Establishment of SADPA, Construction of the Pan African Parliament Headquarters, Asset Register Update, Training of Personnel on Economic Diplomacy, Procedure for appointment of Heads of Mission: briefing by the Department

Meeting report

Establishment of South African Development Partnership Agency (SADPA) Presentation
Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba, Director General, Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), gave a presentation on the establishment of SADPA. SADPA would be the Department’s new project following up the work done by the African Renaissance Fund (ARF). The proposed Agency would take on third party funding from foreign donors in the same vein as the ARF and would act on projects to coincide with South Africa’s foreign policy goals.

The Agency would primarily focus on poverty alleviation throughout the African region, the achievement of gender equality, climate change and partnerships based on historical legacies and links. The introduction of SADPA to parliament would herald the conclusion of the ARF and the closure would go through the correct legislative processes prior to being presented to parliament. The funds from the ARF would be transferred to SADPA upon its completion.

Dr Ntsaluba said that the Agency’s development was still ongoing and as such the framework of its development could not be distributed to the public.

Discussion
The Chairperson asked how the Department would deal with the problem of SADPA possibly becoming an autonomous body operating independently from the purview of DIRCO.

Dr Ntsaluba replied that SADPA would have a measure of independence from the Department; however it would still be aligned with South African foreign policy. The Department hoped to emulate similar systems in other countries such as China in giving SADPA independence but ensuring that it acted within the country’s foreign policy objectives.

Mr K Mubu (DA) thanked the Department on its presentation and commented that the initiative should be communicated to the citizenry when launched. In addition, he asked what the triangulation of funds mentioned in the presentation would entail. Finally, he asked whether SADPA allocations would be in the form of grants or loans.

Dr Ntsaluba explained that the triangulation of funds entailed bringing in foreign donors who wanted to fund a particular African country and aligning that donors funding with SADPA funding, thus donors would be spending money through SADPA without trepidation. SADPA would largely be a grant fund but would give out loans when necessary and after a situation had been sufficiently thought out.

Ms T Sunduza (ANC) agreed that it was important for the Department to inform the public about SADPA and its intended goals when it is launched. She advised the Department to ensure that the Agency is subjected to stringent audit requirements. Lastly, she asked whether South Africa’s foreign missions would play a role in the work of SADPA.

Dr Ntsaluba replied that the initiative would be subject to audits from the Auditor General. He added that the initiative would be independent of mission influence but would fall directly under the purview of the Department.

Dr G Koornhof (ANC) examined three issues. Firstly, he asked where the project management for SADPA initiatives would be allocated as there was a considerable gap between project implementers and the funders of those projects. This issue had been raised previously with SADPA’s soon to be predecessor, the ARF. Secondly, he asked what the time frame would be for tabling the Bill in parliament. Thirdly, he asked whether there would be an annual audit done on the project in keeping with the focus on accountability.

Dr Ntsaluba replied that implementing Departments would still be responsible for the funds they were allocated by SADPA upon request but would be expected to submit more stringent reports highlighting how the money had been spent in the countries they opted to fund. The Department hoped to present the SADPA Bill to parliament in either the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of 2011. He assured Members that an annual audit would be carried out by the Auditor General.

Mr T Magama (ANC) sought clarity on how the triangular partnerships would work.

Dr Ntsaluba referred to his earlier answer to Mr Mubu’s similar question. He added that trilateral agreements would assist with the triangulation of funds. The involvement of South Africa in funding projects often meant that foreign donors wanted to participate in funding without the fear of their money being used for corrupt activities and SADPA would assist with that.

The Chairperson reminded Members that the project was still under development and that they would have further opportunities to interrogate the Department on its proposals.

Procedure for Heads of Mission Presentation
Ms Mathu Joyini, Deputy Director-General: Human Resources, DIRCO, gave a presentation on the procedure for the appointment of Heads of Mission. She said that the Department had specific criteria when appointing heads of missions and ultimately all appointees had to be approved by the President.

Currently the Department had 56 heads of mission who were political appointees, 8 appointees who were seconded and 53 heads of mission who were career diplomats. Senior managers were appointed to diplomatic missions based on their ability and the prevailing conditions in the respective country. The government was looking into including opposition politicians when making political diplomatic appointments.

[The presentation was not available for the public at the time of the presentation.

Discussion
Mr Magama asked what the percentage of women in the mission service was.

Ms Joyini replied that the gender representation for women was 34%.

Construction of Pan African Parliament (PAP) Headquarters presentation
Mr Asogan Moodley, Chief Financial Officer, DIRCO, presented an overview on the construction of the PAP headquarters. South Africa had been selected, after a selection process, to be the host country of the headquarters of the body. South Africa committed to building a state of the art headquarters which was fully equipped and designed to integrate the rich talent of the continent working for the PAP.

The PAP was initially housed at Gallagher Estates in the Midrand. After a continent wide competition to get designs for the headquarters, architects were chosen, and the chosen construction site was Randjiesfontein plot 405-JR, Headway Hill. Durban based Earth Lab Architects won the bid to construct the new PAP headquarters.

The Department of Public Works was tasked with assessing the cost of the building at Headway Hill and came up with a final estimate of R717 million. In September 2009 the Department of Public Works reported that costing would have to go up due to space requirements. Subsequently the Department of Environmental Affairs had informed DIRCO that the land selected for the construction was a wetland and the work being done there would damage the wetland irreparably.

The construction was halted due to these incidents however, work was recommended to continue at Headway Hill as the only alternative available to limit the damage that had already been done to the environment there. Due to the increase in cost to the project, the Department said that it was pursuing the option of initiating a Private Public Partnership (PPP).

Discussion
The Chairperson asked who was responsible for selecting a building site which was environmentally untenable to build on and what sort of punishment had been issued if any on the individual/s involved. In his view, the problems of the building site could be best alleviated by building on the initially chosen sight where initial work had already been completed.

Mr Moodley replied that the construction company that was involved in the selection and construction of the PAP was facing criminal charges.

Mr Mubu asked who was responsible for the PAP construction selection and what punishment had been given to them. Furthermore, he asked where Headway Hill was located and why other African nations had not assisted in funding for the construction of the PAP.

Mr Moodley repeated that the construction company that was involved in the selection and construction of the PAP was facing criminal charges. He indicated that Headway Hill was located off the N1 freeway near the Development Bank of South Africa. Because South Africa had won the bid for the construction of the Parliament, it was duly responsible for providing funding for the construction. The Department was in the process of initiating a PPP to assist with the funding of the project.

Mr Koornhof expressed his dismay at the selection of a site where the environment would be imperiled through construction; he described it as a scandal. He asked why the Department thought it was a good idea to build on the land in any case. Finally, he asked whether the Department had followed proper protocol in initiating the PPP.

Mr Moodley said that the Department had received advice from the Department of Environmental Affairs which suggested that building on the site was the only way to limit the amount of damage already done to the selected site. He added that the Department had indeed followed proper procedure before applying for the PPP.

Ms Sunduza commented that the company involved with the building site selection had to be brought to book.

Mr Magama said that the building site issue raised serious questions. He asked whether the recalculated higher price was due to larger space requirements.

Mr Moodley said that space requirements had been taken into consideration upon the second assessment of the potential cost of the project. He added that the successful fulfilment of a PPP would ensure that costs would be covered.

Asset Register Update presentation
Mr Asogan Moodley, Chief Financial Officer, DIRCO, gave a presentation on the asset register for the Department. The Department was mandated to report on all its assets in keeping with the need to establish a Fixed Asset Register (FAR) to keep track of the assets assigned to the Department. The Department was required to report its major and minor assets and had done so since FAR was introduced in 2005 on an annual basis. All assets under the Department’s purview had to be valued and rated at a market price.

The Department conducted an evaluation of all its assets in the fiscal year of 2008/9 and produced a methodology for carrying out the evaluations which were approved by the Treasury. In carrying out the evaluations, the Department used the services of Ngubane and Company.

A valuation of all properties was done in 2007 in which municipal governmental valuations were obtained. The total number of properties under the Department’s purview was 113; the total value of all properties was R 4, 8 billion.

The Department’s property portfolio was managed by the Chief Directorate of Property & Facilities Management. No concerns relating to assets were raised by AG in the audit report for 2009/10 financial year.

Discussion
Mr Mubu asked whether the Department was in charge of maintaining buildings that were in a dilapidated state outside of the country, he used the example of Brazil where a South African diplomatic mission building was in a bad state.

Mr Moodley said that the Department did maintain buildings which were under its ownership and control and added that he would investigate about the dilapidated building that the Member had referred to.

Mr Koornhof asked whether the buildings noted in the presentation were solely owned by DIRCO. He further asked how the Department evaluated the value of a property.

Mr Moodley said that the mission buildings were under the ownership of the South African government and not DIRCO specifically. He added that the properties were valued at market price in the respective countries.

Training of Personnel on Economic Diplomacy presentation
Ms Maud Dlomo, Deputy Director-General: Diplomatic Training, Research and Development, DIRCO, gave a presentation on the training of personnel on economic diplomacy. The decision to provide economic diplomacy training for Department personnel was taken at a Cabinet Legkotla in 2007.

The training encompassed training about Departments within government including National Treasury, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Reserve Bank and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange amongst other entities.

The training curriculum included:
•Economic concepts, history of development and industrialisation: Africa and South Africa, •South Africa’s economic development and financial management policies.
Foreign policy
•Implementation of foreign policy and link between foreign policy and economics
•Role of diplomacy/diplomats vs. other Departments and spheres of government
•Implementation of economic diplomacy: diplomacy and tool kit for practitioners

The training was undertaken as a means to link policies, strategies and projects undertaken by the government.

Discussion
Mr Magama asked whether the Department was scaling down on economic diplomacy in terms of foreign funding.

Ms Dlomo replied that rather than scaling down, the Department was looking to integrate more widely with regional partners to increase funding for economic diplomacy. She added that South Africa’s role as big brother in the region and on the continent was beneficial to the country.

Mr Mubu asked whether diplomats received training on etiquette before they departed for a foreign country.

Ms Dlomo said that the Department gave training on etiquette and decorum
where it was invited to do so

The meeting was adjourned.