BRIC(S) - Why South Africa?

I don't get it. Brazil, Russia, India and China all make sense from any perspective (and were coined in the original Goldman Sachs acronym). But South Africa? South Africa is not in the top GDP nations now and will not be in 2050. South Africa has no important industry to mention, no significant impact on geopolitics and does not fit in any major KPI. Even Jim O'Neill, who "invented" the BRIC doesn't see why this makes sense.

Therefore I see only two reasons why South Africa is now in the club, and not Mexico, Turkey or Indonesia (in my humble opinion far more suitable for the group).

1. The BRIC(S) need a foothold in Africa... or China wants to ensure that it's major target for foreign direct investments is covered by a strategic partner. (That is what O'Neill also believes) But if we are talking geopolitics Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey make at least as much sense.

2. BRICS sounds much better than BRICI, BRICT or BRIMC.

But I will not get sidetracked any further... back to Brazil.

Whatband?

Now this is an interesting fact, retrieved from speedtest.net - I am pretty sure that it is not representative, because it only tallies speedgeeks - but if we compare speedgeeks to speedgeeks around the globe, Brazil, which is the 9th largest economy by GDP by PPP (right behind France, Russia and the UK), is still far behind in terms of technology.

Especially if I consider, that today it is possible to get 50mbit broadband in São Paulo (albeit for a fortune), this shows the level of technological inequality in the country. In Latin America, Brazil remains in second, behind Chile (which fits to the GDP/head picture) but on a global scale, 65th place is pretty nasty...