Instruments of China’s Foreign Policy Towards South Africa: An Afro-Decolonial Critique

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China–South Africa relations have received much attention from members of the public, academics, scholarly research, and the media. Following the signing of the Pretoria Declaration in 2000 and a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2010, China–South Africa relations have transmuted into a subject of scholarly debate and criticism. The dominant literature on the two countries’ ties focuses largely on whether the relationship is mutually beneficial and the purported shift in South Africa’s foreign policy towards China introduced by former president Jacob Zuma’s administration. The current article provides an Afro-Decolonial critique of the instruments of China’s foreign policy towards South Africa. This article aimed to unmask the coloniality that is embedded in the instruments of China’s foreign policy towards South Africa. Methodologically, the article adopted a qualitative desktop research approach that relied heavily on secondary and open access primary data. Documentary and discourse analysis were adopted in their broadest form to analyse the data. The article makes policy recommendations for South Africa to disentangle itself from the colonial practices advanced by China.