Budget Vote 2006/07 and Strategic Plan: Department briefing

Share this page:

Meeting Summary

A summary of this committee meeting is not yet available.

Meeting report

ECONOMIC AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS SELECT COMMITTEE

ECONOMIC AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS SELECT COMMITTEE
17 May 2006
BUDGET VOTE 2006/07 AND STRATEGIC PLAN: DEPARTMENT BRIEFING

Chairperson:
Ms N Ntwanambi (ANC, Western Cape)

Documents handed out:
Strategic Plan 2006/07/ 2007/08, 2009/09: presentation
Strategic Plan 2006 – 2009

SUMMARY
The Department of Foreign Affairs briefed the Committee on its Strategic Plan and Budget for 2006/07.

Members concentrated on international relations, African issues, trade issues such as dumping, departmental learnerships, scarce skills and the filling of vacancies.

MINUTES

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) presentation
Ms Ntwanambi welcomed the delegation from the Department, who introduced themselves as Mr M Nkosi (Chief Director West Africa), Dr A Ntsaluba (Director General), Ms T Fadane (Director-Finance); and Ms M Nompozolo (Chief Director: Human Resources).

Mr Nkosi gave a brief overview of the Department’s medium term priorities and objectives. The focus was on the important need to build unity to achieve the objectives of consolidation of the African Agenda; South-South cooperation; North-South dialogue; the strengthening of Bilateral relations at the behest of Cabinet; global governance being political and security issues; perspectives on United Nations (UN) reform, and also socio-economic issues.

He detailed the consolidation/implementation of the African Agenda and South Africa’s participation in the Southern African Development Community / Southern African Customs Union (SADC/SACU) and the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) with a number of projects for African socio-economic development.

The Department continued to have active participation in the establishment of the African Standby Force and was deeply involved in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) process and in the establishment of transitional governance for the DRC which was now poised for elections in June. The Department would continue to monitor the situation in Zambia, Angola and Nigeria in the run up to Presidential and parliamentary elections and to support a process of encouraging all role players to seek an amicable solution to the challenges facing Zimbabwe.

It was noted that South Africa played a key role in peace-making efforts in the Comoros. Sierra Leone would be assisted with electricity generation and distribution with Eskom as the agent; an official launch of the generator would soon be taking place.

With regard to global governance and UN reform, the Department continued to ensure UN decisions were fair, credible and consistent. Last week a major honour was bestowed as South Africa was elected onto the new UN human rights watchdog.

South Africa continued to play a major role in resolving issues in the Middle East and continued to argue for peaceful conflict resolution rather than military conflict and avoid the situation of violence being waged by both sides.

Regarding Asia and Australasia, South Africa would continue to intensify relations within the region, of particular importance being China and India that were growing markets rising in their significance globally. There was also Africa-Asia cooperation, which would also be used as a forum to ensure closer cooperation between those countries and South Africa.

In the Middle East Mr Nkosi mentioned Palestine, Israel, Afghanistan, and Iraq, given the strategic importance that it was the region where most of our oil emanated from.

In Latin America the Department noted the new trend in the emergence of Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Caribbean and Jamaica. South Africa continued to have a special relationship with Brazil and would further develop those relations; and also had close relations with the Caribbean.

In the USA and Canada the Department would continue to engage with Washington on a wide range of issues and also had very good relations with Canada, who were South Africa’s partners on a wide range of issues. One of the challenges was the Spirit of Africa Diaspora in North America in support of the African Agenda to ensure greater support and solidarity.

The Department wanted to strengthen economic relations with central Europe, with the European Union (EU) going through a period of expansion with new members being admitted. South Africa had to strengthen relationships, particularly with Poland and the Czech Republic, and relations with Russia continued to be a priority.

Mr Nkosi then briefed the Committee on the Department’s asset management plan, which was aimed at ensuring compliance with government prescripts and ensuring optimal utilisation of resources. The DFA was currently based in several buildings in Pretoria with officials spread across several blocks, and were trying to get everybody under one roof. The Department had a number of fixed assets, both here and abroad, and the strategy was to move towards ownership of the rented properties The programme for the 2006/07 financial year commenced with construction projects with new chanceries and missions in Addis Ababa, Abuja, Maseru, Dar Es Salaam, Mbabane, Washington, Tokyo and Kigali. There were new acquisitions in the form of land the Department hoped to acquire during the course of the financial year in New Delhi, Beijing, Nairobi, Brussels, Gabarone, Lumbumbashi and Ouagadougou. Also on the programme was to continue with the refurbishment and repair of properties; and disposal of properties abroad and in Africa.

Ms M Nompozolo briefed the Committee on the Foreign Services Institute, Human Resources Plan and organisational structure of the Department. Her presentation focused on how the Department was aligning to be able to achieve its goals, and the support that was there to enable the organisation to achieve its objectives. Ms Nompozolo went through the capacity within the organisation; however the Department would be opening new missions and creating new posts.

One of the key issues was the merging of what used to be two separate directorates and this had worked quite well, in that the Department now had a branch that focussed on people. A leadership management training programme was introduced. There was also focus on performance management and development systems. They were trying to entrench a culture of performance with performance agreements and appraisals which would enhance the management of the Department.

A learnership programme was also launched for financial management, human resources, marketing and IT, which brought on board 40 unemployed youth to be part of this learnership programme. The Department continued to work on increasing awareness around gender and disability issues. She explained how the Department filled and reduced outstanding vacancies.

There was overall improvement on the Employment Equity analysis regarding representation of race and gender, with a significant improvement in the representation of Black people. Despite measures taken by the Department to increase representation of people with disabilities, much still needed to be done.

With regard to the Human Resources Programme, the Department was concentrating on developing people. A skills audit had been conducted to identify strengths and weaknesses. Gaps were found in leadership, hence the leadership management training programme. The Department continued to focus on the training of people and facilitated a culture conducive to growth, development and optimal functioning. HIV/Aids continued to be of key interest. The Department had a wellness centre and had elevated that to a directorate on its own. The DFA was looking at conditions of service for people based abroad and a framework for succession management was needed. The Department was in the process of putting in a new Employment Equity Plan in full compliance with the Act.

Ms T Fadane briefed the Committee on resource allocation per departmental programme. In terms of the resource allocation for the Department for the year 2005/06 the four programmes were: Administration; Foreign Relations; Public Diplomacy and Protocol Services; and International Transfers.

Ms Fadane went through the budget. The Department had managed to spend 98%, of which employee costs made up the greater part. There was a move to acquire properties rather than renting, hence the focus on acquisition of property. Ms Fadane gave a breakdown of the five proposals, being the African Agenda; Multilateral Diplomacy; South-South Cooperation; North-South dialogue; and Departmental Support. The Department’s total budget for 2006/07 was R3, 042 billion, but she explained how that figure was very much affected by the exchange rate.

Discussion
Ms Ntwanambi referred to the structure of SADC, and asked whether that referred to the SADC Parliamentary Forum or the SADC Secretariat? There was discussion going on the PF about transforming it into a permanent parliament. Was the Department involved in those discussions? She also referred to the postponement of elections in the DRC and asked for a status report. She asked for South Africa’s position on a third term for the Nigerian President.

Ms P Themba (ANC, Mpumalanga) asked whether the Department had a gender focus group and at what level. She also asked for clarification on the restructuring of SADC. The training learnership programme had taken 40 unemployed youth on board and retained 10; what had happened to the remainder and which province were the learners from?

Mr D Gamede (ANC, KwazuluNatal) thanked the Department for acknowledging the issue of disability, but urged them to do more. How did the Department reconcile relations with countries such as China and protecting the interests of workers and manufacturers in South Africa? On learnerships, were skills identified that would assist DFA? The Department had about 40 vacancies; was it not able to attract the desired candidates? Finally, he asked what the savings on the budget were attributed to and whether the seat of the Pan African Parliament been been finalised.

Mr N Hendricks (UIF) congratulated the Department on a terrific job done all over the world, especially Africa. He was very interested in Zimbabwe and how it impacted on South Africa. What studies had been done about the future of Zimbabwe? Was the Department in a position to inform the Committee of behind the scenes diplomatic initiatives? Would South Africa push for the democratisation of institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund?

Dr A Ntsaluba responded to questions, starting with the issue of the Parliamentary Forum and Secretariat of SADC. They had been focusing on the Secretariat. Up to now SA had been opposed to the idea that the Parliamentary Forum should be changed and had suggested that the process be delayed until guidance could be received from Parliament.

On the postponement of elections in the DRC, a date at the end of July had been agreed upon, which would now stretch to late August/September for the second phase of elections. The DFA was against a third term for the Nigerian President. The Department was particularly concerned about what happened in Nigeria. Nigeria was a driver of NEPAD and it did not send a good signal to the rest of the world.

Dr Ntsaluba clarified relations with China and India. What was really guiding SA was the sheer strength of those two economies. China was "invading" the African continent. He was concerned about two things. The two areas of concern were first of all the dumping of goods and therefore slowing down the process of industrialisation. The second issue was the fact that a number of African countries faced starvation and were basically motivated particularly by supplying energy to China. But, the revenue from those sales should be used for local economic development. There was a risk, echoed by the continent’s colonial past, that natural resources would simply be sold to the highest bidder and not used for the benefit of the continent.

The same applied to the issue of dumping. It was a very difficult situation. There was a tentative approach by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to raise the issue with China and at the same time focusing on strengthening and restructuring our own industries. Some of these dangers did not apply so much to India. SA’s textile industry felt China, Bangladesh and Pakistan were more dangerous.

Dr Ntsaluba responded on the issue of scarce skills. After the Minister of Public Service and Administration had visited India on the issue of scarce skills, all departments were asked what scarce skills they required. The DFA felt ICT skills were needed, but also a sustainable human resource development programme.

Dr Ntsaluba pointed out that the Department had recruited people last year but there were still some vacancies. If one looked at the type of people being recruited, they had basic degrees in law, international relations and economics and recruitment was therefore not a problem. Retention was. The filling of vacancies would be in phases and once absorbed a particular group would move on. The gender focus unit was at Chief Director-level, but recruitment had proved difficult.

Dr Ntsaluba said there was no deadline set for the Bretton Woods institutions’ reform, but a meeting in September could be decisive, as all stakeholders had agreed on the need for reform.

Dr Ntsaluba responded to the question of the seat of the Pan African Parliament. Gauteng seemed to be the preferred option and currently interdepartmental discussions were being held. The next step would be putting the design of the Pan African Parliament out for public consultation, similar to what was done for the Constitutional Court.

Dr Ntsaluba clarified the issue of Zimbabwe. He did not think there had been a major strategic shift in terms of diplomacy, because ultimately there was no other option. The fragmentation of the opposition was not helping either. There was clearly now no other credible alternative opposition in Zimbabwe that could negotiate credibly with Zanu PF. One area of encouragement was that he thought there was beginning to be some softening of positions because President Mugabe would not meet with the former British Commissioner in Zimbabwe, but the new British High Commissioner was having very extensive discussions with President Mugabe. However, this continued to be a difficult situation.

Ms Fadane clarified the issue of learnerships. When learnerships were advertised the Department was already committed to targeting unemployed youth, preferably not coming from Gauteng but from other provinces. The majority of the young learners were from outside Gauteng, quite a number were from Limpopo. The nature of the learnership programme was to give the young people skills so that they would be employable, and in the process to try and employ some of them. The Department did give employment to ten of them, and kept five more in ICT. There were no particular scarce skills identified in DFA, however it was more about the management of the pipeline. This year the DFA had started a learnership called the Cadet Programme to again target unemployed graduates.

In reply to Mr Gamede’s question on disability, Ms Fadane clarified the Department had representation at senior management level and two were at director level. People with disabilities were also diplomats, not only locally but in some of the missions abroad.

Ms Fadane said the savings on the budget were due to vacancies not filled and smaller transfer payments to the United Nations as a result of foreign exchange fluctuations.

Ms Ntwanambi referred to African Union (AU) discussions and asked whether there was discussion on the Pan African Women’s Organisation (POWA). She understood a house in Botswana belonging to South Africa’s mission was burnt down, was it arson or were the culprits ever found? It would help if the Committee could get a list of people representing the country so that Members could better familiarise themselves with the Department.

Dr Ntsaluba responded on the issue of POWA. South Africa was asked to host a meeting of POWA in the second half of this year. POWA was not a government structure but there had been a request that government support the movement. That was currently before Cabinet. The DFA was keen on this from a policy perspective. One of the weaker points in the functioning of the AU in general has been the issue of structures in society generally. There was a lot of discussion in the AU Summit in Khartoum in January but the forthcoming meeting would be critical for recognising POWA.

The house in Botswana was burnt down in addition to sexual assault on the wife of the DFA official. The family had to be moved from Botswana and the ambassador was provided with the necessary security. The Department encouraged all its officers to move into security facilities such as townhouses as there was an upswing in the criminal element in Botswana.

Ms Ntwanambi thanked the DG for a successful meeting and said they would focus more on African issues in their next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.

Audio

No related

Documents

No related documents

Present

  • We don't have attendance info for this committee meeting

Download as PDF

You can download this page as a PDF using your browser's print functionality. Click on the "Print" button below and select the "PDF" option under destinations/printers.

See detailed instructions for your browser here.

Share this page: