South Africa will host the annual BRICS summit at the end of March in the coastal city of Durban. It has been two years since the country became a member of the new emerging economic power group known as the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and now South Africa. What began as a loose grouping of emerging and populous economies is rapidly morphing into a more coherent unit that reflects the shifting balance of power in the global economy – away from former leading nations to the new. There is a new post-crisis economic world order and the BRICS represent this new reality.

But does South Africa "deserve" its place in the BRICS? Goldman Sachs – the creator of the BRIC acronym – thinks not. Goldman Sachs' Jim O'Neil says that South Africa lacks long-term economic potential, and that its population and economy are too small for the nation to qualify as a BRIC country. Other countries are perhaps more deserving based on their sizes and economic capacities – Indonesia, Turkey, Mexico, Nigeria and South Korea could all be added to the acronym. As the grouping expands, it will become impossible to retain the simplicity and similar national profiles of the "BRICS" member nations. Perhaps a more accurate and ultimately more inclusive title would be the "Emerging 5" – easily shortened to E5 or E6, this name would reflect what BRICS has become: a group for first-tier emerging markets.

But long-term economic forecasts aside, the BRICS group will increasingly take on a political dimension as an emerging bloc representing the interests of the developing world. As the BRICS summits become more institutionalized, the group could well become a counterweight to established (traditional) Western interests.

South Africa's inclusion was certainly politically motivated – it was a sign of Pretoria wanting to punch above its weight and be regarded as a leading emerging market. But analysts must look beyond South Africa's new foreign policy orientation and consider how the commercial imperative of membership in the BRICS club will be addressed.

A priority of South Africa's Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) is to push regional integration in and beyond the Southern African Development Community (SADC) – a region of 15 member states with a combined population of over 250 million. On paper the region is bigger than Brazil, Russia and Indonesia, but poor government-to-government coordination and inadequate infrastructure does not allow for the exploitation of opportunities presented by trade liberalization in the region. Pretoria needs to make the benefits of integration more apparent to its neighbors. The "S" in BRICS could ultimately stand for SADC. But such a push would be as much of a political move as an economic one. An integrated regional market would strongly bolster South Africa's credibility as a fully-fledged member of the BRICS.

For international investment capital, "Big is Beautiful" – larger populations attract more businesses chasing market share in growing consumer markets. South Africa's renewed drive to push for enhanced regional integration is arguably a consequence of it joining the BRICS – a pressure to increase its market depth by integrating the economies of SADC members. South Africa is now describing itself as the primary gateway to the region.

The BRICS may have common strategic macro interests, but managing its relations as well as BRICS business interests in Africa will be a delicate balancing act for the South African Government in the coming years.

(Dr. Martyn Davies is CEO of Frontier Advisory, a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and a member of the Forum's Global Agenda Council on China)