Foreign Affairs Strategic Plan and Budget: briefing by Director General

Meeting report

FOREIGN AFFAIRS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
6 April 2005
FOREIGN AFFAIRS STRATEGIC PLAN AND BUDGET: BRIEFING BY DIRECTOR GENERAL

Chairperson: Mr D Sithole (ANC)

Documents handed out:
Foreign Affairs PowerPoint presentation: Human resources and finances
Foreign Affairs PowerPoint presentation: Strategic Plan
Department Strategic Plan 2005 - 2008
Department Institutional Strengthening (see Appendix)

SUMMARY
The Department briefed the Committee on its budget and Strategic Plan, particularly focussing on human resources and finances. Savings would be rolled over for the following financial year. With regards to human resources, the Department commented on orientation, mentoring, career path development and HIV Voluntary Counselling and Testing.

The Strategic Plan focused on consolidating existing relations with the European Union and North America, while they saw Asia as a potential lucrative source of foreign direct investment. The South American countries were untapped markets that would be targetted through Mercosur. In Africa, the Department would utilise the Southern African Development Community, the African Union and the Southern Africa Customs Union to enhance relations.

Members concerns included the allocation for unfilled vacancies, and inadequate communication channels between embassies and the Department, the reasons for strained relations with Australia, and ‘gender mainstreaming’ in the Department. Why had South Africa adopted its ‘wait and see’ attitude to Iraq?

MINUTES

Department briefing
Dr A Ntsaluba, Department Director-General, briefed the Committee on the Strategic Plan and budget. The outline focused on human resources issues for 2005 – 2006, and finances. The Department's total number of vacancies was 2 849, of which 1 875 had been filled. They had introduced an orientation and training programme for new employees, and launched a HIV Voluntary Counselling and Testing programme (VCT)

The Department was going to implement a career management strategy and to utilise the services of retired diplomats for mentoring purposes. Finances had been divided into four programmes: administration, foreign relations, public diplomacy and protocol services. The total rollover for 2004-05 was R56 million, with net savings of R52 million, which were a result of delayed transfers and a strong Rand. This had not been anticipated in the initial budget of R2.5 billion. The Department was in the process of changing from renting property, to buying property, for its embassies.

Dr Ntsaluba said their political intent was peaceful resolution of conflict, and the consolidation of relations with other African multilateral bodies like the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Southern African Customs Union (SACU), the African Union (AU) and the New Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD). The Department was working towards the conclusion of framework for Free Trade Agreements with India, China and the United States of America, and was supporting the Square Kilometre Array (telescope) bid.

The Strategic Plan also revealed their desire for the reform of the United Nations to protect African interests. They were focussing on democratisation of Bretton Woods institutions and the reform of global financial systems. In their security division, they were engaging with the United Nations anti-terrorism campaign.

With regard to regional and bilateral relations, the Department had focussed on Australasia and centres of growth in the East. The Middle East provided 80% of South African oil supplies, and the resolution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict was central to peace in that region. Regarding North America and Europe, the Department sought to strengthen relations, and consolidate the strong relations with Nordic countries in particular. The Department had been opening ‘micro-missions’ with minimal staff to reduce the workload at busy embassies. For instance, the office in India now longer had to also serve other countries like Nepal and Bangladesh.

Discussion
Mr B Holomisa (UDM) asked how the Department would lobby for South Africa to get a seat on the United Nations Security Council, because it did not appear in the budget. He cautioned the Department not to rely on other countries’ support because they might have vested interests in the issue. He advised the Department to lobby the main Western countries, but to "never put all the eggs in one basket".

Mr Ntsaluba said that the logic behind lobbying for the Security Council seat was that all missions would participate in all countries of accreditation. Thus it was not a line item because all missions would participate. The Department would rally support from countries in the North. He agreed that the countries should be chosen by African countries or nominated through the UN approach.

Mr D Gibson (DA) asked for clarification on how much had been spent on unfilled funded vacancies.

Professor B Turok (ANC) asked about co-operation mechanisms with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). He felt that Foreign Affairs was increasingly becoming more "economics inclined". In the past, politics had played the dominant part. According to Professor Nkuhlu and other NEPAD leaders, NEPAD was a socio-economic framework with a number of projects, not a project in itself. The nature of South Africa's involvement in NEPAD was still unclear.

Professor Turok also enquired about the co-operation between the various African parliaments and individual European parliaments. The interests of South Africa were not being adequately addressed. He asked why the Africa Institute was not working with the Department, rather than the Department of Science and Technology. The Institute had valuable resources at their disposal that would be useful to the Department. For example, Members had had great difficulty in accessing important documents, such as Kofi Annan’s Report. He urged the Department to make documents available soon enough - for instance, the Tony Blair Report was 300 pages and would take ages to download. Further, he felt that the Department was not on an instant communications platform with embassies abroad. He suggested that the Department should make use of satellite communication systems. During his visit to Portugal, he had had to brief their Ambassador the whole night about what was happening in South Africa.

Mr Ntsaluba agreed that NEPAD was more socio-economic than political. There had to be a correct balance but this would be a challenge. There had been discussions in their Cluster on how to move forward, and he agreed that the Department was not giving enough attention to the issue. Discussions had started and the Africa Institute would not be working so strongly through the Department. It had not been structured in a proper way

Mr Ntsaluba also agreed that their reports systems were outdated, but they were not ready to use satellite communications. They were in the process of revamping Information and Communications Technology (ICT) structures. There had to be a balance between information dissemination and security. This was the reason for the high cost. The current communication system was not adequate to respond to South Africa’s role in Africa.

Mr P Ditshetelo (UCDP) asked what the Department had done to avert the spread of HIV infection within the Department and its missions abroad.

Dr A Ntsaluba (Director-General) replied that there were HIV prevention campaigns, and there was a Wellness Centre within the Department. He admitted that they did not have a significant impact. The Department had been in discussions with the Department of Health to do a prevalence assessment. They had focused on awareness and prevention.

Ms M Nompozolo (Chief Director: Human Resources) added that the Department had not felt a strong impact. The Wellness Centre provided voluntary counselling and testing. The infection figures were very low, but these were only based on staff who came forward to be tested. They were collecting more information to inform interventions. The main area of focus was care and support.

Mr B Holomisa (UDM) asked if political opportunities in the Department were ‘sectarian’.

Mr Ntsaluba replied that this was a difficult question because the President decided on Heads of Missions. He could not discuss the issue.

Mr Ntsaluba said that the Minister had recently had a worthwhile meeting with the Department of Trade and Industry. There has been recognition of significant potential partnerships and there would be a stronger collaboration. There had also been a meeting with the Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister to move towards a more complementary role.

Mr D Gibson (DA) asked for more detail on the Square Kilometre Array

Mr J Davis (Chief Director: Economic Development, Multilateral Branch) explained that this was a radio telescope that the USA and Europe were planning to build. The choice of location was between Australia and South Africa. The square kilometre array referred to the space needed to build the telescope. The telescope’s range would stretch into other African countries. The Department of Science and Technology were lobbying for South Africa to be the host. The telescope would cost billions to build.

Mr Gibson asked why South Africa had adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach to Iraq. He wanted to know why South Africa was pulling away when the country could help with normalisation and democracy.

Mr J Marx (Chief Director: Middle East) said that it was not a question of ‘pulling away’ from Iraq. South Africa was still involved through the United Nations. The Department looked forward to opening a mission in Iraq as soon as the situation stabilised. The Department was aware of the important role of Iraq, and when the situation improved, South African companies would be encouraged to return. They could not give that recommendation now.

Mr Gibson wanted to know why relations with Australia seemed ‘strained’. This had been attributed to top level disagreements over relations with Zimbabwe. Had steps been taken to improve relations?

Mr Ntsaluba said that they were expecting Deputy Minister Pahad to visit Australia country. He agreed that there had been a period of ‘turbulence’, but both sides had made attempts to re-establish relations. There were no major issues and the meeting had been successful.

Mr Gibson said that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) had rules that allowed countries to take measures to protect their local industries. South Africa had been open to doing away with tariffs and barriers, but had not taken steps to protect local industries. Foreign influence was apparently strangling the clothing and textile industries. What was South Africa doing about this?

Mr Marx said that clothing and textile industries were struggling in many countries. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) did want to reduce barriers. A gain had been made because the Multi-textile Agreement had lapsed. He said that China’s textile industry was threatening many industries. The options of intervention were limited. The central issue was competitiveness. Any government assistance had to be long-term. The question was if the industries would be competitive in the long-term.

Mr Holomisa said that as a nation, South Africa needed to identify its interests. There was a tendency to ratify international treaties without interrogating the implications. The US had refused to ratify treaties and China had joined the WTO on its own terms. Countries were still funding different sectors while SA was not. The government had to intervene in the clothing and textile sectors. The country had to start bargaining.

Mr Gibson asked why the DA had only received an invitation to the Heads of Missions Conference two days before the event. It seemed like a ‘snub’. Mr Ntsaluba apologised for any negative impression that had been created, as this had not been intentional. He accepted the criticism.

Mr M Ramgobin (ANC) asked about an integrated approach to the Commission for Africa. "Without an integrated approach, there was no approach".

Nr Ntsaluba said that there had been consultation within governments. This had been positive because there were a number of areas that South Africa had clear policies on, and it was a challenge for the Commission on how to relate to these recommendations. The two main issues were that the Commission was useful in that it had quantified the resource gap that it should be integrated in the G8 Action plan. It was an issue of how South Africa should relate to the existing documents.

Mr Ramgobin asked about the increasing problem of the hegemony of multilateral institutions. There were problems such as regarding the candidate for head of the World Bank, the disregard of the Security Council, and the UN seeking to dominate and assert hegemonic positions. Would this impact negatively on Africa? The movement of the unipolar hegemonic state could impede the reconstruction of Africa.

Mr Ntsaluba said that the hegemonic question was a difficult issue. He admitted that there was not a ‘healthy global situation’. Countries in the South could not counter the power of the North. There had been many challenges regarding the suggested head of the World Bank and the situation in Iraq. South Africa had consistently made two statements. The first one was that reform had to take place for the Breton Woods institutions. It was unfair that the US should decide on the President of the World Bank, and Europe decide on the head of the International Monetary Fund. The second statement was that there had to be safeguards against particular countries dominating.

The Chairperson asked how the Department was mainstreaming gender issues.

Ms Nompozolo said that the Department had elevated the gender focal point to a Deputy Director-General level. A Department project that was looking stumbling blocks faced by women ambassadors. The majority of the staff intake was women. They were currently doing an audit of all their policies to check any created obstacles for women. They were also training female diplomats.

The Chairperson asked why the Department had only 1% of disabled staff. For several years, the Department had missed its targets. Why was this the case?

Ms Nompozolo said that in the area of disability, they had not done well. The Department was working with four organisations that serviced the sector. When advertisements went out for vacant positions, the Department contacted the organisations and requested staff. The Department had not reaped many benefits from this approach. There were 22 disabled people working in the Department. The Department would continue to work with these and other organisations.

Mr Ntsaluba added that this was an area of focus. The Department had sent to visually impaired staff on missions. Support given had to be handled sensitively.

The Chairperson wanted to know about the African Renaissance Fund. When the fund had been established, it was assumed that it would continuously sustain itself. He had noticed in the presentation that there was not a request for further funding.

Mr Ntsaluba said that most of their priority projects did not lend themselves to loan financing, for example in Burundi and Sahrawi. The nature of the assistance meant that they needed to recapitalise the fund. Discussions with Treasury had highlighted the reality of supporting projects of this nature. The idea of loans had been started in the old dispensation and they were not being paid back. There had been suggestions to write off the loans.

The Chairperson wanted to know if the Department used their experience to inform their projects and budgets. Part of their agenda was to build democratic institutions and monitor elections, but this was not part of the budget. He wanted to know to what extent the movement of funds affected other projects because the Department did not account for all items. What were the implications of items missing from the budget?

Mr Ntsaluba conceded that the Department had not been consciously sharing information and experiences. This was not only in the area of elections and monitoring, but also in conflict resolution. The high turnover of staff meant that capacity was not being utilised to the maximum. A more co-ordinated approach was needed. He gave an example of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) desk being centred in the Department to co-ordinate the post-conflict, reconstruction phase.

Mr C Tywakadi (Director: Financial Accounting) said that they did fund election observers. Each unit submitted to which countries they would send election observers. This information was built into the budget.

The Chairperson asked if it had been built into the 2005/6 budget. Mr Tywakadi affirmed this.

Mr Gibson asked about the Department’s organogram. The Chief Director of Diplomacy and Policy, Research and Analysis was placed under the Minister. This gave the impression that the Chief Directors were senior to the Director-General. He felt that this should be reorganised.

Mr Ntsaluba said that this was done to explain that the two units reported directly to the Minister. The organogram was from 2001 or 2002. The Department was revising the structure because it created its own difficulties. It reflected relationships more than seniority.

The Chairperson said that after the budget vote, the Department would have to present all the bilateral treaties that South Africa had signed. All other issues would be addressed then.

The meeting was adjourned.

Appendix:
Department of Foreign Affairs
Institutional Strengthening

Support for HR development in SA and Africa
- Funding sources for capacity building in critical areas; promotion of gender equality

Support services
- Diplomatic accreditation management; state events management; improvement of airport protocol lounges; management of interactive diplomatic website
- Effective internal communications strategy; dissemination of quality information; interactive
website; improve media research capacity Progress on acquisition of new Head Office building
- Progress on transformation process (EE, gender, disabilities)
- Recruitment, selection, placement strategy; skills audit; retention strategy; performance management
- Staff development/training in leadership/management skills
- Projects for the disposal/acquisition of properties abroad
- Improvement of consular service delivery: re-organisation; new software system; update consular code, policy, procedures, website; establish rapid response team
- Mainstream HIV/AIDS issues

Information communications technology
- Global network infrastructure; business intelligence; data warehousing; workflow development; migration of UNIX and Windows NT to Windows 2003

Intensify implementation of Minimum Information Security Standard (MISS)
- culture of security; policies; vetting; access control system; information/mission security; investigation capacity

Implement financial systems reform - Public Finance Management Act
- Policies and procedures; control of movable assets; on-line expenditure reporting from missions

Repositioning/transformation of the Foreign Service Institute
- Staff training/development; improved infrastructure/management; visibility/image; improved curriculum/course quality; realignment of FSI qualifications; French language training