South Africa Should Stand with the Iranian People, Not Their Oppressors

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may be dead, but the warm feelings linger on in South Africa. The Islamic Republic’s brutal repression of its civilians and the US-Israeli operation against Iran, called Epic Fury, have placed an uncomfortable spotlight on the cozy ties Pretoria enjoys with the regime in Tehran.

Chants in Farsi of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” resonated in the Islamic Centre for Africa mosque in Johannesburg, South Africa, during a memorial service for Khamenei.

The mosque, which has placed an Israeli flag on the floor of its entrance to force worshippers to step on it, is part of the Ahlul Bait Foundation — a network of Iranian-aligned Shia mosques in South Africa.

But eulogies for Iran’s ruthless dictator were not confined to Shia mosques.

South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), conveyed its “sincere condolences” to the people of Iran and implied the US-Israeli strike was illegal.

The ANC’s secretary-general described Khamenei as a “freedom fighter” and vowed, “We must not forget our friends.” The Al Jama-ah Party, which sits in the ANC-led government, explicitly condemned the attack on the Islamic Republic.

The South Africa-Iran relationship has blossomed since Hamas turned southern Israel’s flower-filled meadows into killing fields on October 7, 2023.

Just weeks after that attack, South Africa’s then Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor visited Iran, sparking speculation that the Islamic Republic helped direct South Africa’s International Court of Justice case falsely accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

The ANC’s first deputy secretary-general called Iran a “fraternal” country that she was “proud to associate with” when she hosted the Iranian ambassador to South Africa at ANC headquarters in May 2025.

She went on to declare, “We can’t hide our friends when they actually identified with us, in the most difficult times of our history.” Last week she kept her vow, and led an ANC delegation that signed a condolence book for Khamenei at the Iranian embassy.

Additionally, the head of the South African armed forces pledged military and political support for Iran during an August 2025 visit, causing a stir — but he was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.

Unfortunately, Iran’s violent suppression of protests in January 2026 has made these fraternal bonds a liability for South Africa’s desired role as a beacon of morality. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called for “restraint and dialogue.” Ramaphosa did not condemn the Islamic Republic for murdering Iranians, instead registering his “concern” about the “loss of life.”

South Africa even abstained on a UN Human Rights Council resolution condemning Iran’s brutality against demonstrators. Pretoria did, however, express that it was “concerned at reports that show that there has been direct interference by external actors to sow divisions and deepen instability in Iran.”

Not only did South Africa refuse to denounce Iran, but Pretoria also hosted an Iranian naval delegation while Iranian internal security forces were at the peak of their domestic butchery. From January 9-16, 2026, as part of the “Will for Peace” joint naval exercise, South Africa hosted warships from Iran, Russia, and China, among others. The optics were bad enough that Ramaphosa claimed to have ordered that Iran’s delegation be downgraded, but three Iranian ships — the Makran, the Naghdi, and the Shahid Mahdavi — were nevertheless spotted along the South African coast.

Coinciding with the naval exercise, the Iranian subsidiary of South African telecommunications giant MTN collaborated with Tehran’s crackdown on protesters. MTN Irancell, Iran’s second-largest mobile phone operator, sacked its chief executive for failing to comply immediately with the government’s Internet shutdown, replacing him with a more compliant director.

MTN’s involvement in Iran has been controversial from the start. The company allegedly bribed its way into Iran under the leadership of its then board chair, Ramaphosa. This venture raises concerns about Ramaphosa’s potential conflicts of interest in Iran.

MTN controls 49 percent of MTN Irancell. Khamenei and the Iranian Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics controlled the other 51 percent, which made Khamenei and Defense Minister Amir Nasirzadeh — both eliminated in the past week — the ultimate controlling shareholders of MTN Irancell. MTN should consider the moral danger of doing business with brutal dictators.

The South African government has been a key ally of the ayatollah-led regime. The current US-Israel war against the Islamic Republic is the perfect opportunity for Pretoria to reassess its relationship with Tehran, clarifying that it stands with the people of Iran, not their oppressors.

David May is a research manager and senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Theodore Schneiderman is an intern. For more analysis from the authors and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow David on X @DavidSamuelMay. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.