DIRCO & African Renaissance Fund Quarter 1 & 2 performance

Meeting report

Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) Quarter 1 & 2 performance
Ms Delores Kotze, Chief Director: Monitoring and Evaluation, DIRCO, discussed the performance indicators of the five DIRCO programmes: Administration; International Relations; International Cooperation; Public Diplomacy and State Protocol; International Transfers. Financial report was also provided (see document).

Discussion
Mr D Bergman (DA) said the government finds itself on the good side of bad decisions. DIRCO is always balanced in their approach, but he expressed concern on DIRCO’s latest decision to downgrade the embassy in Israel.

Mr Bergman referred to SADC as the weakest performing region in Africa. When one looks at the report and where DIRCO is failing, it seems as if DIRCO is struggling with getting neighbouring countries to cooperate with South Africa. Foreign regions do not take the Southern African region seriously anymore. He asked what DIRCO would do to restore South Africa to its former glory of post-1994.

Ms S Kalyan (DA) said incomplete information is provided in the presentation. It is disrespectful to arrive with documents with the wrong information in order to provide feedback. When the CFO talks about money being surrendered, she asked what he meant by “surrendered”. She noted there are 69 positions for South Africans in the UN and requested a list of those positions and what the salaries and benefits were. The 2017 Public Service Commission report said some of the reports said the Departments are transgressors. She asked why African Union (AU) fees are unpaid.

Ms T Kenye (ANC) referred to “targeted high level visits” and noted that only four out of 11 targets have been achieved. She asked why there were only four visits. Her concern is that if high level visits are few, the target will not be achieved. She worried about achieving the AU’s ‘silencing the guns’ in Africa by 2020. The availability of guns would lead to anarchy. She referred to the application of Burundi for SADC membership and asked what further assessment is needed.

Mr M Maila (ANC) said that DIRCO does not have the mandate to dispose of assets. However, there are DIRCO owned buildings that are dilapidated or unoccupied. Referring to changes taking place in Zimbabwe, he asked how DIRCO was going to ensure that they would be part of the solution for Zimbabwe. In Quarter 2, he asked how the audits perceive DIRCO’s performance. He asked for clarity on whether the CFO has been suspended.

The Chairperson responded about the Israeli embassy, saying “it was not a resolution, it was a recommendation” at an ANC national policy conference. This recommendation will become a resolution in the ANC. Sometimes resolutions may be implemented, after consulting the National Assembly. The recommendation to downgrade the embassy was made in the policy conference. Not all decisions in ANC conferences are implemented by government. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies was liaised to speak to Parliament. There is no current certainty that the embassy will be downgraded. He advised the matter be taken up with Luthuli House.

Ms Kalyan raised a point of order and asked if they can return to the agenda because the Committee has brought up partisan matters.

The Chairperson said that a point of order could not be raised.

Mr Bergman said he raised the question to DIRCO.

Mr M Lekota (COPE) said that the question by Mr Bergman was not out of order. One has to remember that the legislature ratifies international agreements. South Africa is a government and no longer a liberation movement. South Africa is a member of the AU and UN. Being members of UN, we subscribe to the Universal Declaration of the UN. There is an embassy in Palestine and Israel. South Africa cannot advance world peace if it only interacts with either Palestine or Israel. South Africa must be critical and rational of the things they do. Overlooking and being misinformed about history, we must look to that to ask how world peace is advanced. Policies should not be politicised.

The Chairperson said there are various questions on political stances by South Africa, such as whether South Africa should leave the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Committee needs to have a meeting on economic development and South Africa’s trade leverage. South Africa needs people to identify trading opportunities, because there is currently a trade deficit against South Africa. He asked why it is that France did not have a trade attaché or why South Africa’s trade was “not influential” in countries in the European Union. After speaking to the South African ambassador to Austria, who told him that South Africa is chairing an “atomic association,” he asked how atomic agreements signed by South Africa with other countries are benefitting them. According to the ambassador, the atomic agreement is not benefiting South Africa. However, South Africa is not part of “war” like Iran or other countries on nuclear proliferation. If South Africa is to be influential in trade, it should source people from varied backgrounds for South Africa to be lucrative in gaining trade deals through infiltrating international organisations so South Africa’s presence in the international community is strong. The Chairperson requested that the Committee educate itself on the downgrading of the currency.

An ANC Committee Member asked how DIRCO interacts at municipal and provincial levels in South Africa.

Mr Kgaba Mahoai, Director General, DIRCO, said on the “surrendering” of funds that they have a quarterly requirement to surrender funds to the National Treasury by returning money that is unspent. National Treasury reviews the budget. In quarter two, after National Treasury’s review, Programme Two and Three were affected and the targets had to be reduced. The target set is based on the foreign exchange rate. The budget is dependent on the exchange rate. A challenge is the lack of foreign currency owned by DIRCO. National Treasury is engaged about these accounting matters. A major challenge is that there is not engagement on strategy with the government. They want to mitigate the risk associated with the credit rating agencies. They have revised the audit action plan to deal with asset management and the findings in the 2016/17 audit report. The team is busy dealing with the findings on the mishandling of assets.

The Chairperson interjected that the answers are very poor and disappointing. DIRCO has been in operation for a long time and the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) has been in operation since 1999. There needs to be specified reports on which countries do not apply the PFMA.

Mr Caiphus Ramashau, DIRCO Chief Financial Officer, said that the focus is on assets.

Ms Kotze said that the number of high level targeted visits was four out of 11 for Quarter Two, but in Quarter One an additional four had already been undertaken. Targets are set per quarter, but sometimes the timing does not work out and the targets are carried over to the next month. DIRCO has a 170 signed agreements at municipal and provincial level of which 100 are currently in force. A report is being conducted to assess how DIRCO benefits from these agreements. With reference to total targets achieved on slide seven and eight, she said that they “we will give all three numbers next time, if that would make for better reading”.

Mr Mahoai responded to the question on the 69 UN positions saying that there are many different positions within multilateral organisations. Most of the South Africans in such international organisations are not paid by DIRCO, but by the relevant organisation to which the employee belongs.

The Chairperson said that there are strategic positions in international forums that South Africa does not take advantage of as South Africans either do not apply as they are not keen or South Africa does not deploy South African representatives in them. He referred to developing country international forums such as the AU and BRICS where offices have been set up. Such offices create employment opportunities.

Mr Mahoai replied that DIRCO does not have the authority over seconded employments to multilateral organisations. There are cases where South Africans are not part of international organisations and DIRCO is looking at means to address this.

On what would be done to make SADC more productive, Mr Mahoai replied that “we have assumed the chairship of SADC”. He referred to supply chain management that shows long term “engagements have been entered into”. A matrix has been developed through the “chairship” of South Africa that lasts one year, before it is handed over to Namibia in August 2018.

On the admission of Burundi to SADC, Mr Ramashau said that it is a SADC matter. He said that some of the other questions that the Committee raised are answered in recommendations of the Budget Review and Recommendations Report (BRRR). On the question of the CFO, he confirmed that the CFO has not resigned. A lot of questions were of a political nature so he felt as if DIRCO could not respond to all. He said that the next quarterly report would be more comprehensive. The CFO had not been suspended, a report had been conducted and the Committee will be the first point of reference on that.

In response to DIRCO responding that the CFO had not been suspended, Mr M Maila (ANC) said that the cloud over Mr Caiphus Ramashau’s head, Chief Financial Officer, DIRCO, has been dissipated. The Committee does not want to hear “stories”.

The Chairperson said that the “the matter is left at that”.

Ms Kalyan asked the Chairperson what he meant by “the matter is left at that”. She is aware of an investigation that would be reopened into the CFO.

The Chairperson said that Mr Maila’s question has been clarified. After that Mr Maila said that he does not want to hear stories. He wondered what is meant by stories.

Ms Kalyan said that when the matter of the CFO comes up again, it would be reopened in the Committee.

The Chairperson said that any matter about positions in DIRCO can be raised by the Committee, not limited to the issue of the CFO, there are other matters that can be raised.

Ms Kenye said that the item on the CFO should have appeared on the agenda if it was to be discussed.

African Renaissance and International Cooperation Fund (ARF) 2017/18 Quarter 1 and 2 Performance
Ms Hlengiwe Bhengu, Chief Director of Financial Management, DIRCO, presented the strategic outcome-oriented goals, strategic objectives, Quarter 1 and 2 performance information and the ARF Financial Report as at 30 September 2017. Strategic objectives included socio-economic development and integration, provisions for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, the support of cooperation between South Africa and other countries and the contribution of post-conflict reconstruction and development.

In Quarter 1, 33.3% of requests received were responded to as according to ARF objectives during the reporting period. One Advisory Committee meeting was convened. In Quarter 2, 100% of requests were reviewed and responded to. One Advisory Committee meeting was convened.

Discussion
Ms Kenye referred to the training of officials on page 10 and asked if the two projects deferred from Quarter 1 and 2 talks to the training of officials on the continent. She asked if the training would appear in the following quarters.

Ms Bhengu responded that the training is withdrawn. It might be considered at a later stage.

The Chairperson referred to the matter of how countries are chosen or crises responded to when it came to the ARF. He asked why South Africa, but not the AU, wanted good governance as South Africa is the one paying for democracy promotion. The AU should implement punishment for the lack of good governance in the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) report. However, DIRCO once told them that the APRM is soft power and the AU could assist merely with the electoral process, but they want to maintain friendly relations with countries where democracy promotion is needed. He asked what the responsibility of the ARF Advisory Committee was. Some countries would request that other countries run their elections. As controversial as it sounds, he said that sometimes South Africa is “being milked” and there are no rewards.

Ms Bhengu replied that the responsibility of the ARF Advisory Committee is to recommend projects to the Minister of Finance and the Minister of International Relations. The ARF Advisory Committee consists of the accounting officer of DIRCO and the DIRCO CFO is the “chairman” of the Advisory Committee. On elections, there was an approval of DIRCO budget for observer missions for AU and SADC country elections, with an original budget proposal of R17 million, to provide an observer function.

Committee business
The Chairperson requested the adoption of the committee report and minutes but there was a challenge with quorum.

The Committee Content Adviser said that Members need to be physically present at the meeting and not just registered as having attended.

Mr Maila asked what would happen if the decision was postponed.

The Content Adviser responded that the Chairperson has discretion on postponement.

Ms D Raphuti (ANC) said that Members are present and asked what would happen in the case someone had acute diarrhoea. She stressed that in such a case she would still have to be considered present.

Ms Kenye said that the Committee is not a quorum without opposition parties. It is an issue that opposition parties members are not present and that it causes various inconveniences.

The Content Adviser said that minutes can be looked at, but not adopted.

The Chairperson said that the minutes should be adopted in the early Committee schedule of 2018.

The meeting was adjourned.