’s responsibility to the Republic and brings into sharp question South Africa’s status as a non-aligned actor on the international stage.
“Minister Lamola’s wilful negligence has dire diplomatic implications in a rapidly shifting global environment where South Africa’s national defence and foreign policy ministries, which are run by ANC ministers entirely in the Government of National Unity (GNU), are leading our country into a moral and ethical abyss.
“By allowing the DoD to proceed unchecked in these military exercises, Minister Lamola has effectively outsourced South Africa’s foreign policy to the whims of the SANDF, exposing the country to serious diplomatic and economic risk.
“South Africa,” according to the Smith statement, “is now perceived not as a principled non-aligned state, but as a willing host for military co-operation with authoritarian regimes”.
