- The Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation and Archbishop Tutu Trust called on Cyril Ramaphosa to cancel the planned military exercises with Russia and China.
- They said SA's association with Russia amounts to supporting the war in Ukraine.
- It said SA's resources would be better spent addressing internal needs, including power outages and inequality.
The Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu IP Trust called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to demonstrate leadership by halting all SA's planned joint military exercises with Russia and China.
The foundation and the trust issued a joint statement on Friday in response to the exercise, called Operation Mosi - which means smoke - set to take place between 17 to 26 February.
The groups said South Africa's affiliation with Russia deviates from its neutral stance with regard to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
It said the joint naval exercises were "tantamount to a declaration that South Africa is joining the war against Ukraine on Russia's side".
The spokesperson for the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), Brigadier-General Andries Mahapa, said on Thursday the maritime exercise was a "means to strengthen the already flourishing relations between South Africa, Russia and China".
He said over 350 SANDF staff would participate alongside their Russian and Chinese counterparts "with an aim of sharing operational skills and knowledge".
Last year, South Africa abstained during a UN General Assembly motion to reprimand Russia - a position widely criticised by the official opposition, among others.
The foundation and trust said South Africa's support of the resolution, which demanded Russia's withdrawal from Ukraine, could have enabled an effective negotiation for peace between the warring countries.
"The resources and effort would be better spent providing the country with stable electricity, or providing services that begin to narrow unsustainable inequality and improve the quality of lives of masses of dirt-poor people," the statement read.
It said that, if the price of the country's Brics membership was "to forfeit its integrity", then the price was too high.
"President Cyril Ramaphosa must show leadership and pull the plug on the proposed joint naval exercise. There is a narrow window of opportunity to pull South Africa back from returning to its apartheid status as a skunk."