South Africa's foreign policy during COVID-19: evaluating prospects of establishing the BRICS vaccine centre and intra-BRICS cooperation

Abstract

The 13th BRICS Summit held in 2021 affirmed the need for intra-BRICS cooperation to implement vaccine collaboration including the establishment of the BRICS Vaccine Centre, which was initially proposed by South Africa in 2018. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the need to re-assess South Africa's foreign policy objectives in BRICS in terms of vaccine diplomacy, and implementation of the BRICS vaccine centre to its benefit. The article determines whether South Africa effectively cast its foreign policy net during COVID-19 through the BRICSs alliance. This paper utilises one of South Africa's four levels of engagement through its 2012 BRICS strategy which is to strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation from a more organizational perspective. The methodology implemented examines whether South Africa can strategically leverage intra-BRICS vaccine cooperation through COVID-19 vaccine capacity and political collaboration. Given the divergent interests of the BRICS grouping, this paper argues that pragmatism may be the best foreign policy option in navigating options for implementing a BRICS Vaccine Centre, which can act as a lever to promote South Africa's interests.