By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider 

South Africa has taken to facilitating Iranian, Russian and Chinese warships for a week of naval drills amid geopolitical tensions rising between the United States and Venezuela, since the United States have seized oil tankers and captured the President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. 

The Chinese defense ministry has highlighted that the purpose of these drills is to safeguard shipping routes and economic activities. Some of the drills that these military forces will be running include counter-terrorism rescue drills as well as strikes on maritime targets.

This joint naval force had arrived in Simon’s Town Naval Base, located in the South of Cape Town on Friday 9 January, as Russian, Chinese and Iranian ships were seen entering the harbour and an opening ceremony was held for them on Saturday 10 January.

 According to the spokesperson of the South African Armed forces there is still uncertainty over if other BRICS countries will be participating in these drills which are set to conclude on Friday 16 January 2026. 

The last time South Africa had naval exercise with fellow BRICS members China and Russia was in 2019 in an operation titled “Mosi” which is a Tswana name for smoke, and held another operation titled “Mosi II” in 2023 during a time when tensions were at their peak between Russia and Ukraine. 

Mosi III was set to take place in November 2025 but was postponed in order to facilitate the G20 leaders summit which took place in the same month. 

There are concerns that this move may easily aggravate the tension that South Africa has with the United States, tensions which have been building up since April last year as America accused South Africa of perpetrating a white genocide, and may alienate themselves with the trading partnership shared between the two nations.

 The rising tensions between South Africa and the United States were fuelled by South Africa taking Israel to the International Court of Justice for Israel perpetrating a genocide against Palestine in the beginning of 2024, as America have stated that the charges against Israel are baseless.

 Many analysts have voiced concern over the fact that South Africa cannot afford to alienate themselves from the US market as it is one of the essential figures in upholding South Africa’s economy as the US has contributed companies to South Africa in which 500,000 South Africans have received employment as Chinese companies in South Africa have only contributed to roughly 20,000 South Africans receiving jobs. 

However, according to figures provided by the South African government, the Chinese have contributed to 400,000 South Africans receiving employment in 2024.