南非一直重点推动与非洲国家建立自贸区。同时，南非对与非洲地区之外的国家建立自贸区持相当慎重的态度，迄今仅与欧盟及英国建立了自贸区。南非学界关于金砖国家自贸区建设的探讨非常少，仅有个别南非学者对金砖国家自贸区建设持积极的态度，而主流观点则认为建设金砖国家自贸区将对南非造成威胁，弊大于利，理由集中指向金砖国家间的贸易结构不平衡，并认为建设金砖国家自贸区会进一步加大金砖国家间的贸易不平衡以及对南非而言总体弊大于利。南非政府一直没有就正式启动金砖国家自贸区建设谈判明确做出表态，这意味着南非并不认同和支持启动金砖国家自贸区建设议程，预计短期内也不会提上南非政府议程并付诸行动。
South Africa remains committed to the construction of Free Trade Areas（FTA）with African countries. At the same time，however，it appears very cautious in establishing FTAs with countries outside the continent. So far，it has established FTAs with only the European Union and the United Kingdom. Also，there have been very few discussions on the construction of BRICS FTA within South African academic circles，among which only a few South African scholars have a positive attitude towards the construction of BRICS FTA. The mainstream view holds that the construction of BRICS FTA will pose a threat to South Africa’s economy by causing it more harm than good. The reasons focus on the imbalance of trade structure among BRICS countries and the fact that the construction of BRICS FTA will further increase such imbalances. The South African government is yet to make an official statement on the initiation of formal negotiations on the BRICS FTA，which suggests that it does not support its construction. To this extent，the BRICS FTA is not expected to be placed on the government’s agenda and put into action anytime soon.
