Updated on: 11 Jun 2026 | By Actual Article
It is hard to scroll through the news without bumping into the word "BRICS". For a grouping that started as a catchy acronym dreamt up by an investment banker, it has grown into something far bigger. Today, BRICS represents nearly half of the world's population and a growing slice of global economic power. But for ordinary South Africans, the real question is not about summit photo ops or diplomatic statements. It is about jobs, cheaper goods, new export markets, and whether our membership in this club actually puts food on the table.
South Africa joined BRICS back in 2010. The promise was straightforward: better trade ties with four of the world's largest economies – Brazil, Russia, India and China. More than a decade later, the results have been a mixed bag. There have been clear wins, especially in agriculture and diplomatic influence. But there have also been frustrations, including a stubborn trade deficit and the feeling that we have given more than we have received. This guide cuts through the jargon. We will walk through what BRICS actually does, how South Africa has fared inside the bloc, where the opportunities lie, and what the future holds as the group expands and takes on a more ambitious agenda.
The story of BRICS begins in 2006, when the foreign ministers of Brazil, Russia, India and China met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. The term "BRIC" had already been coined a few years earlier by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill, who argued that these four countries would dominate the global economy by 2050. The first formal summit took place in 2009 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. A year later, South Africa was invited to join, transforming BRIC into BRICS.
Why South Africa? The country was seen as the gateway to Africa. Its inclusion gave the bloc a voice from the African continent and reinforced the idea that BRICS represented the Global South, not just Asia and South America. At the time, the move was widely celebrated in Pretoria as a major diplomatic coup.
For more than a decade, BRICS remained a club of five. Then came 2024. The bloc invited Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates to join as full members, effective from 1 January 2024. That same year, Saudi Arabia was also invited, though its membership status has remained somewhat fluid.
Then came another landmark moment. In January 2025, Indonesia – Southeast Asia's largest economy – officially joined as the tenth full member. That same month, nine countries were granted "partner country" status: Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan. Nigeria was added slightly later, on 17 January 2025. A tenth partner, Vietnam, was also named around that time.
What does this mean? The expanded BRICS now includes 10 full members and 10 partner countries, representing roughly 45 percent of the world's population and about 35 percent of global GDP when measured by purchasing power parity.
|
Category |
Countries (as of 2025) |
|
Full Members |
Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, UAE, Indonesia |
|
Partner Countries |
Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Nigeria, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam |
This expansion changes the dynamics considerably. BRICS is no longer just five large economies talking among themselves. It is now a sprawling coalition with members and partners across Asia, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe. For South Africa, this means more potential trade partners, but also more voices at the table and more competing interests to manage.
Let us talk about trade, because that is where the rubber meets the road. When South Africa joined BRICS, the hope was simple: sell more of our manufactured goods and agricultural products to the world's fastest-growing markets. More exports mean more jobs, more tax revenue, and a stronger rand.
On the agricultural front, the results have been genuinely impressive. In 2025, despite global trade disruptions and tough competition, South Africa's agricultural exports hit record levels. Total national exports reached R581.5 billion by the end of the fourth quarter, with agriculture alone contributing R268.7 billion – the highest performance since before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Here is the part that matters for BRICS watchers. Exports to BRICS+ countries surged by 31 percent in 2025. That is significantly higher than growth to the European Union (9 percent) or to Southern African Development Community (SADC) markets (8 percent). The United Kingdom saw 21 percent growth, but BRICS+ was the real star.
The China connection deserves special attention. In late 2025, Beijing approved imports of South African stone fruits – prunes, plums, peaches, apricots and cherries. This was unprecedented. China had never before authorised multiple fruit categories from a single country under one agreement. For South African fruit growers, this opened a massive new market worth an initial $23.3 million, with far more potential to come.
Why does this matter now? The United States has become an increasingly unreliable partner. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which for decades allowed about 20 percent of South Africa's exports to enter the US duty-free, expired and has not been renewed in a way that includes South Africa. Worse, the Trump administration imposed a 30 percent tariff on South African goods, along with even heavier tariffs on other BRICS members like India (50 percent) and Brazil (50 percent).
In that environment, China's offer of duty-free access to African nations under a new economic partnership framework has been a lifeline. South African farmers, who saw exports to the US drop by 36 percent in the final quarter of 2025, have turned eastward – and BRICS has provided the political framework to make that pivot possible.
Now for the reality check. A detailed academic study published in 2025 took a hard look at South Africa's trade with the original four BRIC countries over the period from 2010 to 2024. The findings were sobering. South Africa's exports to its BRICS partners have not grown and diversified as hoped. Instead, the country has run a growing trade deficit, importing far more industrial goods than it exports.
There is a structural reason for this. South Africa has the lowest average tariff rates towards its BRICS partners – between 4.9 percent and 5.3 percent. By contrast, Russia's general tariff is 10.3 percent, and other members have even higher barriers. In other words, South Africa opened its market more than its partners did, and it is paying the price in a widening trade gap.
What does this look like on the ground? South Africa imports machinery, electronics, vehicles and chemicals from China and India. It exports raw materials, minerals and agricultural products. That is not the kind of balanced, mutually beneficial trade that creates high-value industrial jobs in South Africa. The country remains stuck at the lower end of global value chains, even within the BRICS grouping.
The study's authors argue for a BRICS Plus treaty that would eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers more symmetrically. Without such a binding agreement, they warn, South Africa's position inside the bloc will remain one of dependence rather than partnership.
If you follow BRICS news, you have heard about "de-dollarisation". It is the idea that the bloc should reduce its reliance on the US dollar for international trade and financial transactions. In theory, this would give member countries more monetary sovereignty and protect them from the impact of US sanctions or interest rate swings.
The push for de-dollarisation is real, but the results so far are modest. According to the latest available data, the renminbi (Chinese yuan) is reportedly used in about 50 percent of intra-BRICS trade. However, the renminbi accounts for only around 2 percent of global payments as measured by the SWIFT system. The US dollar is still on the other side of 88 percent of all foreign exchange transactions worldwide.
A common BRICS currency has been discussed for years. At the 2024 summit in Kazan, Russia, President Vladimir Putin even displayed a prototype of a potential shared currency. But at the July 2025 summit in Rio de Janeiro, the final declaration contained no mention of a common currency or a coordinated de-dollarisation strategy. In other words, the idea remains far from reality.
For South Africa, de-dollarisation is a mixed blessing. On one hand, reducing dollar dependence could make it easier to trade with Russia and China without worrying about US sanctions. On the other hand, the dollar's dominance also brings stability. The rand is not ready to play the role of a major reserve currency, and a sudden shift could create more volatility than it solves.
What South Africans should watch: The New Development Bank (NDB), also known as the BRICS Bank, is quietly expanding its lending in local currencies. That is a practical step that could gradually reduce dollar dependence without the drama of a new global currency. The NDB is chaired by former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and has been actively funding infrastructure projects across member countries.
BRICS is not a monolithic bloc. Its members have different political systems, competing economic interests, and in some cases, outright conflicts. This creates awkward moments – especially for South Africa, which tries to balance its BRICS commitments with its long-standing ties to the West.
In December 2025, South Africa did something remarkable. It broke ranks with all its other BRICS partners and voted in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution demanding that Russia return thousands of Ukrainian children who had been forcibly transferred or deported during the war. Russia and Iran voted against the resolution. The other BRICS members – China, India, Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, UAE and Indonesia – all abstained.
Why did South Africa break from the pack? The answer lies in President Cyril Ramaphosa's personal commitment to the issue. He had raised the matter directly with Putin during the African Peace Mission in June 2023. Later, during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to South Africa, Zelensky handed Ramaphosa a list of 400 abducted children and asked for help securing their return.
South Africa's ambassador to the UN, Mathu Joyini, explained the vote simply: children should never be targets of breaches of international humanitarian law. The move earned South Africa praise from Western nations and from Ukrainians living in South Africa. But it also highlighted the tensions within BRICS. Being a member of the bloc does not mean agreeing on everything. Sometimes, Pretoria has to choose between its partners and its principles.
Another test came in mid-2025, when then-US President Donald Trump threatened to impose additional tariffs on BRICS countries, accusing the bloc of pursuing "anti-American policies". Trump specifically warned that he would charge South Africa a 30 percent tariff on all its exports to the United States.
President Ramaphosa hit back. He said BRICS should be viewed as one of several emerging centres of global power working to improve governance and development, not as a rival to existing institutions like the UN and the G20. He warned against punishing countries that seek peaceful cooperation. South Africa's foreign ministry spokesperson went further, calling BRICS a push for "reformed multi-lateralism, nothing more".
The episode showed that BRICS membership comes with geopolitical costs. Aligning too closely with Russia and China can invite retaliation from the West. South Africa's challenge is to extract economic benefits from BRICS while maintaining working relationships with traditional partners in Europe and North America.
Let us bring this down to ground level. How does any of this affect someone living in Soweto, Mitchells Plain or the Eastern Cape?
Jobs in agriculture: The 31 percent growth in BRICS+ agricultural exports translates into real jobs. Fruit growers in the Western Cape and Limpopo are hiring more workers to meet Chinese demand. The recent stone fruit deal alone has encouraged farmers to expand their orchards and packhouses.
Cheaper goods: Trade with China and India keeps prices down on electronics, clothing and household goods. If South Africa pulled back from BRICS, those imports would become more expensive.
Investment and infrastructure: Chinese companies have invested more than $11 billion in South Africa, creating jobs in manufacturing and logistics. The New Development Bank has funded energy and water projects across the country.
Diplomatic weight: South Africa punches above its weight on the global stage partly because it speaks for Africa within BRICS. That influence matters when negotiating climate finance, debt relief or trade rules.
However, there are also frustrations. The trade deficit means South Africa is not capturing as much value as it should. Bureaucratic delays, such as slow visa processing for skilled workers from BRICS countries, have frustrated investors. A $200 million project in the Eastern Cape was delayed for months because three Chinese engineers could not get work visas. Those kinds of administrative failures undermine the promise of BRICS.
Projections for 2030 suggest that BRICS countries will make up roughly 48 percent of the world's GDP. As the economic weight of the G7 nations declines, BRICS's share of global output is expected to surpass one third, with its exports accounting for about a quarter of the global total.
For South Africa, the next few years will be defined by one document: the BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy 2030. President Ramaphosa has been pushing hard to finalise this roadmap, which covers cooperation on trade, digital economy, finance, sustainable development and the multilateral trading system. At an emergency leaders' meeting in September 2025, he urged his counterparts to move "from crisis management to strategic action".
The strategy is not just another diplomatic declaration. It includes concrete targets for reducing non-tariff barriers, streamlining investment rules and building infrastructure corridors that connect BRICS countries. If implemented well, it could address the trade imbalance that has held South Africa back.
But implementation is the hard part. BRICS has a reputation for producing grand statements that are followed by little action. The 2030 strategy will test whether the bloc can turn words into real economic integration.
If you take away one thing from this guide, let it be this: BRICS is not a charity club. It is a forum where countries with very different interests try to find common ground. For South Africa, the benefits are real but uneven. Agriculture has been a clear winner. Manufacturing has lagged behind. The trade deficit is a problem that needs fixing.
Here is what you should keep an eye on in the coming months and years:
BRICS has come a long way from a banker's acronym. It is now a significant force in global politics and economics. For South Africa, membership has opened doors that would otherwise have stayed shut. The agricultural export boom, the Chinese fruit deals, the NDB infrastructure loans – these are not small things.
But membership has also exposed weaknesses in South Africa's economy. The country has not industrialised fast enough to benefit fully from the relationship. It runs a trade deficit. It struggles with red tape that drives away investors. And it faces uncomfortable diplomatic choices when its partners clash with the West.
The good news is that these problems are not fatal. They are fixable, but only if South Africa approaches BRICS with clear eyes and a strategic plan. The 2030 Economic Partnership Strategy is an opportunity to reset the terms of engagement. Whether the country seizes that opportunity or lets it slip away will determine whether BRICS ends up being a genuine success story or a missed chance.
For now, the smart money is on cautious optimism. The pivot to the East is happening, whether we like it or not. BRICS is the vehicle. South Africa is on board. The question is whether we will learn to drive, or just be passengers.
