AP

British Foreign Secretary William Hague speaks during a press conference as South Africa's Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, right. Picture: AP/Schalk van Zuydam

This week’s official visit of British Foreign Secretary William Hague once again showed that while direct, country-to-country relations between South Africa and most Western countries are generally good, there are sometimes disagreements about how to deal with human rights and problems in other nations.

So, for instance, on the “bilateral” front, the two countries are still on track to double trade, already substantial, by 2015, and the UK is still one of the largest investors in SA, and still offers us more development aid than most and still dispatches the largest number of tourists here.

But, internationally, the two countries disagreed sharply last year on how to tackle the crisis in Libya as SA harshly criticised the UK and other Nato members for abusing UN Security Council Resolution 1973 by using it to topple Muammar Gaddafi rather than to protect civilians.

Britain and SA still disagree about Iran’s intentions on the nuclear front. The UK has just joined the EU in imposing an oil embargo, while South Africa has distanced itself from the embargo.

Britain and SA have also differed for a while on Zimbabwe, and Hague hinted during his visit that the EU would this week again renew sanctions focused on President Robert Mugabe and his cronies because there had not been enough progress towards real democracy.

Minister of International Relations Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, meanwhile, renewed SA’s call on the UK and EU to lift the sanctions.

Different emphases were also discernible on Syria, with the UK evidently more eager than SA for outside intervention, including strong support for the proposed Arab League UN peacekeeping mission.

Nkoana-Mashabane argued against hasty intervention and in favour of peaceful political negotiations first.

More worrying perhaps for Pretoria – but reassuring for the SA press – was Hague’s veiled criticism of the government’s moves to restrict media freedom at home.

That was an early warning about a problem which could someday impact directly on relations with the UK.