As South Africa presented its case accusing Israel of genocide to the International Court of Justice, the presence of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in and around the Hague court gave a flavour of the calibre of those willing this case on.

It was predictable that the South African government’s championing of this cause would ignite the ardour of the left. Quoting Nelson Mandela, the Labour MP Zarah Sultana took to X (formerly Twitter) to say with certainty that South Africa’s case against Israel was ‘devastating’.

The true story of South Africa since the 1990s has been one of staggering corruption

The African National Congress (ANC), which has exercised an unbroken monopoly on power in South Africa since the end of white-minority rule in the mid-1990s, continues to hold a certain type of westerner in thrall. Their imagining of South Africa likely fails to extend beyond the feelgood parameters of the film Invictus and the opening ceremony of the 2010 football World Cup. The case in The Hague will only add to that Panglossian imagining of a virtuous rainbow nation doing its bit for the so-called global south.

The notion of ANC-run South Africa as a good global citizen does not, however, last when it collides with reality. Consider its ongoing dalliances with Russia: it has refused to condemn the war in Ukraine and participated in a joint naval exercise with Russia and China in February 2023. It has also been alleged that embargoed Russian ships have been able to stock up on materiel and munitions in South African ports. Added to this, the state-owned Gazprombank has continued to win contracts in South Africa, allowing Russia to duck and weave around the global sanctions regime it faces.

The ANC’s financially motivated flirtations with the Moscow regime have, predictably, slipped under the radar of its new coterie of admirers who believe Cyril Ramaphosa’s government is an example of atavistic virtue. It also goes without saying that proximity to Beijing is another part of Pretoria’s contribution to a stable global order; following a deal signed last year, Chinese companies will be responsible for upgrading South Africa’s creaking and scandal riven energy sector.

The morally dubious performance of the ANC on the international stage is also compounded by its behaviour within its own borders. The true story of South Africa since the 1990s for anyone paying attention has been one of staggering corruption and the potential of a country being fettered as a result.

While a gaggle of lawyers enjoy the delights of the Hague courtesy of ANC largesse, unemployment hit a record 33 per cent in August 2023, with South Africa outpacing Djibouti, Kosovo and, ironically, Gaza and the West Bank. More than six in ten of the country’s black population are in receipt of some form of state benefit or grant almost 30 years after the end of apartheid.

White farmers in South Africa would also push back on the notion of ANC beneficence. Last year saw a noted and violent upswing in farm attacks, coupled with what is perceived to be unfriendly policies from upon high. The opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, and the ANC are locked in a dispute over new regulations from the government which its critics allege could stop farms deemed ‘too white’ from exporting to countries including the UK.

Little wonder then that a fifth of whites have left the country since the ANC assumed control. The soundtrack of ‘Kill the Boer’ which characterises the well-attended rallies of the Economic Freedom Fighters, an opposition party polling strongly ahead of this year’s election, was not much of an incentive to stay either.

South Africa under the ANC is in no position to be a moral arbiter on anything, given the degradation it has presided over at home and abroad. In the global left’s rush to join in any initiative which puts Israel in a bad light, they struggle to realise they are merely emboldening a regime which manifestly cares little for its own people, let alone those in Gaza.