No one would really complain if these visits resulted in the accrual of greater welfare and security for the nation. But this is hardly a template for South Africa’s presidents. Like former president Thabo Mbeki, President Jacob Zuma is also a "foreign-policy president" and a frequent flyer. However, neither of them brought home the beef. When Zuma took over, South Africans expected him to become more of a "domestic-policy president". The assumption was that he had learned from Mbeki’s dereliction of domestic priorities, which contributed to his premature downfall. What counts in Mbeki’s favour is that he took office as an experienced diplomat, while Zuma came in as a novice. But this did not bother him unduly as he seems to be trying his best to take over Mbeki’s mantle as Africa’s uber-diplomat.

The basic truth in politics is that foreign policy begins at home. Without being underpinned by a stable, legitimate and strong domestic situation, a successful foreign policy is highly doubtful. This was poignantly demonstrated by Zuma’s last-minute damp-squib effort to salvage the falling rand. If he tried his best, as some pundits are inferring, his best fell woefully short. To add insult to injury, the rand slid even further after his intervention. What Zuma and his advisers ought to realise is that his humiliation by the financial markets was really only the tip of the iceberg; it epitomised a syndrome of domestic malaise and lack of leadership from the front.

Frankly, Zuma cannot expect to convince the sceptics while he plays the role of the silent onlooker, an absentee president, a somnambulist. South Africans of all stripes, and the outside world, would applaud him if he made a credible, statesmanlike intervention to deal with the issues, particularly to save the floundering economy. Yet their goodwill and expectations are met with prevarication, a president not wanting to upset his ruling alliance, looking after his own job safety first, keeping his options open and letting the slide continue while muddling on. He took a long time to show support for the National Development Plan (albeit reluctantly and conditionally, it seems), which is the best hope for our country. But we still do not know whose version of the plan he supports — the radical command drivers or the growth moderates in the Cabinet.

The symbiosis between domestic policy and foreign policy holds the key to success. Without substantial foreign participation, by way of trade, investment and tourism in particular, our economy will continue to flounder. During his recent visit to Japan, Zuma demonstrated the importance of economic diplomacy. Most of Japan’s promise of a one-off R319bn development-aid package will go to the rest of Africa, but South Africa’s involvement should serve as an example of the importance of economic diplomacy.

Of course, selling Africa and South Africa are two different things. Zuma did return with a bag full of promises of Japanese businesses interested in investing locally but, as we have seen in the past, most of these promises peter out. And South Africa is not a safe place to invest. Less risky alternatives exist elsewhere in the world, including the rest of Africa, and this is where investors will go. To change the situation, South Africa must align its domestic and foreign policies, meaning the government must get its domestic house in order, putting the country first instead of the ruling party.

Clearly, a reconfiguration of South Africa’s domestic and foreign policies and promoting successful economic diplomacy are impossible while the government’s blinkered obsession with ideology prevails. In business, all countries should be treated the same. This is not what South Africa does — politics gets in the way of good business. A contrived anti-western scepticism, special relations with antidemocratic governments and human-rights violators, the idealisation of China and the "global South" and a questionable theory of imminent western decline characterise South Africa’s external identification. South Africa’s voting pattern in the United Nations Security Council, its stance on international issues, its uneasy relationship with the European Union and the bias against "Eurocentrism" form a consistent pattern hampering good business.

This, of course, does not mean that South Africa should embrace the West or retreat from its efforts to redress the iniquities in the existing global financial and political order and from maximising its Africa agenda. But rejection of the West on ideological premises cannot be a wise policy and is definitely not in the national interest. A more mature, nonantagonistic, nonzero-sum neutral posture would create a more business-friendly, less counterproductive foreign milieu. Simply put, business interests should obviate ideological interests. One hopes Zuma has taken note of the benefits of Japan’s neutral approach, which is also the approach of most other successful trading nations.

Economic diplomacy is but one of the plethora of divergent strands of South Africa’s general foreign policy. Ideally, it should be a common denominator, the lodestar. Our diplomats driving this policy should be economically literate salesmen. The job at hand cannot be done by the generalist diplomats and inexperienced political appointees who fill our embassies. Obviously, South Africa’s foreign policy must be refocused, something International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane should consider.

In Parliament recently, she waxed lyrical about South Africa’s extensive role in multilateral bodies. We heard that South Africa spent an ostentatious R1.3bn over three years to fund its participation in multilateral bodies "to promote our national interests and advance the African agenda". According to the minister, South Africa has become an "influential global" player.

Perhaps she is not so well informed. A much different scenario plays out in practice. The African Development Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development rank South Africa a miserable 48th out of 52 countries in its most recent economic outlook. A current account deficit of more than 6% of gross domestic product, and relying on foreign capital to bridge the gap between earnings and expenditure, is bad for investor confidence, as seen in the exodus of foreigners from South Africa’s bond and stock markets. This happens at a time when most countries in Africa are rising.

Multilateralism is no doubt an important aspect of international relations and South Africa should play its role there, but in a realistic and prudent way. South Africa’s domestic situation, diplomatic priorities, limited resources and global status simply do not warrant this type of prestige-mongering and grandstanding. In the end, "It’s the economy, stupid."

This article appeared in the Business Day of 12 June 2013