South Africa is undeniably an African superpower. MTN, Standard Bank and Shoprite are African business giants, SA is the only African member of BRICS and it is a leader in conflict resolution on the continent. Yet the country is often accused of being a neocolonialist bully. Liesl Louw-Vaudran answers this accusation by examining key events, from Thabo Mbeki's reforms of the AU to the disastrous peace-keeping mission in the Central African Republic in 2013.