ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the role of South Africa in the BRICS and looks at some of the key reasons for and against the inclusion. It reviews how the economic and political relationships of South Africa with each of the BRICS members have evolved. The chapter highlights some of the biggest challenges that the country faces in order to assert itself within the group. The BRIC's interest in South Africa as a member came as part of a greater interest in the rise of Africa as a strategic partner in economic and political terms. South Africa, India, and China have the strongest trade relations within the BRICS, which is driven by their shared economic interests. In fact, among the BRICS, China has by far the biggest stakes not only in South Africa, but on the continent as a whole. South Africa's inclusion in BRICS is by far one of its most successful foreign policy achievements in the past decade.
