The headline of this article sounds a bit like a 1960s band. A popular music band. A pop band. But, alas, it is no band – it is what should be an honest reflection on what the world knows as Brics, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Bric came into existence in 2008 and morphed into Brics in 2010.

The reason for its establishment was the ‘emergence’ of these twenty-first-century ‘powerful countries’, which boast a “strong economy, strong military, and strong political leadership”. A question mark has always hung over South Africa’s admission to the bloc, given that Nigeria and Egypt both have surpassed South Africa as the biggest economy on the African continent. You may argue that South Africa has retaken the second position from Egypt, but first position it no longer possesses. As a consolation, South Africa is now referred to as the most diversified or the most developed economy on the continent.

This begs the question: How many positions of power and privilege does South Africa hold, based on past performance? Could it be a case of “the past is so bright, I gotta wear shades”? (Apologies to Timbuk 3.) Is this not a bit unfair to Nigeria and even Egypt? Should they not be rewarded for their recent economic performance?

Before you dismiss this out of hand, based on misplaced patriotism, just give it some thought. Each of the Brics countries is essentially the best-performing emerging country on its continent. So, why is it different for Africa? Surely, South Africa cannot be considered a country that possesses great potential. Should Africa not be represented in the bloc by its top emerging country, or is it a case of once you have secured your place at the Brics table, you simply cannot be dislodged? With all the changes in the world that question the status quo, the retention of a privilege due to past performance is simply not justifiable.

Quite ironically, South Africa is the current chair of the Brics bloc, having taken the position on January 1, and is due to relinquish it on December 31. It was because of South Africa’s being chair that the Annual Brics Leaders Summit was held in South Africa from July 25 to 27.

In the aftermath of the summit, I came across two interesting observations. The first was from Business Leadership South Africa, which stated: “South Africa’s relationship with Brics countries now [needs] to mature to allow the country to export an increasing proportion of value- added goods to these countries and address the trade and investment deficit between them, most notably with China.” Without wanting to state the obvious, the belief in ‘balanced trade’ – and now seemingly ‘balanced investment’ – is confined to the realms of fiction and illusion. It is just as plausible as the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Countries trade with one another to attain a preference and not because they feel an obligation to do so. That reality is apparently not dawning on South Africa. As for investment, South Africa seems to have a warped view on investment too. Just because an investment made by a South African firm in a foreign country has increased significantly in overall value does not mean that an overseas company now needs to make an investment in South Africa. The return on investment is attributable to the performance of the firm in which the investment was made, not to the performance of the investor.

The second observation related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, to which President Cyril Ramaphosa referred: “There is much we can do together to develop appropriate regulatory frameworks, infrastructure and skills to support and enable the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” Well, in his 2016 book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairperson of the World Economic Forum, describes it as the emergence of technological breakthroughs in, among others, robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, quantum computing, biotechnology, the Internet of Things, three-dimensional printing and autonomous vehicles. Surely, this is not in South Africa’s league.