Department Budget and Strategy: input from SANCO and HSRC

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International Relations

09 May 2007
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Meeting report

FOREIGN AFFAIRS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
09 May 2007
DEPARTMENT BUDGET AND STRATEGY: INPUT FROM SANCO AND HSRC

Chairperson:
Mr D.J. Sithole (ANC)

Documents handed out:
SANCO submission
HSRC submission

Audio Recording of the Meeting Part1, Part2, Part3, Part4 & Part5

SUMMARY
The Committee received briefings from the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). SANCO focused on five concerns: revising and enhancing engagement between government and civil society on issues regarding foreign affairs, the role of civil society in the African Union and NEPAD, redressing the balance between north and south as well as consolidating south-south relations on the African Agenda, resource allocation, and finally human capital management. The HSRC looked at seven broad issues: capacity, the principles of the budget, the United Nations Security Council seat, NEPAD and the African Union, Civil Society, and issues of efficiency.

Issues raised by the Committee in the subsequent discussion included policy analysis capacity, the role and responsibility of civil society in influencing foreign policy, xenophobia, the overshadowing of NEPAD by African Union priorities and South Africa’s role in the United Nations Security Council.

MINUTES
South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) submission
Mr Jack Feris noted that it was SANCO's first submission on the Department of Foreign Affairs budget and strategic plan. As the budget documents had been received only 36 hours before the presentation, there had been very little time to engage with the budget, and hence the submission would focus on SANCO’s main concerns. These were: revising and enhancing engagement between government and civil society on issues regarding foreign affairs, the role of civil society in the African Union and NEPAD, redressing the balance between north and south as well as consolidating south-south relations on the African Agenda, resource allocation, and finally human capital management (see document).

On increased interaction between government and civil society on the issue of foreign affairs, SANCO stressed the importance of cooperation especially on issues such as xenophobia. He called for the mobilisation of government resources in capacitating civil society structures such as SANCO on African Renaissance, NEPAD, African Union, the African Peer Review Mechanism and globalisation matters. Government should be using civil society structures more in this area.

Regarding the redress of North-South imbalances and South-South co-operation, SANCO expressed its support for the government in their efforts in the World Trade Organisation and in post-conflict reconstruction and development in Africa. In considering the role of civil society in the African Union and NEPAD, Mr Feris expressed optimism for NEPAD’s approach to development and SANCO was eager to get involved. He cautioned government on not confusing civil society with non-government organisations as some of these NGOs were under the influence of foreign donors. More engagement was needed with the broader notion of civil society such as SANCO represented with its single national community base.

SANCO noted that there had been neither underspending nor overspending by the Department in managing its financial resources. He expressed discontent with the 2007/08 budget proposal’s non-approved allocations and hoped for the Committee’s involvement in addressing this. Finally, Mr Ferris said SANCO welcomed the improved representation of black populations in the Department though women and people with disabilities were underrepresented. He expressed concern for the widening disparity in numbers between Coloured, Indian and White employees.

The Chairperson was glad to hear that SANCO largely endorsed the budget. He acknowledged the concern around employment equity. He said that targets were continually being shifted, which needed to be addressed. On the matter of xenophobia, the Chairperson felt that this was due to a lack of adjustment by South African citizens since the apartheid era. South Africa had emerged from the isolation of the apartheid era and lacked an understanding and experience of migrants. He would not classify this phenomenon as xenophobia as such.

Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) submission
Mr Adrian Hadland (Chief Research Specialist in the HSRC Society, Culture and Identity programme) provided a brief overview of the HSRC’s activities. He pointed out its 200 researcher capacity concerned with issues such as the African Peer Review Mechanism, migration, the South Africa’s United Nations Security Council representation.

Generally he found the Department's budget to be expansionary and ambitious; however, this did have implications for capacity. He asked if the country had the capacity for the expansion, more specifically he was concerned about the depth of infrastructure and skills capacity where retention was also a problem. He was concerned that government was not adequately involved in policy research and analysis or the generation of policy. He asked if there was capacity for this function.

Mr Hadland was concerned that the next generation of diplomats would not be adequately fast tracked and that there would not be sufficient personnel. Regarding the budget, he noted insufficient emphasis on relations with Asian countries. On South Africa’s role in the UN and specifically the Security Council (UNSC), Mr Hadland said that South Africa’s exposure to high level politics had mixed blessings. He argued that it might exclude South Africa from a more hands-on approach in Africa. The nature of the UNSC was broad in scope and might act as an impediment on an emphasised focus on Africa by South Africa. He said that NEPAD was being underemphasised within the budget and in policy. This de-linking of Nepad and AU was not in the best interests of the continent and he called for efforts to revitalize NEPAD. Provisions in the budget for the African Renaissance fund needed to be increased. He argued that peace-keeping efforts were overstretched and that South Africa should look to downsizing its involvement.

He believed that there was need for more engagement with civil organizations to acquire a domestic voice in foreign policy. Finally he called for more efficient spending in the budget, and appealed for monitoring mechanisms on spending to trace the application of funds. His presentation raised two additional points, questioning what the HSRC felt was excessive spending on entertainment around R40 million, and that the budget did not take into account currency variations.

Discussion
Starting on the last issue raised, the Chairperson believed that the R40 million used for entertainment by diplomats was necessary. Regarding the expansionary nature of the budget and the HSRC’s criticism of the capacity for expansion, he said that the HSRC human resources should be following the expansion envisioned in the budget. On the research capacity of the Foreign Service, the Chairperson said that an entity was being put in place to process and analyze information and research, however he was not aware of the progress of that entity. He emphasised the need to harness existing entities such as the African Institute that is currently positioned under the Department of Science and Technology and might require repositioning and restructuring to serve the purpose of policy analysis. Government needed institutions such as universities to aid in generating knowledge. Regarding the efficient utilisation of funds, he argued that the scattered nature of the housing of the Department across Pretoria might be an impediment on efficient use of funds. Finally the Chairperson agreed with Mr Hadland on increasing the budget allocation to the African Renaissance fund.

Dr Skosana asked Mr Hadland how one could produce departmental efficiency when dealing with political objectives such as human rights, peace keeping, and other diplomatic objects. He also asked on what level an engagement with civil society should operate, after acknowledging the need for government to be participatory. He argued, for example that the church should play a role as the conscience of the state and not be dictated to by the state. On the issue of NEPAD and the AU, he argued that NEPAD should be seen as part of the AU even though the AU serves a geopolitical function while NEPAD would play the geo-economic role, and they should not be seen as separate or mutually exclusive.

 

Dr Skosana argued that the role of South Africa was to draw attention to the plight of Africa in the UN Security Council and prevent Africa’s issues from being marginalised. On the Chairperson’s remark on xenophobia, he said that understanding xenophobia should not condone it or disguise the fact that it remains xenophobia. He highlighted the fact that the African Peer Review Mechanism had criticised South Africa for its xenophobic attitude and hence it must be addressed. Finally regarding SANCO’s emphasis on consultation with civil society, he agreed with the proposition.

Mr Ramgobin (ANC), referring to SANCO’s emphasis on the African Dream, asked if there was really consensus on the concept of the African Dream. He was concerned with the different roles that each sector had to play in the fostering of the “African Dream,” but he agreed that partnership was needed. He asked what participatory responsibility was civil society willing to take on. He disagreed with Dr Skosana’s assertion that the church should be the conscience of the state, rather the Constitution should play that role. He asked to what extent civil society was willing to take the initiative in engaging with government. Finally, he asked what role civil society will be taking trans-nationally. Essentially he was concerned that civil society would be less participatory and more critical thus not being sufficiently proactive.

Mr Madasa reiterated Mr Ramgobin’s concern for a proactive engagement by civil society. He challenged the HSRC to be more engaging with the Portfolio Committee, but agreed with their observation on NEPAD. On capacity, he said the President has been raising the skills capacity issue since 2002 and he was concerned that it was not being adequately addressed to date.

Mr Gibson (DA) said that the Pan African Parliament (PAP) was not receiving due attention by the HSRC. He said it was taking too long to be established, and was under-resourced even though it had great potential as a forum for engagement on the problems facing Africa. He argued that emphasis and discussions around the United States of Africa was time consuming and the focus rather should be on gradual steps towards such unity. He asked if a road map would be possible to develop.

Mr Feris said that on the matter of xenophobia, SANCO was primarily concerned with how government can use its structures and community base to engage with communities on this. The churches should not be excluded, but the focus should be on broad national civil service organisations that focus on the community in its entirety and not specific interest groups. There were proactive engagements with government but SANCO did not engage effectively because of the poor resources.

Mr Hadland said that he did not find any conflict between efficiency and political objectives, but that it cannot be shown to be efficient due to lack of monitoring. On civil society, he said that some kind of channel or forum needed to be established, and the state department should be making the first move due to its resource advantage over civil society. On the AU and NEPAD, he acknowledged the link between these but still maintained that the emphasis on the AU’s political objectives should not overshadow the need for economic development. On South Africa’s role in the Security Council, he asked if Africa’s plight had been highlighted and brought to the fore. It was the view of the HSRC that focus on the Security Council might stretch resources culminating in a loss of focus on Africa primarily. The HSRC did have researchers dealing with xenophobia and that it should engage with Parliament more often.

He said that 50% of the funding for HSRC came from Parliament thus a stronger relationship should be developed. He acknowledged Mr Gibson’s concern over the presentation's lack of focus on the PAP and admitted that the HSRC had not grappled with this in addressing the department budget, but he found the idea of a roadmap for progress to be very important.

The Chairperson said that further engagement with civil society would be taken up and said that the Committee was continually learning and welcomed new ideas. He said that when any government engages with another government - it engages with its people too.

Meeting adjourned.

 

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