India-South Africa India-South Africa 2019 | Page 29

SPECIAL REPORT
1. ‘The economic section of the
communiqué should have an explicit
reference to the world’s energy situation and
the section should call upon socialist nations
to give more assistance to needy nations’;
2. ‘The section on the Indian Ocean
should be redrafted to refl ect continuity in
the earlier resolutions and point of view
expressed on this question in the NAM’;
3. ‘The disarmament section should be
redrafted to take into account developments
since the tenth special session of the UN
General Assembly’;
4. ‘Continuity should be maintained
within the NAM’;
5. ‘All the main aims and objectives of
the NAM should be enumerated and placed
together to form an opening chapter of the
draft declaration’ (U.S. Jha. 1998: emphasis
mine).
Sh. V. P. Singh took over as Prime
Minister on December 2, 1989, and continued
till November 10, 1990, and supported
the NAM movement for the liberation of
Southern Africa. Sh. Narasimha Rao came to
power in June 1991 and affi rmed the NAM
objectives. Mr. Rao spoke in Tokyo in June
1992 and said, “The pursuit of Non-aligned
foreign policy is even more relevant today
than ever before. Non-alignment basically
consists of the espousal of the right of nations
to independence and development, regardless
of the blocking phenomenon. Whether there
is one block or more at a given moment, the
urge of a non-aligned country would continue
to be to maintain its independence, to take
decisions according to its rights, not tagging
itself in advance to others (M S Rajan. 1994:
122).” India took the forward position in
the Draft Declaration during the 10th NAM
Summit at Jakarta in 1992 and celebrated the
independence of South Africa.
Friendship Remains Today
In order to realise the Post 1994 political
transition in South Africa, it is important to
understand the nature of society to know the
mode of development. The vast experiences
of the Indian constitution have supported
the constitution building process of South
Africa. John Friedmann (1992:31) defi nes
The 150th Birth
Anniversary of
Mahatma Gandhi
and the 100th Birth
Anniversary of
Nelson Mandela are
being celebrated
in both countries
by organising
seminars, cultural
activities, painting
competitions and
others.
alternative development as, ‘–a process of
social and political empowerment whose long
term objective is to re-balance the structure
of power in society by making state action
more accountable, strengthening the powers
of civil society in the management of its own
aff airs, and making corporate business more
socially responsive’. In the cases of both India
and South Africa, a great deal of attention has
been accorded by the media to disturbances
and unrest that have occurred in a number
of states such a Punjab, Kashmir, Assam,
Nagaland in India and Kwa Zulu Natal and
separate Afrikaner state in South Africa
during the 1990s. India (with the exception
of Kashmir) and South Africa have been
able to resolve many of the issues that led to
unrest in these states. To meet the demand/
desire for regional autonomy, India and
South Africa have attempted to adapt their
respective fl exible federal constitutions to
the needs of a heterogeneous society (Suresh
Kumar, 2002: i).
The priority assigned to the International
fraternity in independent South Africa is
visible in the constitution of South Africa as
it promotes and ensures respect for languages,
including German, Greek, Gujarati, Tamil,
Telugu, Urdu & Hindi (of Indian origin
people) and, Portuguese (Brazilian language)
[The Constitution of South Africa, 1996:3].
To sum up, the long friendship and
partnership has evolved into a Strategic
partnership in the political, social, economic,
defence, pharmaceutical, ICT, tourism,
education and health along with the global
issue of restructuring of Security Council
membership, climate change and sustainable
development, war against terror, development
of BRICS Bank and strengthening Diaspora
connections. The 150th Birth Anniversary
of Mahatma Gandhi and the 100th Birth
Anniversary of Nelson Mandela are being
celebrated in both countries by organising
seminars, cultural activities, painting
competitions and others. 
* The author is Head of Department of
African Studies, University of Delhi, India
and his Doctoral thesis is on the Federalism
of South Africa and India.
India-South Africa • 2019 • 29