South Africa and the DRC: Evaluating a South–South Partnership for Peace, Governance and Development

The study evaluates the South Africa–DRC development partnership, finding that South Africa is a significant partner in absolute financial terms and relative to its gross national income. While the partnership aligns with SSC values of national ownership and non-conditionality, it suffers from fragmented coordination, weak monitoring and evaluation systems, and a lack of clear strategic intent from the South African side.

• Between 2001 and 2015, South Africa spent at least ZAR 8.5 billion (over $1 billion) on official South-South cooperation (SSC) activities in the DRC through various government departments and public entities.
• In 2008, South Africa was the third largest development partner to the DRC in absolute terms, spending approximately $181 million (ZAR 1.5 billion), surpassing Belgium and nearly equaling the UK's DFID.
• When measured as a percentage of gross national income (GNI), South Africa's international development efforts in the DRC exceed those of most OECD-DAC donors.
• South Africa's support to the DRC is characterized as demand-driven and non-conditional, often responding ad hoc to requests from Kinshasa and respecting national sovereignty, sometimes at the expense of its own constitutional values regarding human rights and term limits.
• The partnership is marked by a lack of internal coordination and strategic focus on the South African side, with development assistance provided in a fragmented manner across different agencies.
• Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems for South Africa's SSC are extremely weak, with a lack of basic documentation and a central information hub, which limits accountability and the use of soft power.
• South Africa provides significant technical and capacity-building support in governance, police training, and electoral logistics, including the distribution of 1,863 tonnes of electoral material for the 2006 and 2011 elections.
• The Grand Inga hydroelectric power project is a key strategic energy engagement, with a treaty committing South Africa to off-take 2,500MW of power, though the project has faced political and technical delays.
• While South Africa is viewed as a trusted 'honest broker' by the DRC government, the relationship is described as a 'win-win in favour of the DRC,' as South Africa's gains from the partnership are less clear.
• Domestic South African policies, specifically tightening visa restrictions and xenophobic outbreaks, create incoherence with its foreign policy goal of African integration and negatively impact SSC quality.

APA

Alessandro, N., & Rawhani, B. C. (2016). South Africa and the DRC: Evaluating a South–South Partnership for Peace, Governance and Development. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Occasional-Paper-235.pdf

Chicago

Alessandro, Neissan, and Besharati Carmel Rawhani. South Africa and the DRC: Evaluating a South–South Partnership for Peace, Governance and Development. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2016. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Occasional-Paper-235.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Alessandro |first1=Neissan |last2=Rawhani |first2=Besharati Carmel |title=South Africa and the DRC: Evaluating a South–South Partnership for Peace, Governance and Development |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=July 2016 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Occasional-Paper-235.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{alessandro2016south, author = {Alessandro, Neissan and Rawhani, Besharati Carmel}, title = {{South Africa and the DRC: Evaluating a South–South Partnership for Peace, Governance and Development}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2016}, month = jul, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Occasional-Paper-235.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }