Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Budget speech & responses by ANC, DA and IFP

Briefing

21 May 2015

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms. Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, gave her Budget Vote Speech on 21 May 2015.

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Honourable Chairperson,
Honourable Deputy Ministers,
Honourable Members,
Your Excellencies, Ambassadors, High Commissioners and Representatives of International Organizations, Colleagues, Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen,

In four days’ time, on the 25th of May, Africans, all across the continent, will unite to celebrate and affirm what is uniquely ours – “To Be African”.

This will happen as we prepare to host next month the 25th Ordinary Summit of the African Union which will be yet another milestone in the construction of the Africa We Want!

Next month, we will also observe 60 years since the Freedom Charter was adopted. "There Shall be Peace and Friendship!", a directive contained in this Charter, has been the torchlight guiding our foreign policy since 1994.

The world was still fresh from the Second World War when the Freedom Charter was crafted. The Cold War was on the rise, and our continent under the grip of colonialism. Today, Africa is a free continent. The Cold War has ended. The world has never known another global war since, except for regional conflicts especially in Africa and the Middle East.

The Freedom Charter may be 60 years old but its ideas are for today and its vision for tomorrow. Peace and Friendship must remain the core agenda of our foreign policy. We have grown into an important player in the international arena, thanks to our values and principles for which we fought which enjoin us to forge a better life for all South Africans and a better Africa and the world.

The African continent remains central in our foreign policy, and this approach forms the basis for our friendship, cooperation and peace efforts all over the world. We stand for cooperation and partnership, instead of competition, in global affairs.

Our country's entry into its third decade of freedom coincides with the emergence of distinct global trends which demand that we creatively navigate and find opportunities, working together with our people at home and friends and partners abroad.

Implications for our country’s foreign policy are very clear:

•       Asia and the Middle-East has surpassed Europe as South Africa’s number one trading partner.
•       Since 1994, trade with Africa has increased 35-fold to about R400 billion,
•       Europe remains our main strategic trading block while recovering from the global financial crisis.

In the execution of our foreign policy, taking into account this reality, and consolidating our traditional trade ties while expanding new ones, we shall ensure that we remain an active and responsible global citizen, grounded in our values and principles.

Therefore our department’s spending focus over the medium term will be on:
•       Consolidating political, economic and social relations with the countries of the world;
•       Participating in the global governance institutions, informed by our principled adherence to multilateralism;
•       Enhancing operational capacity by strengthening policy and coordination in relation to ongoing South African development cooperation;
•       The implementation of the African Union’s Agenda 2063;
•       Review of the current legislative framework governing the department’s operations abroad; and
•       The undertaking of various infrastructure projects, and implementing the property management strategy.

Honourable Members, today we affirm that:

•       Our foreign policy is continuing its upward march, adapting and innovating, from frontier to frontier; beginning in our SADC neighborhood, across the entire Africa for the implementation of the African Agenda, into the South to strengthen our co-operation there, to the North where our partners value a relationship with us, and in multilateral organizations where South Africa’s independent voice continue to be heard and respected.
•       Africa is a growing giant, and South Africa is an integral part of this.
•       Our economic diplomacy programme is a platform through which our department will contribute to the Nine-Point Plan unveiled by the President in his State of the Nation Address.
•       We will implement necessary cost containment measures to ensure that we deliver more with less, despite   reduced budget allocation of R335 million in the Budget Vote we are tabling today.

Honourable Chairperson,

Yes, Africa is a giant on the rise, but its potential will remain stunted if its core challenges of governance, sustainable development and peace and security, are not overcome.

The June African Union Summit will give serious attention to these challenges and set out measures for the roll out of Agenda 2063 as a continental vision for the Africa we all want, which is the cornerstone of our foreign policy.

This should entail the strengthening of political and economic integration of SADC.

The expected ratification of the SADC-EAC-COMESA Tripartite Free Trade Agreement in June 2015 will pave the way for the Continental Free Trade Area negotiations due to be concluded in 2017 – a step which will ensure that Africa trades more and more with itself.

As Chair of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, South Africa is leading peace building and security efforts in the region. In this regard, we led no less than six SADC Electoral Observation Missions which were peaceful and credible.

These positive outcomes at the ballot box are a clear contribution to the entrenchment of democracy, regional stability and continued economic integration. I wish to congratulate the people of these sister countries, including Lesotho, for doing us and our region proud.

South Africa will continue to forge closer political, economic and social relations through targeted high-level interactions in Africa.

The realisation of the Africa We Want requires peace, be it in the SADC, Great Lakes, the Horn, or in North Africa.

Peace shall remain a dream if the continent continues to experience setbacks such as the recent coup attempt in Burundi. We reiterate our strongest condemnation of unconstitutional change of government and reaffirm our support for regional initiatives towards the restoration of political normalcy in Burundi.

Libya is not just a vindication of the stance we took on the crisis in that country. It is also another failure of the approach of regime change and militarism in tackling political and conflict situations.

Our continent, especially in East, West and North Africa, is battling against a spate of dreadful and cowardly acts of terrorism which we condemn and must be defeated.

ACIRC for rapid response to crises has to be operationalized as one of our tools for African solutions to African problems.

We must silence the guns! Africa must be at peace with itself!

We will have the opportunity to contribute more in this regard when we chair the AU’s Peace and Security Council later this year.

The root causes must also be addressed. Among these, democracy must be deepened to give our people a voice they deserve. We should govern our countries in a manner that is progressive, inclusive, with the people always first. Our constitutions have to reign supreme to ensure the accountability of our leaders and political certainty.

Without development that is sustainable our continent will continue to feed from the crumbs instead of the real benefits of globalisation.

The plight of the people of Western Sahara is the unfinished business of the decolonisation period that must be finalised.

A better Africa is indeed a dream we can realise in our lifetime! We are not short of policies. It is in action that we are inadequate.

Our continental organisations are in place. What they need however is more effectiveness, sharpness in programme delivery, and finding innovative sources of self-financing for budgetary self-reliance.

NEPAD and the APRM are our programmes for sustainable development and democratic governance, respectively. We must continue to appraise the capacity, impact and overall work of these institutions and, more importantly, resource them optimally.

The Africa We Want is meaningless if it is not about people – if it does not touch and transform the lives of ordinary men and women.

Honourable Members,

Beyond our continent, South Africa must remain engaged with the countries of the South and North and in multilateral organizations.

Accordingly, President Zuma will participate at the 7th BRICS Summit in July, to be hosted by the Russian Federation, which will review the progress achieved in the operationalization of the New Development Bank and Contingent Reserve Arrangement.

We remain committed to IBSA as a South-South mechanism for enhanced cooperation between our country and India and Brazil.

Our Asia strategy, considering the growing economic significance of that region to our country, is to actively pursue wider access to the fast growing Asian markets.

This strategy will allow us to secure more beneficiated exports to that region and vigorously seek increased Foreign Direct Investment and tourism opportunities.

In December, we will host the 2nd Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit.

In the Middle East where conflict has raged for years, South Africa will continue to eschew military solution to conflict, while providing unequivocal support to the just struggle of the Palestinian people until they attain their own freedom and sovereignty.

Latin America and the Caribbean remains an important region for South Africa, including in our multilateral endeavours.

The commendable rapprochement between the United States of America and Cuba should result in the lifting of the unjust blockade on Cuba.

Honourable Chairperson,

Engagement with Europe has resulted in the establishment of joint infrastructure projects and the sharing of technical skills in our priority areas.

Regarding the Economic Partnership Agreement, work is being done to ensure that the remaining technical processes are concluded as soon as possible.

We commit to the finalisation of all matters relating to our relations with the EU, including the resolution on the issue of Citrus Black Spot.

Our bilateral relations with the USA and Canada continue to strengthen, especially in the areas of economy, health, education, energy, water, safety and security, capacity building and the empowerment of women.

The renewal and expansion of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) provides a platform for the enhancement of industrialisation and regional integration.

Our Missions in littoral countries and those with inland waterways are expected to meaningfully contribute to the Blue Economy. Multilateral Fora such as the Indian Ocean Rim Association are also critical to Operation Phakisa.

Honourable Members,

This year marks the 70th Anniversary of the United Nations and it has been identified by South Africa as a seminal year to review and reform the UN, especially its Security Council. Africa must be represented in the permanent category of this Council.

Participating in the crafting of the Post-2015 Development Agenda is our other priority for this year. We also look forward to a comprehensive outcome of COP21 in Paris, the seeds of which were in planted in the Durban Platform agreed at the COP17 that our hosted.

The role South Africa has been able to play in promoting the interests of the developing world has indeed been enhanced by our election as Chair of the Group of 77 and China for 2015.

Our participation in the G20 seeks to utilise this international economic cooperation forum to promote strong, sustained and inclusive economic growth.

We must continue to demand and work for a fair global economic order.

We will continue to participate constructively in meetings of the IAEA that hold potential benefits not only for the nuclear industry in South Africa, but also for accelerated economic growth on the African continent.

Honourable Members,

DIRCO must be strategically configured as an organisation and better positioned on the policy front to carry out the above agenda.

Accordingly, I have just approved a new organisational structure which will be implemented during this financial year.

The South African Council for International Relations (SACOIR) has been formally established and ready for operation.

Strides are being made on last year’s commitment to create a fully-fledged Diplomatic Academy.

As per the NDP, the department, through the Academy, will empower and train all its diplomats in Economic Diplomacy as a core competency for their work abroad.

This is in addition to our ongoing training of African female mediators from across the continent.

We are in partnership with the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation and the School of Governance of the University of the Witwatersrand for the implementation of the NDP recommendations on strengthening our foreign policy.

Our draft White Paper has been approved by Cabinet and is now in the hands of Parliament which will in due course also consider draft Foreign Service Bill and the SADPA Bill.

Young graduates recruited under the Johnny Makhathini Cadet programme will soon take their posts as part of our long-term cadreship development programme.

Through our robust public diplomacy strategy, we have succeeded in sustaining a positive image of our foreign policy, working together with the media and general public to brand and market South Africa at home and abroad.

With the establishment of our Centre for Early Warning, DIRCO is poised to give more impetus to our peacemaking efforts.

In addition to various State Events and International Visits, our State Protocol rendered services to the President and Deputy President for a total of 22 incoming and 48 outgoing State and Official Visits.

Honourable Chairperson,

Over the weekend, we will lay to rest Mme Ruth Mompati – a seasoned diplomat and one of the recipients of our first Annual Ubuntu Awards held early this year. As we convey our condolences to her family, we also pay tribute to her for her long and uninterrupted service to our struggle for freedom and transformation, as a selfless leader, mentor, and mother to all.

In the same spirit, we must remember all those people, all over the world, who are without human security, living in the midst of disease, hunger, fear and want.

We also pay tribute to South Africans of all walks of life who carry our flag aloft overseas through their sterling work, in some cases even through acts of great courage and selfless sacrifice.

The core interests of our country abroad should galvanise every South African, uniting, not dividing us. Our Portfolio Committee has being exemplary in this regard. We therefore thank you, Honourable Members, for being South African first on matters of foreign policy, and for your support to DIRCO.

We showed the true colours of our nation in the swiftness and decisiveness with which we put an end to violent attacks on fellow, foreign African nationals. We thank our friends and international organisations who stood by us.

International migration and its root causes is a challenge we must overcome in this century. Africans should not be travelling miles and miles, sometimes by foot, across deserts and seas, often at great risk, just to put bread on the table. None of us should be displaced or forced from their cherished motherland by the destructive power of guns. Our continent is well endowed to take care of its own. It is not guns that fire or destroy, but us, humans, who carry them.

We are One, United Africa!

Like the now forgotten son of the soil and poet, Ingoapele Madingoane, once wrote: “Late is never a bad start in Africa my beginning, and Africa my ending”.

Honourable Members, work for the Africa We Want begins now!

I thank you.

Address by the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Mr L. Landers (MP), ON THE OCCASION OF BUDGET VOTE FOR 2015/16

EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERED

Honourable Speaker;
Honourable Members;
Your Excellency’s Ambassadors, High Commissioners;
Representatives of International Organisations;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen,

This year we begin the third decade of our democracy. This budget vote recommits our department to the principle of the Freedom Charter that “there shall be peace and friendship”.

This budget vote is grounded in the call for radical economic transformation. It emphasises strengthening economic diplomacy and integration, thereby giving impetus to the spirit of the Freedom Charter viz. that "the people shall share in the country’s wealth."

In this regard, our Minister has ably articulated our key policy priorities for the 2015/16 financial year.

Our shared history in the Americas and Caribbean region and struggle against colonialism remains central to our fraternal and diplomatic relations.

(As we celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Bandung Conference, we confirm that our relations with this region remain vibrant as we strive to retain the Bandung spirit.)

The past year saw an increased focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. We visited the region at Ministerial, Deputy Ministerial and Senior Officials level. The visits included Cuba, Uruguay, Chile and Columbia.

These visits strengthened our relations with these countries which culminated in the successful signing of political and economic agreements and an agreement to establish a new mission in Columbia.

This year I will be visiting the Caribbean region to also strengthen our political, economic and cultural ties.

In the new financial year, Cuba will continue supporting our country with scarce skills. This includes medical and built environment professionals amongst others. The training of South African medical doctors in Cuba is also continuing with much success.
Cuba continues to be a strategic ally in our multi-lateral agenda for the reform of the United Nations and the global, financial and governance institutions and architecture.

DIRCO is pleased that in the last financial year we were able to release the promised funding which will assist Cuba to rebuild their economy.

Moreover, the universally lauded joint announcement by Presidents Castro and Obama presents an opportunity that could lead to fundamental changes in Cuba after five decades of the economic embargo. However, we cannot be complacent.

Instead we will accelerate our support to Cuba on all fronts to ensure that the blockade is ended in totality and that Guantanamo Bay is returned to Cuba. Cuba deserves to regain its rightful place in the family of nations and rebuild its economy unhindered.

It is within this spirit that we encourage South African businesses to invest in and partner with Cuban enterprises to benefit both our countries.

Europe remains our largest foreign direct investment source. It therefore continues to be a priority through existing and regularized structured bilateral consultation-fora.

Whilst we value this relationship our major challenge continues to be to ensure that our political and economic relations and agreements with Europe reflect a paradigm of equal partners.

Our annual consultations will continue to build on this principle, whilst creating new opportunities from which South Africans can benefit.

We will also continue to strengthen our focus on Central and Eastern Europe, with a focus on Africa for trade and investments, skills development and technical cooperation.

We are engaging with the Europeans to form sustainable partnerships for development into the rest of Africa. It is intended that it results in the establishment of joint projects for Infrastructure development and the sharing of technical skills that can help upscale delivery.

Last year South Africa launched Operation Phakisa, which focuses on developing our oceans’ economy. Through our engagement with prominent seafaring nations, we would be able to tap into their considerable expertise to unlock opportunities in shipping, fisheries, aquaculture, mining and energy.

None of our objectives will be successful if our administrative structure, systems, staffing and skills is not aligned with our strategy.

Therefore in this financial year we have begun to implement our new organizational structure in line with our strategy.

Building on the legacy of revolutionary diplomacy inspired by amongst others the late OR Tambo, Johnny Makhatini, Dulcie September and Ruth Mompati, our diplomatic academy continues to train our diplomats in political diplomacy, cultural diplomacy and conflict resolution.

Furthermore, to ensure that our strategy of regional integration, beneficiation and building an inclusive economy on our continent is successful, our diplomats continue to be retooled and re-schooled in economic diplomacy.
As part of our commitment to the empowerment of women we have recently trained a reservoir of women in the field of conflict resolution. We are ready to deploy them in the next financial year to conflict areas across our continent.

We have begun a major systems upgrade in our ICT (Information and Communication Technology). This year we will continue with our technology refresh process by upgrading of all our hardware and software.

We remain focused on addressing all our governance challenges within the department as well as the African Renaissance Fund (ARF). We will continue to implement our audit plan.

We have also put in place policies, systems and staffing for the operationalization of the SADPA, including a secretariat. The only outstanding matter is the legislation that needs to be processed in Parliament. We are hopeful that it will happen this year.

Since our budget cuts, we have put in place numerous cost containment measures to ensure that we continue to implement our mandate. However, these measures are unsustainable in the medium to long term, given the unique environment that we operate within. This includes the fluid market fluctuations and its impact on the exchange rate.

Our financial architecture does not make provision for a reserve fund, whilst we need to consistently respond to unplanned events such as international humanitarian disasters.

We are also tasked with a number of unfunded mandate projects.

We have also not been able to effectively fulfill our newer mandates such as economic diplomacy. For example, if our strategy of growing markets and ensuring regional integration is to be successful we need the resources to develop economic intelligence capacity.

In conclusion, with the changing global trends, it is important for South Africa to diversify its relations, particularly with other emerging economies in order to open up new ways of finding sustainable solutions to global challenges.

I thank you

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Address by the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, H.E. Ms N. Mfeketo ON THE OCCASION OF BUDGET VOTE FOR 2015/16

Honourable Chairperson;
Honourable Members;
Your Excellencies Ambassadors, High Commissioners and Representatives of International Organizations;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen;

If the world must be a better place and if we are to realise the vision of the Freedom Charter for peace and security for all, then the world’s efforts must be in the Middle East where developments in Yemen, Syria and Iraq in particular, leave millions of citizens yearning for peace.

The Palestinian quest for statehood within the framework of the two state solution remains unfulfilled and elusive as Israeli settlements continue to encroach and expand. Terrorism and extremism are also escalating significantly.

As we focus on, and pursue peace in Palestine and elsewhere, we should not lose sight of the economic opportunities that we can stand to reap from good relations with the countries of the Gulf Co-operation Region (GCC).

Honourable Chairperson, Honourable Members

Our Asia strategy for this year, considering the economic strength of that region, is to
actively pursue wider access to the fast growing Asian markets, to secure more beneficiated exports to that region and vigorously seek increased Foreign Direct Investment. The region holds huge opportunities for increased tourism.

Honourable Members

Our membership of IORA provides us with an opportunity to participate meaningfully in exploiting the untapped potential and benefits of the ocean economy. Members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) represent two billion people and hold one third (1/3) of world’s ocean, coastline.

They produce goods and services worth over one trillion dollars whilst intra IORA trade is about seven hundred and seventy seven billion US dollars.

During our tenure as the Chair of IORA in 2017-2019 we will prioritise SADC and Africa agenda whilst focusing on the ocean economy, maritime security, engagement with Dialogue Partners and civil society participation. It is expected that we will use our Phakisa strategy as we dedicate efforts aimed at fast tracking and prioritising offshore oil and gas exploration, aquaculture and marine protection services, and governance.

Honourable Chairperson

Our bilateral engagements seek to enhance existing relationships. They are aimed at reaffirming our commitment to breaking new ground and working together with our partners in Asia, but also showcase the potential we have as a preferred investment and tourism destination.

In the Middle East region where conflict has raged for years, South Africa will continue to persuade all the parties to appreciate that there can be no military solution to the conflict and that political dialogue remains the only way through which sustainable peace can be achieved.

We remain ceased with the pursuit of peace in the Middle East through the mechanism of the efforts of the President’s Special Envoys to the region. South Africa continues to affirm the two state solution in Palestine in spite of all the challenges that this policy faces.

Honourable Chairperson

We are encouraged by the collective condemnation of the xenophobic attacks by political parties, the faith-based community, non-state actors and ordinary South Africans.

We must continue to educate and remind our people that this continent stood by us in an unwavering show of solidarity, as we fought for our liberation.

Attacks against foreign nationals do harm to the country’s reputation and no good can come of its continuation. These actions have a potential to undermine our efforts aimed at fighting poverty, unemployment and inequality because they threaten our on-going efforts of attracting trade and investments to the country through economic diplomacy.

It is evident that South Africans are generally not xenophobic. If they were, we would not have such a high number of foreign nationals who have been successfully integrated into communities all over our country, in towns, cities and villages.

There is a lot of work to be done to ensure that the socio-economic drivers of migration are addressed by all of us in the continent. We need to do this work so that we can eliminate the struggle for resources which is often one of the consequences of migration.

Honourable Chairperson,

Our Public Participation Programmes (PPP’s) are our vehicle to explain to our people our international work.

In engaging with the people, we constantly educate them to appreciate connections between government goals and their lived realities. We must enable our people to understand the cost to South Africa when such shameful actions as the xenophobic attacks are undertaken.

Through our on-going engagement we must enable South Africans to learn from each other’s experiences, knowledge and skills as Africans. Our people must have the possibility to exchange experiences through people to people exchange programmes.

Honourable Chairperson, Honourable Members
The African Union (AU) has declared this year as the year of Women’s Empowerment and Development. In driving the AU’s aspirations it is critical that women and the girl children be placed at the centre of all that we seek to achieve above. As we pursue our dream of a continent at peace with itself we must deploy women to carry out peace mediation in environments where peace is lacking.

In conclusion, we must consciously attend to the economic empowerment of women in all spheres if we are to achieve the aspirations of Agenda 2063 on Women Empowerment. In this regard we look forward to the deliberations in the forthcoming AU Summit whose theme is ‘Women Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063’.

I thank you
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