International Relations and Cooperation Budget: Committee Report

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International Relations

29 May 2020
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Meeting Summary

Video: Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation, 29 May 2020

Tabled Committee Reports

The Committee considered its Draft Report on the 2020/21 Budget; 2020-25 Strategic Plan; the 2020-25 African Renaissance Fund Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan 2020/21 of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.

There were limited observations and recommendations as the Report covered everything the Members had previously raised. The Committee adopted the Report with no amendments. The DA reserved its right to support the Report.

Meeting report

Opening Remarks by the Chairperson

The Chairperson opened the meeting and welcomed everyone present. She said that this would be a very short meeting as the Committee would be considering its Budget Vote Report. The contents of the Report were based on what the Department had presented to the Committee in the Committee’s last meeting with the Department. She hoped that the Members had gone through the Report.

The Chairperson said that she would allow the Committee Content Advisor to do briefly summarise the introduction of the Report. She would then take over and continue dealing with the findings of the Report; the Members would then be allowed to formulate observations, make recommendations and also adopt these recommendations. She asked if there were any objections to the process she was proposing; if there were none, the meeting could then proceed.

The Content Advisor gave a summary of the Report. She explained to Members what each section of the report contained. Section one of the Report was an introduction and contained the remarks made by the Chairperson as well as a response by the Minister. The second section of the Report was based on the presentation made by the Department on its 2020-25 Strategic Plan and 2020/21 Annual Performance Plan (APP). Section 2.1 was based on the actual narrative of what the Department presented - the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTFEF) and the expenditure focus of the Department for 2020/21. The third section dealt with the Department’s objectives and its strategic linkages to the National Development Plan (NDP). The fourth section was based on the planned policy initiatives of the Department and how the Department intended to enhance its operational capacity in two key areas in the medium term. One of these was the Foreign Service Bill, which was waiting signature by the President; the Department would provide management and guidance for its public entity - the African Renaissance Fund (ARF), to revive the process on the Partnership for Development Bill.

The fifth section of the Report focused on the legislative mandate of the Department which included all Acts the Department was responsible for. The sixth section was based on the Strategic Plan 2020-25 as presented by the Department and it was on the strategic focus of the Department for the next five years. The seventh section dealt with the 2020/21 APP and showed the immediate plan of action and strategic focus for the year 2020/21. Concerning the budget programmes of the Department, the Content Advisor said she would not go into depth but only highlight what the programmes were about, since Members had the report in front of them.

The first program spoke about the Department’s ICT objectives with the goal to implement a new ICT system for the Department. The Diplomacy Academy, which the Department aimed to create, also fell under this programme. The Foreign Service Bill would also be prioritised under this programme. Progamme two would prioritise the review of structural bilateral mechanisms to align them to the aspiration of the NDP and MTSF. The aim was to complete the review in quarter two. Programme three prioritised the Department’s plan to develop a long-term strategy for South Africa’s membership and candidatures in international organisations; the Department had also planned to review and identify which memberships to pursue. Programme four focused on the public diplomatic strategy, where the Department aimed to develop, implement and monitor the effectiveness of the Public Diplomacy strategy. The Department was also planning to have three public participation programmes to promote South Africa.

Section 10 of the Report was based on the ARF Strategic Plan 2020/25 and the Fund’s Annual Performance Plan 2020/21. The ARF was a soft power tool which assisted the Department in its diplomatic work and goals. This fund supported the programmes of the Department within Africa; its focus would be to get approval from Cabinet on the Partnership Bill. The ARF targets for the next five years would be to help and assist SA’s Chairship in the African Union. The 2020/21 APP of the ARF focused on the same issues in ensuring that the programmes of the AU Chairperson were successfully implemented.

The Content Advisor also gave an overview of the Department’s budget 2020/21 and Medium-Term Expenditure Framework. The Department would be allocated an increased budget amount of about R6.850 billion in 2020/21, compared to R6.302 billion in 2019/20. The budget could still be affected by foreign exchange fluctuations later in the year or by unplanned activities – remedial action that could be necessitated by unforeseen circumstances such as COVID-19. These budget adjustments would be addressed later.

Observations and concerns raised by the Committee

The Chairperson took over from the Content Advisor and asked Members if they had any comment on what was said by the content advisor.

Mr B Nkosi (ANC) welcomed the summary but pointed out that there were some languages issues in the Report, specifically on the introduction. He asked the Content Advisor to accurately characterise the COVID-19 situation and how it affected the Department.

Mr Nkosi also highlighted that the Strategic Plan and APP should be numerated rather than being in one sentence in the introduction.

Mr D Bergman (DA) welcomed the Report but wanted the issues to be highlighted so they could stand out. He asked if there could be a separate heading for COVID-19, “lessons learned”, which would include what the Committee had learned from COVID-19.

He said that he had seen the problem with leadership and the Committee had to rely on different structures such as NATJOINTS for information. The Committee had to deal with so many chiefs from the Department and this was because the problems with the Department’s organogram were never solved, and this needed to be resolved together with the skills within the Department.

He also asked if the Committee could push for the reduction of SA’s global footprint as some of these missions were no benefit to the country. He said that the Committee needed to look at memberships, such as BRICS, and review how much value they added to SA. Repatriations had been a disaster from some of these member states that were supposed to make cooperation easier.

The Chairperson interjected and reminded Mr Bergman that she gave him this opportunity to speak on whether the Report was a true reflection of what the Committee discussed in the Committee’s last meeting with the Department and whether everything was captured. This was not an opportunity to give matters arising; Members would have the chance to do matters arising at another meeting with the Department. She reminded Members that they should only be giving their recommendations and observations on the Report.

Mr Bergman asked if those points could be noted.

Ms B Swarts (ANC) welcomed the Report and said it was a true reflection of what was discussed. She pointed out that the Department had included infrastructure in its APP but did not have the necessary skills to implement this objective.

Dr C Mulder (FF+) welcomed and supported the report and thanked the Content Advisor for drafting it. He added that it was a true reflection of what was discussed in the last meeting.

Rev K Meshoe (ACDP) welcomed the Report but asked about that repatriation of South Africans across the globe. How many South Africans still need to be repatriated?

The Chairperson responded to Rev Meshoe and said that this was an arising matter and it was not discussed in the last meeting. This current meeting was for the consideration of the Budget Report and new questions that were not related to this current Report would confuse the Committee. She asked Members to focus on what the Content Advisor presented. Members should comment whether or not this Report was a true reflection of what was discussed in the last meeting.

Findings

The Chairperson asked the Committee if the Content Advisor should read the findings to the Committee.

The Members jointly agreed and that there was no need.

The Chairperson continued and asked Members if there was any point in the findings which was a misrepresentation of the actual findings. She went through the findings numerically and asked Members to raise their issues as she read through them.

The Chairperson lost internet connection and was unable to continue with the meeting. The Content Advisor continued with reading through the findings.

The Committee Members agreed with all the findings and had no issues.

Recommendations

The Content Advisor went through the recommendations and the Committee agreed and had no problems with them. She suggested that one of the Members should take over the meeting so that Committee could deal with the report.

Mr D Moela (ANC) suggested that one of the Members should be nominated as Acting-Chairperson so that the report could be adopted.

Mr Bergman nominated Mr Nkosi. The nomination was seconded by Ms Swarts and the Committee agreed that Mr Nkosi should be the Acting Chairperson.

The Acting Chairperson confirmed that the Report had been tabled and the recommendations were made to Parliament. He asked for a motion to adopt the Report.

Dr Mulder moved for the adoption of the Report and the move was seconded by Ms Swarts.

There were no objections from the Committee and the Report was adopted.

Mr Bergman said that he reserved his right to adopt the Report.

Ms Mahambehlala regained her internet connection and took over from Mr Nkosi as Chairperson.

The Chairperson confirmed that the Budget Vote Report was adopted with no amendments.

The meeting was adjourned.

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