Apartheid South Africa in Françafrique

Openly? No. Not if it was at the point where South Africa had become a definite international pariah, as inidicated by your detail about sanctions. At that point, any major nation actively courting South Africa would be drummed out of respectable global society.

This needs to happen below the radar, or at an earlier date. I remember South Africa still having a modicum of respectability in Canada in the early 80s(eg. the Governor General's husband was lobbying for them). But, that's pre-widespread sanctions, so the incentive wouldn't be the same as in your OP.
 
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