A new report from the Middle East Africa Research Institute (MEARI) warns that South Africa’s foreign policy double standards carry real-world consequences. The report, Ties to Tehran: South Africa's Democracy and Its Relationship with Iran, reveals how the ANC government’s alignment with Iran’s theocratic regime is undermining South Africa’s democratic values and strategic interests.

The fallout is already visible. Mcebisi Jonas, recently appointed by President Ramaphosa as South Africa’s special envoy to the United States, has reportedly been denied a US visa, likely due to his connections with MTN, a company at the heart of the SA-Iran relationship.

Jonas’s role is the chairman of MTN Group whose controversial operations in Iran have sparked legal action in US courts under anti-terrorism legislation and in SA courts from Turkish telecoms company Turkcell. The MEARI report outlines longstanding allegations against MTN—including claims of bribery and complicity in Iranian surveillance that have also been raised in the US and SA courts—which raise serious questions about Jonas’s suitability as an envoy to Washington.

“South Africa can’t have it both ways,” the report warns. “You can’t embrace Iran’s ayatollahs at home while expecting red-carpet treatment in the West.”

The report highlights a pattern of contradictions: South Africa files genocide charges against Israel while remaining silent on Iran’s execution of protesters and persecution of women and minorities. Iranian warships are welcomed in our ports, BRICS membership is extended to Tehran, and South African officials publicly mourn the death of Iranian generals responsible for repression—all while trying to build bridges with Western democracies.

As global scrutiny mounts and consequences begin to materialise, MEARI’s report urges a national reckoning with the ANC’s foreign policy choices—before South Africa’s economic and diplomatic credibility suffers further damage.

The 75-page report examines how post-apartheid South Africa quietly cultivated a strategic relationship with Iran – a regime internationally condemned for terrorism sponsorship, repression of women, and systemic human rights abuses.

At the heart of the report is a stark contradiction: how does a democratic South Africa, whose constitution champions human rights, equality, and freedom, continue to embrace a regime notorious for systemic repression, brutal crackdowns on dissent, and a deeply theocratic governance model?

“Iran is no friend to freedom and democracy,” says Benji Shulman, executive director of MEARI,  “And yet successive ANC-led governments have not only maintained but deepened ties with Tehran — even as Iran cracked down on women protesters, pursued nuclear weapons, and armed militant groups across the Middle East.”

Report by the Middle East Africa Research Institute