An Investigation into the Impact of the Economic Ties Between South Africa and Russia as BRICS Countries

It is a known fact that the BRICS started as a political agreement that brought together selected emerging economies to address their challenges. BRIC became BRICS in 2010 as South Africa joined the organisation. Of importance to the newly enlarged BRICS was the focus to economic development and diplomacy that the partnership embraced as opposed to the political approach that the founders had initially. The economic approach to BRICS saw the organisation prioritising developmental projects, Foreign direct investment (FDI) as well as sustainable job opportunities among member countries. The formation of the BRICS Business Council and the collaboration with the department of trade and industry allowing the bread and butter issues to be addressed at the grassroot level through service delivery, skills transfer, international trade and cooperation. BRICS used to follow the winner takes all approach as the organisation promoted a top down way of dealing with problems rather than the current bottom up approach. Before the financial turmoil, South Africa had a challenge vis-à-vis addressing poverty, unemployment and violent crimes (also known as the triple challenge). The civil society and other human rights groups came up with the idea to involve the community at the grassroot level in solving whatever difficulties. The paper is based on a study on the impact of economic ties between the BRICS countries with focus on South Africa and Russia. It is hoped that some of the recommendations applicable to the studied countries could shed light on what is needed for policy interventions going forward.