Japan Chose Growth While South Africa Celebrated Repression

Japan’s election on Sunday delivered Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi an unusually strong mandate. Her governing party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), secured two-thirds of the seats in the Japanese parliament. This is the highest number of seats won by any party in a Japanese post-war election and the highest number of seats ever won by the LDP.

The LDP has dominated post-war Japanese politics since its founding in 1955 and has only been out of power twice, between 1993 and 1996, and again between 2009 and 2012.

Politically, Takaichi is a conservative and a nationalist. She emphasises economic growth, strong national defence, a close alliance with the United States (US), and a sceptical view of China’s regional ambitions.

That political stance was central to her campaign. She argued that Japan should work closely with the US on trade, defence, and investment, including co-operation on critical minerals used in cars, electronics, and advanced manufacturing. These relationships were framed not as ideological loyalty, but as practical tools to support jobs, wages, and long-term economic stability. Voters responded by giving her the political freedom to act.

The developments in Japan are in stark contrast to those in South Africa.

South Africa faces a comparable economic challenge but has taken a very different direction. Unemployment remains high, fixed investment is weak, and growth has failed to keep pace with population needs. The governing African National Congress (ANC) is under visible electoral pressure. In this environment, sustained economic growth is the single most important factor that could stabilise its political future.

Closer co-operation with the US offers one of the clearest opportunities to unlock that growth through trade access, investment flows, and industrial partnerships. These are the kinds of relationships that tend to translate into factories staying open, new projects being funded, and confidence returning to the private sector.

Yet South Africa continues to take an antagonistic approach towards the US.

In recent years South Africa’s increasingly warm posture towards Iran has repeatedly irritated Washington. Pretoria has defended Tehran at the United Nations, avoided condemning Iranian repression, and participated in diplomatic and military engagements that the US regards as legitimising a sanctioned regime. These choices have reinforced the perception in Washington that South Africa is willing to align with American adversaries, even at the cost of trade, investment, and strategic goodwill.

The latest prod in the eye of Uncle Sam by Pretoria came on Friday. Sindisiwe Chikunga, Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, attended an event at the Iranian embassy marking the anniversary of that country’s Islamic Revolution. The event was explicitly political and publicly aligned South Africa with a regime that remains openly hostile to the United States and its allies.

It is highly ironic that South Africa’s representative to this event was the minister for women, as Iran’s post-revolutionary system is widely associated with severe restrictions on women’s rights and personal freedoms. Celebrating that revolution while holding responsibility for women’s affairs exposes a sharp inconsistency between South Africa’s stated values and its diplomatic choices.

While Japan’s government is deepening economic partnerships that support jobs and growth, South Africa prioritised symbolic alignment that increases distance from a key economic partner. Governments and investors take such signals seriously when deciding where to commit capital and long-term support.

Japan’s election shows how voters respond when leaders clearly link foreign alignment to economic opportunity. Contrary to popular belief South African voters do make their choice based on the economy. The ANC reached its zenith in support in 2004, when the economy was growing at 5% and jobs were being created. Since then, the South African economy has slowed significantly, with a corresponding decline in support for the party.

The ANC now faces serious challenges at the ballot box and as long as its foreign policy choices are made for outdated ideological reasons, rather than for pragmatic ones that put South Africa’s economic interests first – as the LDP has done – the ANC will continue to be punished by South African voters.