South Africa is set to host joint naval exercises with BRICS countries including Russia, China and Iran from Jan. 9-16, with warships spotted off the country’s coast on Thursday.
South Africa, along with China, Brazil, India and Russia, helps make up BRICS – a loose economic alignment of self-styled rising powers. Iran is a more recent addition to the group, which is often referred to as BRICS Plus.
As per AFP, Chinese and Iranian warships are docked off South Africa’s main navy base. China will lead the exercise, and Russia is reportedly also expected to take part – according to DefenceWeb, Russian warships were sighted en route to the southern tip of Africa before Jan. 5.
Russia has reportedly sent a Steregushchiy Class corvette Stoykiy with a Ka-27PL ASW helicopter on board as well as an escorting Altay Class oiler Yelnya to take part.
The South African government announced the joint “Will for Peace” exercise on Dec. 30. In a statement, Johannesburg said that the countries participating in the exercise had agreed on a theme: Joint Actions to Ensure the Safety of Shipping and Maritime Economic Activities.
“This theme reflects the collective commitment of all participating navies to safeguard maritime trade routes, enhance shared operational procedures and deepen cooperation in support of peaceful maritime security initiatives,” the statement said.
Despite being renamed “Will for Peace,” the exercise appears to be more or less identical to the previously postponed Exercise Mosi III – which was planned for November 2025, but was cancelled due to Johannesburg’s hosting of the G20 summit, which US President Donald Trump boycotted over South Africa’s economic policy.
US tariffs have hit the country hard since Trump was re-elected. South Africa-US relations have deteriorated significantly, partly due to Trump’s incorrect assertion that Johannesburg is committing genocide against its white population.
But Johannesburg’s relations with Moscow are not straightforward either.
In November 2025, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma, withdrew from public life over allegations that she had helped recruit men from South Africa and Botswana for Russian military service under the guise of a bodyguard training program.
South Africa’s liberal Democratic Alliance (DA) party, which is part of the ruling coalition government, criticized Exercise “Will for Peace” and called for a full parliamentary briefing on its objectives, participants, leadership, costs, and implications.
In a statement, the DA said that Mosi III was postponed ahead of the G20 summit due to its political sensitivity – and that that sensitivity is no less acute now than it was then.
“This exercise is being led by China and includes participation by Russia and Iran, both heavily sanctioned and both involved in active conflicts,” the statement said. “Hosting and training with such forces cannot be described as neutral or non-aligned. It is a political choice, whether the government admits it or not.”
Neither Brazil nor India, the other founding members of BRICS, appear to be taking part in the exercise. Like the G20, BRICS is an economic forum rather than a military alliance. Some critics argue that carrying out joint military exercises goes beyond the bounds of the economic forum.
Chinese state media outlet Global Times rejected these criticisms, reporting that the exercise “does not target any third-party country or bloc as a hypothetical adversary; rather, it addresses the common threats to the security of maritime trade for BRICS Plus nations.”
The inaugural Exercise Mosi (which included Russia and China) was held in 2019. In February 2023, South Africa drew criticism by participating again, despite Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“As more time goes on, South Africa’s BRICS membership has rendered South Africa a pawn in the power games being waged by rogue states on the international stage,” the DA statement reads.