Hansard: NA: Debate on Vote 5 – International Relations and Cooperation
House: National Assembly
Date of Meeting: 30 May 2013
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UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 425
THE MINISTER OF POLICE
APPROPRIATION BILL
Debate on Vote No 5 – International Relations and Cooperation
"National Assembly Chamber Main",Unrevised Hansard,30 May 2013,"[Take-425] [National Assembly Chamber Main][NAC-Logger][mm].doc"
The MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION: Hon Speaker, hon members, Your Excellencies Ambassadors, High Commissioners and representatives of international organizations; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen; fellow South Africans; Comrades and friends. A few days ago, President Jacob Zuma was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Organization of African Unity, OAU/AU our Pan-African organisation founded in 1963 for promoting our unity in diversity, strengthening our solidarity, and building on our common history and shared values.
Kwame Nkrumah captured this vision in his address to the inaugural meeting of the OAU when he said: "Our objective is African union now. There is no time to waste. We must unite now or perish'
Sepedi Ke tshepa gore baetapele ba, be ba lemogile gore mphiri o tee ga o lle.
English
Indeed, we have not perished. Today we are a continent on the rise. We pay tribute to our forbearers for their foresight that gave our continent the OAU and its successor, the AU.
Next year in this country, we will be celebrating our 20th anniversary. As a nation we began our journey which started in 1994 towards a better South Africa in a better Africa and a better world.
We also recall that during the negotiations, we spelt out our transformation agenda in our May 1992 document rightly entitled Ready to Govern: ANC policy guidelines for a democratic South Africa which set four foreign policy goals for the postapartheid dispensation, eeenamely: The transformation of our foreign policy with the view to democratising our international political and economic relations for peace and friendship; our integration as a full member of the international community; to develop a foreign policy that will promote regional cooperation, peace and security; and to establish a professional foreign service in which training, employment equity and affirmative action will be important components for the attainment of high standards of service.
In just nineteen years we reset South Africa's international relations that were constructed and developed during 400 years of exclusion, colonialism and apartheid. Today, most of the goals we set for ourselves are all out there for all to see.eeeeee
Our country is no longer a pariah state but a valued and respected member of the international community; We have a dynamic, independent foreign policy that speaks to our domestic priorities, which is supported by a professional foreign service; We expanded our global footprint from 34 to 126 Missions across all continents and time zones; Our international trade continues to surge, even against the economic global doom and gloom, we continue to create millions of jobs; and tourist arrivals continue to grow year after year, as our president confirmed this morning during the press conference that for this year 2012 we have actually received more than 13 million visitors in this country; Our African Agenda has placed our continent at the center of our foreign policy;
Our relations with countries of the South are firmly grounded on shared interests and common challenges; Our partnership with countries of the North is based on mutual respect and cooperation; We are active in the multilateral system for the transformation of the global governance architecture; It is confirmed and that we have also made history in breathing a new life during our hosting of Conference of African Unity, Cop17, where we have restored hope into the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, negotiation process. Our economic diplomacy promotes South Africa's broad economic objectives globally; and we are now counted among the voices that will change the global power relations.
In the next year and beyond, eeeeee[write in full]Dirco will lead a coordinated campaign through the footprint we have established, to diversify and consolidate our international relations.
The budget we present to you today is about availing more resources so that Dircoeeeee can power ahead into new frontiers of cooperation, contributing towards the eradication of poverty, inequality and unemployment. The proposed figures are attributable to our reality of operating in an international environment.
In 2009, this administration made a number of foreign policy commitments to the people of this country in the context of linking our international relation policies to our domestic priorities. This was done with an understanding that the cornerstone of our foreign policy lies in our domestic interests. We stand before you today to affirm that these commitments we made in 2009 have broadly been fulfilled. We therefore wish to thank all who responded to our call that working together, we can do more.eeeee
Our relations with our neighbourhood are in good shape, thanks to our bilateral mechanisms as well as the integration objectives of the Southern African Development Community, SADC, and South African Customs Union, SACU.
Bilaterally, we continue to work for strong diplomatic and economic ties with countries of our region and through eeeeBi-National and joint commissions, across the continent and throughout the world with continuation of exchange of high-level visits, which have served to be instrumental in this regard.
We stand for a strong SADC as an integrated community in various domains that is supported by an effective SADC secretariat. SADC has taken a lead in working for peace and stability in our region, and our contribution in this regard has been through preventive diplomacy and mediation; our membership of the eeeeOrgan on Politics, Defence and Security; and through regional peacekeeping efforts.
We remain seized with the process of assisting and working together with all components of institutions of our region. We take this opportunity to congratulate the people of Zimbabwe for having successfully completed the process of their new constitution. We remain seized with the process of assisting the parties through the mediation efforts of our President to implement to the fullest the eeeeGlobal Political Agreement and the Roadmap to elections in the context of the SADC mediation framework.
We welcome the proposal for an intervention brigade as a realistic option to bring security normalcy to the eastern DRC by both SADC and supported and working together with the international Relations on the Great Lakes Region, ICGLR. We have the responsibility all of us in this region in this continent to continue to protect the vulnerable in that particular country and our government condemn in no uncertain terms attacks on these vulnerable civilians, particularly women and children, humanitarian actors and the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, MONUSCO, peacekeepers.
These excellent relations that I have referred to on working together with other countries in the continent have extended to all parts as witnessed by his excellency.eeee
President Goodluck Jonathan, who emphasized the value to work for a united Africa and the importance of a strong working relationship between South Africa and Nigeria.eeee
We remain concerned with the peace and security situation in our continent albeit in the fewer countries that it was in the past. The stabilisation of the Great Lakes Regioneee, Central Africa, North Africa as well as parts of West Africa and the Horn of Africa requires urgent attention if we are to consolidate the gains we have made in recent years to restore peace to Africa. Therefore, we will continue as we did with all peace initiatives and full support of the process in the DRC, the eeeeCentral African Republic, CAR, Mali, Guinea Bissau, Somalia, which if it was not for the intervention of Africans themselves to lead and bring about African solutions, Somalia would still be what it was for more than 20 years. It took Africans to provide leadership and be there first before the international community came to join.
Today the people of Somalia are celebrating a new dawn which gives them a new opportunity to move on. We will continue to stand by the people of Libya, Tunisia and Egypt as they strive to work together in their transition to a new socio-economic and political dispensation. We firmly support the ongoing constitutional processes in these countries and we are ready to share our experiences with all of them.
We will continue advised and informed by foreign policy on humanitarian assistant in all corners of the continent whereas as when we are called upon to do so and act in solidarity with the sisterly countries in need.
[The humanitarian assistance we provide is an act of solidarity with sisterly countries in need.]
We have for so many years been seized with the issue of the status of Western Sahara. This is the only country that as we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the OAU remained the only occupied country in our continent. So this is just one unfinished business that needs all our attention. Self-determination of the people of Western Sahara is equally essential.
The primary objective of the OAU was to achieve a better life for the Africans, eradicating all forms of colonialism, and defending their sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. We should all be sitting in this house as we've joined all African nations in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the birth of our OuAU, remember that ANC african national congress eeee has been there before that meeting that was held for all African peoples' conference, which 16:48 gave birth to the OAU.
In both the two conferences, South Africa, because at that time it was a pariah state could only be represented by the liberation movement. Let me quote what the representative of South Africa then, through the African national congress,eeee who was based in Ghana said, and I quote,
We ...welcome the convening of the Conference and wholeheartedly congratulate its organisers.eee16:48:42 We should like particularly to place on record the deep appreciation of the oppressed people of South Africa of the fact that those who have already achieved their freedom and independence have not forgotten their duties and responsibilities to those who are still in chains, and to the sacred cause of African freedom and independence.
We were rightfully represented by a democratic nonsexist, a government that respects human right this time around when we went for this celebration. We would want to appeal to all hon members, to remember that yes, the core objectiveeeee of the decolonisation of the continent is almost complete, but the total emancipation of this continent is still a journey that we should all be focused upon. The celebration started on the 25th of May 2013 and it will end on the 25th May 2014 under the theme which was adopted at the Golden Jubilee of the OAU of Pan Africanismeee and African Renaissance.
I have been reliably informed that there will be a special sitting of this House to convene so that parliamentarians can also pronounced themselves and through this august House on the importance of the Pan-African event. We should also be focusing on what contribution do we make to the strategic plan of the AU and also what kind of a contribution do we make to Vision 2063. I am sure many of us are sure that we should be around in 2063, so we have to start investing in that now.
Africa is different from what it was fifty years ago. Not only because we have finished the decolonisation, but because we have institutions that are there to capacitate ourselves to discharge this responsibility. The Continental Peace and Security Architecture, the New Partnership for Africa's Development, Nepad, African Peer Review Mechanism, APRM, Pan African Parliament among the many others that we have developed which also still need a lot of consolidation.
Building strong South-South relations is another leg on which our foreign policy stands. We do this by establishing good bilateral relations with countries of the South; developing a focused strategy and approach for engagement with the "emerging powers" of the South; and participating in strategic mini-lateraleeee bodies of countries of the South including the historic Non-Aligned Movement.
In this regard, our government is inspired and continues to be with the historic hosting of a very successful Brics Summit and also we are committing ourselves to full implementation of the eThekwini Declaration and eThekwini Action Plan.
India, Brazil, South Africa, Ibsa, remains central to our relations to the countries of the South as we move towards the celebration of the 10th anniversary of this formation. We will use this opportunity when we do so, to reflect on the milestones and the long-term future of this formation.
We continue building relations with other countries of the South through Brics and all other avenues that we find ourselves getting the opportunity to do so. We will fully discharge our commitment we have made with the Co-Chairship of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Focac, and we will host the 5th [Summit of ]Focac action and fully implement Agenda 2013-15 of Focac.
The Gulf region remains equally important as a political player. As a source for Media for Development International, MFDI, and respectable destination for our exports. We remain seized with the peace initiatives in the Middle East, because we believe that peace will remain elusive to the global community until and unless we resolve the issue which constitute the Middle East peace challenges. In this regard we believe the issue of Palestine and Israel remain the cornerstone of what needs to be resolve if peace or global peace has to be attained.
For this reason that we will continue to direct our efforts in contributing to the peaceful resolution of the conflicts in[of that situation] Syria and other areas of conflict in that particular region.
To quote what President Zuma said in his state of the nation address, he said and I quote:
We stand with the people of Palestine as they strive to turn a new leaf in their struggle for their right to self-determination; hence we supported their bid for statehood. The expansion of Israeli settlements into Palestinian territories is a serious stumbling block to the resolution of the conflict.
Our relations with Latin America and the Caribbeans are also underpinned by shared South-South goals. We will continue to discharge and focus on this relations as we work together with the AU to implement the five Legacy Projects of the [African]AU Diaspora Summit that we hosted last year.
We have good bilateral relations with countries of the North. We have strategic political dialogue with the United States of America and this relations continue to impact positively on our five key priorities areas in this country and President Zuma will be welcoming President Obama to our shores very soon to continue on this partnership.
Europe remains South Africa's main trading partner, source of investment and valuable supplier of cutting edge technology. Our partnership with the European Union serves as a platform for political dialogue and the expansion of our economic ties.
President Zuma had announced this morning that he will be leading a delegation to participate in Tokyo International Conference on African Diaspora, Ticad, V in Japan from the 1 to 3 June [2013] followed by a working visit in that country.
16:55 Our country attaches great importance to multilateralism. The cornersstone of the work we do would also be working together with all our African brothers and sisters for the reforms of the global institutions of governance promotingeeee
We have in the 19 years served on two terms in the eeeUN Security Council continuing to champion the African Agenda in that regard. As we exitedeee in our second term in the Security Councileee, we are now serving in the United Nations Peace Committee on global peace and security. We are also active members of eeeEconomic and Social Council, ECOSOC. We will continue fighting the eeecourse because we believe the reforms of this global institutes of governance has to happen now and not later.
South Africa continues to play an active role in numerous multilateral disarmament and nonproliferation meetings, and will continue on the guidance of our foreign policy on multilateralism. Also keeping the eye on the critical post 2015 agenda for international partnership for development.eeee[IPHumanD]
This journey to freedom, as our icon Madiba taught us, is but a long walk. Every step we take is just the beginning of a better one. Some priorities should therefore preoccupy our approach into the future.
We also have to make a valuable contribution in the implementation of our National Development Plan. We will elaborate on our contribution in the next coming week/seee. We want to take an opportunity again to plead with hon members and the South African public at large that this is our African Union. Let us respond to the 50th anniversary of the declaration Vision 2063, so that indeed we open space for our children, for our youth and all to participate in the future of this continent.
We are glad to announce that the administrative requirements for the establishment of the South African Development Partnership Agency, Sadpa, has now been completed. The Proclamation was signed by President Zuma and the Agency will soon become operational. We will come back to our house to table a Bill in Parliament on the creation of the Partnership Fund for Developmenteee. I think we will be replacing the African Renaissance Fund with this very important development.
We have now also in the final stages of the establishment of the South African Council on International Relations, we have filled in all the important key positions that were vacant and we continue to look at the organisational development and challenges that we have been facing.
Today, I am glad and honoured to say through our programme, we have got three successful candidates who are now part of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation,eeee Dirco family, Ms M Letlala, Ms NP Malekane and Ms NS Msimang are here as my special guests.[Applause.]. They are here also joining us with 20 scholars from three schools in Cape Town, that is, Langa High School, Zonnebloem Nest Senior Secondary School and Beauvallon Secondary School who are here as part of the Dirco'seee "Take-a-Girl and Boy-Child to Work Day".
We will continue on our public diplomacy, communicating the positive stories and messages of the good work that South Africa has done out there in the community in the past 19 years. We are also glad to inform you that we have launched Ubuntu radio station that is our internet basedeeee radio station that is broadcasting this interaction live.
eeeeeOne of the successes and historic decisions taken by our leaders at this 50th anniversary of our summit, was that our leadership have unanimously adopted that we will as a continent in line with providing African solutions for African problems they have adopted a decision that says we will have an immediate rapid response force while waiting for the full implementation led by our Ministers of Defence and generals who are leading our armies so that we don't wait for our relatives from somewhere else to intervene when we have a crisis in our continent. I hope this thing was historic and we had more than ten countries.
After adopting this resolution they also said we are available and we will be part of that. [Time expired.]
Let me say that in closing, let us unite, this is what the African Union anthem says:
Let us all unite and toil together
To give the best we have to Africa
The cradle of mankind and fount of culture
Our pride and hope at break of dawn.
Sepedi Tau tša hloka seboka di šitwa ke nare e hlotša
Mr H T MAGAMA / Kn / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 426
The MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION
Mr H T MAGAMA: Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members, members of the Diplomatic Corporations present here, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, let me join the minister, our government and our people in congratulating the African Union, AU, for reaching this milestone in its existence.
The people of our country and the continent will forever be grateful to the leadership for what you have achieved here in our country and in other parts of the continent. Our country remains committed to the regeneration of Africa. South Africa has established her credentials in making Africa the pillar in our relations and co-operation with the rest the world.
I am therefore deeply offended hon members, as all of us indeed should be, when we are told by the hon members of the House on this side that South Africa had no business in intervening in a poor African country like the Central African Republic.
Let me set the record straight on this: Africa is our home, in fact it is our only home. Unlike others who have a second home outside the borders of this continent, Africa and being Africans is all we have. It is the centre of gravity of our existence. We are bound together by blood, identity, geography, history, culture and tradition. [Applause.]
It is thus naive if not outright racist for one to create the perception here that we can insulate ourselves from what happen in one parts of the continent. All you need do, hon member, is to look at our towns and cities, count the number of refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants from the rest of the content
This is to us, therefore, is a national interest issue and gone are the days when South Africa's foreign policy outlook was Eurocentric. You better get over it.
Hon Minister, this committee has always been keen on following the progress made by the department on the establishment of a clear and tangible link in its spending and reporting on the conduct of our foreign policy and how that assists the country to deal with our domestic challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality as set out by the President in all his state of the nation addresses.
We want to congratulate and acknowledge the enormous progress registered by your department on this score, as it can be seen through particularly in the flurry of activity relating to economic diplomacy.
Let me also extend a word of
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congratulations for a successful fifth Brazil, Russia, India, China South Africa, Brics, summit held. I particularly welcome the outcomes as set out by you in previous engagements.
Fellow South Africans, we are about to celebrate 20 years of freedom and 102 years of struggle and sacrifice by the ANC. We must do so in cognisant of the fact that our liberation from apartheid was in part possible because the international community supported us; often at great cost to themselves. [Applause.]
Thus the freedom we enjoy today cannot and indeed must not be taken for granted, for it was bought at a price too high to contemplate. This price, amongst others, included the blood of nonSouth Africans; people who, if they chose to do so, could have stood apathetic to our plight. They could have said "this has nothing to do with me" and walked away, many of them possibly today would still have been alive. People in countries so far away could, if they elected to do so, proverbially buried their heads in the sand and said "let those Africans deal with their own problems, we have enough of our own."
In giving perspective to our suffering, expressing our collective desires for liberation from subjugation and giving hope for a better future, Che Guevara said:
Humanity has said enough and has set itself in motion. Its giant steps will not stop until they lead to true independence.
In an effort to set motion on these giant steps, men and women from distant lands came together in a spirit of progressive internationalism and human solidarity to share our pain and sorrow.
In Angola, they risked being bombed into oblivion, as they were in Cassinga and elsewhere. In Maseru, Basotho lost their limbs and lives in defence of their humanism and in advancement of our collective humanity. In London, they faced arrest and incarceration, as they did in Stockholm, Brussels, Chicago and elsewhere. In Cuba, they mourned the loss of about 2016 soldiers.
While most did not know any five South Africans by name, they were united by their hatred for racism and injustice. They understood that their own humanity was confirmed through the humanity of others. They recognised the interdependence of the human species and the common threads of the yearning for human rights, justice, equality and peace that binds all of us together.
In summing up this spirit of solidarity and a shared destiny, of human kind, former President of the Republic of Cuba comrade Fidel Castro said the following, and I quote:
Some imperialists ask why we're helping Angola, what our interest is. They assume that countries only act out of a desire for petrol, copper, diamonds or some other resource. No, we have no material interest. Of course the imperialists don't understand this; they would only do it for jingoistic selfish reasons. We are fulfilling an elementary internationalist duty in helping the people of Angola. [Applause.]
In predicting the demise of the Apartheid regime he said the following:
The history of Africa is at a turning point. They will write about before Cuito Cuanavale and after Cuito Cuanavale. The power of South Africa, the whites, the superior race, has become unstuck in a little parcel of land defended by blacks and Mulattoes. We do not seek a great military victory, but a reasonable and just solution. They might not only lose Namibia, but apartheid too. We want a solution now. I believe we are witnessing the beginning of the end of apartheid.
As we painfully and dedicatedly extricate our country from the dust bins of apartheid, we must do so always conscious of the internationalist duty bestowed upon us by the history and posterity. Your country shall always stand up against injustice and racism and be counted. Our country shall shine as a beacon of hope in times of darkness, it shall always remind the world of the triumph of good over evil. South Africa shall forever stand tall as a monument of human solidarity and collective action. [Applause.]
This, therefore, begs the question as to, why is there an eerie silence when we condemn the human rights violations by the Moroccan state against the people of Western Sahara, yet there is an outcry of indignation and claims that Israel is unfairly targeted by some lobby groups and opposition parties; notably the ACDP and the DA, when we condemn similar and in many instances much worse human rights violations perpetrated by the Israeli state against defenceless and stateless Palestinians. In this vein, today I want to challenge the DA to publicly state its party position on the Palestinian question, so that all of us know.
While there are many instances of human rights violations, and we have consistently condemned them wherever they occur, I single out these two instances as they represent the last vestiges of colonial occupation, racism and unquestionably exhibit elements of apartheid discrimination.
In this context, we remain resolute in our support for the right to self-determination and statehood of the Palestinian people, living side by side and in peace and security with the state of Israel. The central irony of this, however, is that it is precisely that which the Israelis withhold, that is their only hope for achieving a lasting peace with their neighbours in the region.
We remain concerned about the situation in Syria. We condemn the continued violence and loss of about 80 000 lives on both sides, particularly we bemoan the loss of lives of innocent civilian. In this context, we want to lend our support for the US-Russia-led Geneva International Peace Conference which presents a real prospect for a Syrian-led political solution.
It has been clear from the start and we have said that there is no military solution to the Syrian crisis. Flooding Syria with weapons will present a real threat to the region. It will certainly have the same outcomes in the Middle East as we have seen happening in the Sahel and as an outcome in Mali.
Some expect the ANC-led government to bury its head in the sand when Saharaoui remain stateless, their natural resources illegally plundered and sold to powerful countries in the west.
We want to reiterate our commitment to continue to actively campaign for the right to self-determination of the Saharaoui people. We are still numbed by the decision of the United Nations Security Council not to allow the United Nations Mission in Western Sahara a human rights monitoring mechanism. We call upon the United Nations Security Council, UNSC, to do the right thing.
Fellow South Africans, pro-Israeli lobby groups expect the ANC to look the other way when Palestinians remain stateless and brutalised, with no hope of an end to their decades and decades long suffering. This, sadly, is to ask of the ANC to ignore its collective conscience and abdicate its internationalist responsibilities and asking of our country and our government to divorce from the very values, ideals and principles that define who we are and that we hold so dear.
Furthermore, there is a mischievous attempt by some pro-Israeli lobby groups to portray the Palestinian question as a clash between religions, primarily a clash between Islam in their view, on the one hand and Christianity and Judaism on the other. At other times it is portrayed as either anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish.
This is done in order to mobilize the support of South African Christians behind the Israeli government. To achieve this end, all sorts of religious insinuations and connections are made an issue which is otherwise simple in terms of definition.
I want to categorically state that this matter is about human rights, is about the subjugation of people to a brutal system of colonial occupation and discrimination which leaves them with no rights, state, land and dignity. That is what this is all about. Any attempt, therefore, to portray it as religious or anything else is a dangerous and reckless attempt to undermine the unity and national security of the Republic in the long term. This is indeed, in my view, aimed at dividing South Africans along religious sectarian lines whose effects we have seen in other parts of the world whose effect we have seen in the other parts of the world, especially in the Middle East, they can be devastating.
I want to draw your attention to the plight of the Island nation of Cuba, who, because of their revolutionary spirit of internationalism and solidarity, made enormous sacrifices and paid a high price in the form of financial and material resources. Cuban lost their live in battle with National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, UNITA, and former SA Defence Force, SADF, in what famously became known as the battle of Cuito Cuanavale.
This intervention and the defeat of the regime was what directly led to the subsequent negotiations that led to the adoption of the United Nations, UN, Resolution 435, declaring the independence of Namibia and subsequently paving the way for our own freedom.
Once South Africa attained her liberation, and to this day, the Cubans continued to assist South Africa in the consolidation of her newly founded freedom through providing a large contingent of Cuban medical doctors to our public hospitals, training young South Africans to become medical doctors. They also continue to provide engineers and other technical expertise to our public sector [Applause.]
The Government and the people Cuba continue to be one of our country's reliable partners. Cuba is indeed a true friend and a reliable ally. [Applause.]
In this vein, I want to urge the international community, to do what they did in South Africa. They must continue to highlight the plight of the people of Cuba who continue to experience untold suffering as a result of a unilateral trade and economic embargo imposed upon them by the government of the United States; making it difficult and near impossible for Cubans to acquire many of the basic amenities necessary to live normal lives. We remain steadfast behind government's call for the United Nations, US, to adhere to international law by lifting the economic embargo.
We furthermore reiterate the call for the release of the remaining four of the Cuban five languishing in US prisons. [Applause.]
The only crime committed by these patriots was to collect information on hostile criminal and terrorist groups that have over many years inflicted horrible pain and suffering on the people of Cuba, leading to the deaths of over 3 478 people.
These five Cubans did their national duty in defence of their country and its people. It is this same call to national service that all countries in the world today call upon their public servants to defend the territorial integrity of the various countries.
I wish to call upon our government to use the opportunity of the visit of President Obama to our country to impress upon him the urgent need to find a resolution to the matter.
In conclusion, let me express a special word of congratulations to all those who played a role in getting Dr Cyril Karabus back home where he belongs, united with his loved ones. [Applause.] I want to extend a special word to the Ministry and in particular the Deputy Minister Fransman who never wavered, tired in his resolve to get Dr Karabus back. [Applause.]
We acknowledge role played by various actors including their attorney, Mr Bagraim, Dr Surve' Iqbal, the Pan African business council and many others who played a huge part, sometimes behind the scenes.
I finally want to acknowledge the role all South Africans played in various forms in supporting the call for the return of Dr Karabus and keeping the issue of Dr Karabus alive. South Africans have given a new meaning to the slogan: together we can do more. The ANC supports the Budget Vote. [Applause.]
Mr I O DAVIDSON/Arnold / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 427
"National Assembly Chamber Main",Unrevised Hansard,30 May 2013,"[Take-427] [National Assembly Chamber Main][NAC-Logger][mm].doc"
Mr H T MAGAMA
Mr I O DAVIDSON: Mr Chairman, this afternoon the Minister delivered a glowing report on her Ministry. I have been in Parliament for 14 years, and in respect of her officials, such a glowing report is really well deserved.
In respect of policy development and the positioning of South Africa in the geopolitical world, there is however another view. That is the view of the National Development Plan, NDP.
President Zuma, in the state of the nation address, unequivocally endorsed the NDP, indicating that it would be the country's road map and be front and centre of government policy going forward. He also indicated that all departments in their planning would have to align themselves with the NDP. The DA welcomed that.
However, the Minister mentioned the NDP once and that in the context of making a contribution towards the NDP at a future date. I searched the strategic plan for the years 2013 to 2018 for a mention of the NDP and there was no mention of it.
It is little wonder, because in chapter 7 of the NDP the commission puts forward a very different view of our foreign policy, which I think the Minister needs to respond to. In the section reflecting on South Africa's status in the world, the report, in the context of South Africa as a middle income country overstretching itself diplomatically, states that, notwithstanding our drive to open up new embassies: South Africa has experienced a relative decline in power and influence in world affairs. This is not my quote but that of the NDP. The document goes on to say that:
South Africa lost a great deal of moral authority – as a power resource – that the country enjoyed in the period immediately after the 1994 elections.
After reflecting on the international fora which we are members of, particularly our once regular invitation to the G7, the report again states:
When all of these issues are considered, South Africa's foreign relations are becoming increasingly ineffective and the country is sliding down the scale of global competitiveness and overall moral standing.
This is not me but the NDP. The Minister needs to interrogate why the report comes to these conclusions. Is it because most of the current constructs which theoretically underpin our foreign policy are overblown, inconsistent or incoherent? Is it that they don't appropriately define, advance or prioritise South Africa's national interest abroad? Is it that they do not at least acknowledge the tensions embedded in the clash between value-driven policies embedded in our Constitution and those driven by the country's national interests? Or is it because we raised expectations in the world when Nelson Mandela, on the eve of his Presidency, said that: Human rights will be the light which guides our foreign policy?
This human rights base of the ANC's founding fathers has been undermined through several of the country's foreign policy decisions. Our voting record during the last two terms, as a nonpermanent member of the United Nations, UN, Security Council, has often been widely decried for sometimes siding with rogue regimes. [Interjections.]
Our position on the Arab Spring dashed expectations, with contradictions and somersaults. The real irony is that we turned our backs on long-oppressed citizens under the heel of various fiefdoms and tyrannies, when they began to demand and demonstrate for basic democratic and economic rights, just as their compatriots in South Africa had done two or three decades before. Democracy and freedom were what they were demanding and we walked away behind other resolutions.
Let me immediately acknowledge that human rights cannot be the sole determinant of international relations. South Africa's national interest is also of critical importance. The problem, as the NDP suggests, is that South Africa has yet to define appropriately what these national interests are. The White Paper, under the broad umbrella of Ubuntu, defined our national interest as:
the development and upliftment of our people; stability of the Republic and constitutional order; growth and development of the South African economy; growth and development of Southern Africa; a stable and prosperous African continent; and a just and equitable world order.
This sounds like a combination of a summary of South Africa's constitutional premise and a normative pitch for a new world order. Nowhere in the Ministry's definition of national interest, the department's mission or in the Department of International Relations and Co-operation's, Dirco's, six strategic priorities which flow from its vision, do we get a clear understanding of goals, priorities or trade-offs that need to be made.
I think the commission of the NDP recognises this, as in its paragraph of Proposals to Reposition South Africa in the Region and the World, it states clearly that South Africa needs clarity on its national interests. They go so far as to recommend that there be an urgent convening of a high level and high impact task team to investigate South Africa's foreign relations. It says the task team should produce definitive studies on: One, South Africa's national interest; Two, South Africa in the context of African geopolitics; and Three, South Africa's role in the world, especially in Brics and in multilateral relations.
In fact what they say is that we need a whole revamp of our position as far as foreign affairs is concerned. What an indictment!
The problem is that when you abandon your human rights base, you abandon your moral compass ... [Interjections.] ... and when you have no clarity as to what your national interests are, you end up being perceived in international fora as inconsistent, incoherent, flip-flopping and even end up fighting in battles in countries where we have no place. [Interjections.]
On a different note, I want to commend the department for of late, placing great emphasis on economic diplomacy, even though it is not listed as one of the department's six priorities. Economic diplomacy encapsulates the broad international policy-making processes, not to be confused with commercial diplomacy which refers to the work of bilateral measures aimed at marketing the country and promoting trade and investment. Yet, here again there is criticism from the commission. It notes in this context that:
South African diplomats have great skill in drafting memoranda of understanding, policy statements and agreements, but lose momentum when it comes to implementing agreement terms or following up our promises of benefits.
A further important note they make, echoed by business, is that there is a marked dislocation between the efforts of South African business leaders on the one hand and government leaders and officials on the other. Government, they correctly observe, may negotiate trade deals, but it is private companies that actually trade across borders. They make the point that the South African business community must be drawn more closely into our foreign policy-making processes.
The National Planning Commission, NPC, observes that joining Brics is an important development in the history of South Africa's international relations. It is in this connection, in the run-up to the fifth Brics summit, that we were assailed with a great deal of hype as to the benefit of Brics, what its potential was and what was about to be achieved.
The outcome has been a lot more sober. One positive potential outcome which we welcomed at the time was the imminent creation of a development bank, possibly even sited in South Africa. Well, in this context, the summit was all bricks and no mortar. We still await an announcement, some three months later. Yet, it is clear from the statements made by the respective participants at the end of the plenary that in practice there are major hurdles in putting together a common vision for this organisation. Not only is there a lack of a common underlying value system, but there are also divergent national interests that inform its role in a changing global landscape. Clearly a lot more thought has to be given by each member as to where its country's self-interest begins and where the interest of Brics as a geopolitical bloc starts.
One of Dirco's six strategic priorities has been the strengthening of political and economic integration of the SA Development Community, SADC, region. This has always been unquestioned, believing that such integration would clearly enhance South Africa's status in Africa, in Brics and the greater geopolitical world.
Clear integration milestones were set for deepening integration. They included: a preferential trade area by 2000; a free-trade area by 2008; custom unions by 2010; a common market by 2015; and a monetary union by 2018. Of course, nothing has been achieved, notwithstanding this priority. The NPC, in its paragraph on Co-operation and Integration in Africa, makes the point that:
South African policy-makers tend to have a weak grasp of African geopolitics. Because of this, foreign relations with African states are often tentative, with policy-makers vacillating between leading and muddling through on issues of integration and co-operation.
That's not me but the NPC. More importantly, the NPC makes a very important shift of emphasis – which i don't think has been picked up by many – in respect of SADC integration, when it argues for a move from regionalisation to regionalism. Here the emphasis is on a free-trade area which has the potential to significantly increase South Africa's trade and investment, but where the country remains in full control of its political destiny.
It argues specifically against political integration. It says, if as recommended earlier in its report, South Africa's national interests are well defined and there is a proper understanding of the geopolitics of Africa, South Africa will have clarity on the important difference between co-operation and integration, on the different types of institutions and organisations it wants to be part of and how the country should position itself over the next two or three decades.
The NDP has many more interesting observations, some of which i know the Ministry will not enjoy. However, it is clear to me that before we come with glowing reports to this House, the department needs to go back, reread the NDP, engage itself with that NDP, do a bit of introspection, appoint the task team that the NDP actually said it should do and then come back with a glowing report. Only then will the Minister's department comply with President Zuma's injunction for all departments to align themselves to the NDP.
While I have few minutes left, let me respond to hon Magama. ... [Time expired.] [Interjections.] [Applause.]
Mr L S NGONYAMA / TH / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 428
**incomplete**
Mr L S NGONYAMA:
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 429
"National Assembly Chamber Main",Unrevised Hansard,30 May 2013,"[Take-429] [National Assembly Chamber Main][NAC-Logger][mm].doc"
Mr L S NGONYAMA
Mr M B SKOSANA: Hon House Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon Deputy Ministers and hon members, the experts often contend that relations between states take place in a chaotic atmosphere, a counsel to the practitioners of diplomacy to be particularly astute and perceptive when advancing the interests of the nation abroad, while maintaining and strengthening the symbiotic relationship that must exist between domestic and foreign policy. Hon Minister, you and your crew have navigated the tumultuous waters well thus far, but not without challenges.
According to the director-general's latest briefing on the strategic plan of the department to the portfolio committee, South Africa's foreign missions should also act as strong rallying centres to attract the right and relevant kind of foreign investments to fight poverty and inequalities in South Africa. We saw this as a liberal opinion needing serious attention by the state. What we should intelligently acknowledge is that the implementation of our foreign policy will inevitably impact on our domestic issues, including legal and constitutional arrangements, as citizens continue to organize broadly and intensely for social and economic justice. Therefore, any contradictions between our domestic and foreign policies threaten the vision of the National Development Plan, and will in its wake weaken the sovereign authority of the civil state. This we believe is a recipe for protracted social strife. Hence, we appeal once more for the intensification of the programme on public and economic justice.
Hon Minister, in your 15 April 2013 summary statement of the strategic plan of the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, 2013 to 2018, you pointed out some of the major shifts in world politics that continue to shape South Africa's role within the international system. This is perhaps a justification for the increase of the departmental budget in financial, human resource, technological and infrastructure terms.
While the IFP supports this Budget Vote and the general thrust of the programmes of the department, we propose that the country re-examine or re-evaluate: the expansionist programme of the department and its strategic or nonstrategic sphere of influence, bearing in mind that the principle of mutual development is not always assured; whether the potential of our economy to execute and sustain international peace, security, co-operation and development effectively, will not be adversely affected as we spread our resources thinly across the globe; and whether regional integration and development should not be the priority concern from where to advance continental unity and development.
One of the reasons the IFP is proposing a re-evaluation of our expansionist policy is that difficult questions loom for this government and subsequent governments. Is South Africa becoming a willing or reluctant African hegemony, consolidating or undermining the African freedom that came with independence, or is South Africa s strong and genuine participant in reclaiming and restoring the economic sovereignty of the people of the continent of Africa? Does South Africa posses sufficient economic, military and technological capabilities to assist African communities against world politics of economic dominance and dependence that are currently converging on the continent from the Euro Atlantic and Asian economic powers?
We applaud the progress made by all the political parties in Zimbabwe on the new constitution and commend the Southern African Development Community, SADC, member states for their enabling diplomatic intervention in Zimbabwe.
We believe the future of a stable and prosperous Swaziland will be better served by President Zuma, in consultation with the SADC leadership, establishing an envoy of African elders, who are conversant with the prerogatives of the African monarchy, to meet with the Swazi monarch, his counsellors and all other stakeholders with the express view to propose a harmonious future constitutional monarchy for Swaziland that must accommodate the prerogatives of the African monarchy, aristocracy and democracy.
In conclusion, we join in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Organisation of the African Unity, OAU, founded on 25 May 1963, in Addis Ababa. We remember the emergence of a formidable Pan Africanist Movement in 1900, driven, through the diaspora, from the African continent, and led by, to mention a few, Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe, George Padmore, W E B Du Bois, Sylvester Williams, Julius Nyerere and Kenneth Kaunda. Today the people of Africa salute them. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr B H HOLOMISA
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 429
Mr M B SKOSANA
Mr B H HOLOMISA: Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon Deputy Ministers as well as hon members, the UDM supports Budget Vote No 5. [Applause.] We wish to thank the department for all the good things it has done. However, I will leave the enumeration of the department's achievements to its praise singers.
During our oversight visit to the department's head offices in Pretoria at the beginning of the year, we were shocked to learn that the director-general, DG, of the department and his senior officials had not been briefed about the 2012 agreement to deploy South African troops in the Central African Republic, CAR. Yet, they are the first line of defence with respect to our foreign policy. Whilst still on the subject of the CAR deployment, could the hon Minister take the nation into her confidence and explain Operation Morero and its implications?
It would be interesting to know whether the President briefed the hon Minister timeously about the 2012 CAR deployment. If yes, why did she not brief her DG and his deputies? If not, would she not agree with someone who says that her mandate as the head of our foreign policy was hijacked?
We ask these questions because the President is duty-bound to consult with the departments of Defence and Military Veterans, State Security and International Relations and Co-operation, as well as with Parliament on all foreign military deployments. Could it be that the Minister's department was also bypassed in government's dubious decision to support regime change in Libya?
If this is the norm, then there is a possibility that the Presidency also bypassed the Minister's office and gave direct instructions to the Chief of State Protocol, Ambassador Bruce Koloane, during the Guptagate scandal. Would the hon Minister deny this?
In conclusion, I am still wondering, in any event, why a person who is supposed to have delegated powers should require permission from the executive to authorise the landing of an aeroplane at an unclassified airport. Finally, I hope that the proposed reaction force will not suppress uprisings against leaders who loot state resources with impunity in their countries. I thank you. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND CO-OPERATIONS / AZM MNGUNI//TH/ END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 430
Mr "National Assembly Chamber Main",Unrevised Hansard,30 May 2013,"[Take-430] [National Assembly Chamber Main][NAC-Logger][mm].doc"
B H HOLOMISA
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND CO-OPERATION:(Mr E I Ebrahim): Hon House Chairperson, hon Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, invited guests, ladies and gentlemen, I was a bit disappointed with the DA because I thought that something original will come out of Mr Davidson rather than quoting the National Development Plan, NDP, but that indicates probably a bankruptcy of original thought. [Applause.] [Laughter.]
House Chairperson, our foreign policy of Ubuntu expresses the desire for others to also have what we want for ourselves. South Africa's foreign policy, like that of any other state, is a projection of our domestic imperatives. Through our foreign policy, we project South Africa's vast opportunities as an investment destination of choice, as a world-class tourist destination, and as an exporter of quality goods and services.
Indeed, this is what we do on a daily basis through all our missions abroad, through our high-level visits, diplomatic interactions and the various channels of mass communication.
Hon members, it is in our national interest that we continue to champion and promote human rights in our country, Africa and the world.
We have an independent policy for this, just for the information of the DA, based on human rights which the DA will never achieve in their lives.
The major hallmarks of our human rights agenda are most visible in the conduct of our foreign policy strategies, particularly, in our efforts to strengthening the African Agenda. Our involvement in peacekeeping missions in Africa finds expression in our key foreign policy strategy on Africa. We are inspired by the belief that the promotion of human rights is essential for development and prosperity of any nation in the world.
It is not surprising that South Africa is increasingly called upon to share its experiences and to play an active role in mediating between conflicting parties, in assisting with post-conflict reconstruction and development efforts by those countries emerging from conflict, and to assist others in developing their own mechanisms for reconciliation and nation-building.
We have demonstrated our commitment to continue monitoring the ongoing political transitional processes in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. We have offered our assistance and experiences to the transitional governments and political role-players in these countries, particularly in the drafting of their respective constitutions and in the reconciliation process.
We have been actively involved with the government of Sri Lank. Our approach has also taken into account the important role of civil society, nongovernmental organisations and other relevant stakeholders. The idea behind our involvement is to help the people of Sri Lanka in dealing with the aftermath of the civil war that took place in 2009. I have personally visited Sri Lanka to engage at various forums, mainly about our own experience.
Our message is therefore, consistent throughout the importance of establishing inclusive dialogue, the importance of justice, democracy, the rule of law and a legitimate constitution as a basis for peaceful co-existence.
Chairperson, as the Minister has already indicated, Asia remains a strategic continent for South Africa, and our political and economic relation continue to strengthen.
The importance of some of the countries notably China, Japan, India and South Korea as direct foreign investors in our country could not be over emphasised. The region's importance for South Africa is underscored by the fact that Asia is the fastest-growing region in the world, followed by Africa. Although trade between South Africa and these countries is growing, the skewed trade in their favour requires sharp focus.
The South African government will continue to strengthen its engagements with all its key partners, including Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Another important structure that defines our milestone is the South Africa-China Strategic Dialogue. This is an important platform, where we engage on issues of common interest and mutual benefit. At its fifth session, which took place in November 2012, the establishment of the Joint Working Group on South Africa-China Co-operation featured prominently. It was also during this session that the Chinese government offered a total of 200 scholarships to the government of South Africa. We must take advantage of this opportunity. [Applause.]
Our relation with Japan is solid. We continue to enjoy cordial bilateral relations with this part of Asia, through our Strategic Co-operation Partnership. In March this year, I had an opportunity to co-chair the 12th South Africa-Japan Partnership Forum meeting, which was an important milestone in the evolution of our bilateral relations, focussing on the official development assistance from Japan to South Africa, and the upcoming fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, which our President will be attending.
Our relations with South Korea are sound, particularly in the fields of trade, information and communications technology and water management.
Our engagement with Central Asia is gaining momentum. We are also making economic strides in Uzbekistan. Sasol has established a permanent presence in that country, and will partner with the Uzbek government in the production of liquid fuel from gas.
Hon members, the deteriorating military and humanitarian situation in Syria and the resultant number of fatalities, internally displaced people and refugees continues to increase. South Africa has condemned the ongoing violence perpetrated both by the government of Syria and the atrocities committed by rebels and sectarian groups. South Africa is convinced that there can be no military solution to the crisis and urges all parties to immediately put an end to the violence, and start engaging in dialogue, and reach an agreement on a political transition based on the Geneva Communiqué of June 2012.
I don't know where the DA gets the idea that when voting in the UN supported the oppression regime. We have had an independent policy and we have always voted independently in the UN Security Council.
The granting of Observer Status to Palestine by the UNs General Assembly last November was a significant turning point in the struggle for Palestinian statehood. We again urge all parties in the Palestine Israel conflict to enter into genuine negotiation, to create an independent Palestinian State, based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Likewise, we continue to support the right to self-determination of the Saharawi people.
The Republic of Iraq remains an important country for South Africa. We are guided by our shared common history of a struggle for independence and self-determination. We have already welcomed and hosted the Minister of Trade of the Republic of Iraq to our shores in November 2012, and an agreement on economic and technical co-operation between the two countries was signed.
Although the Islamic Republic of Iran finds itself in a difficult position internationally, our government is of the view that we should continue to maintain good relations with this country. At the invitation of Dr Hossein Abdollahian, Deputy Iranian Foreign Minister for African and Arab Affairs, I paid a visit to Iran in April 2013. One of the objectives of my visit was to encourage his government to take the necessary steps to seek consensus with the United Nation and its agencies on its nuclear programme.
Hon members, moving closer to the prospects that the Indian Ocean Rim holds for our development, it must be emphasised that this formation has attracted the quest for influence and hegemony in the geostrategic context, driven by global competition for natural resources and market share. A clear strategy to engage this formation is therefore necessary for our own economic development.
The need to leverage this agglomeration of key economic anchor countries is in congruence with South Africa's domestic priorities, namely economic growth, job creation and skills development as the regional and continental integration agendas. [Time expired.][Applause.]
Mr M S BOOI / MALUTA ///tfm\\\ END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 431
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND CO-OPERATION:(Mr E I Ebrahim)
"National Assembly Chamber Main",Unrevised Hansard,12 Jun 2013,"Take 431 [National Assembly Chamber Main].doc"
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The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms F Hajaig): I have noticed that right through the debate that when the Minister was addressing the House, there was a tremendous amount of noise from this side. I couldn't even hear some of the things that the Minister was saying because some of the members here were shouting and performing; I don't know for what. Let the person be heard. When your members speak, we try and be quiet or the other side of the House keeps quiet. [Interjections.]
I am speaking to ... [Interjections.] Will you please sit down? I am speaking to your members Mr Hitcock. So, I am urging you please to have some decorum in the House, and that goes for this side as well. What do you want hon member?
Mrs S V KALYAN: May I address you madam on this point. Are you saying that hickling is not allowed in the House? It is part of political debate.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms F Hajaig): Just one minute, let me finish with the Hitchock. The hickling is allowed but when it is so loud that the speaker can't be heard then that becomes a problem, madam. You may be able to hear but I certainly can't hear due to the members at the back there. I don't want to point them out but if you want to, I will. Yes!
The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: The point of order is that: Hon Mazibuko has failed to teach her members to obey the rulings of the presiding officer. [Interjections.] [Applause.] [Interjections.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms F Hajaig): Thank you!
Mrs S V KALYAN: It is not a point of order, madam. Have you ruled on that? It is not a point of order!
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms F Hajaig): That's for me to decide, Ms Kalyan, not you!
Mr M S BOOI
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 431
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms F Hajaig)
Mr M S BOOI: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Ministers, members in the House and distinguished guests, the ANC supports this budget.
The ANC will give clarity because we don't have spokespersons through the vein of Cope. We will definitely be able to clarify ourselves. Do we have policies or don't we have policies? We do! Definitely, throughout your experience, while you were a member of the ANC, you would have understood that what guide all of us are the conferences of the ANC; it is not just about the individuals.
What is important for us today, and what is important in what you are saying is that you have acknowledged the changing dynamics of global politics and its impact on our country and continent. That is what has to inform your criticism of how our economic policies are being exercised, and how we interact with those that are around the world. It is very important that you should be able to reflect on that. Luckily, you have acknowledged that we have been together in Israel, and wherever, so you do understand what we are talking about.
We have got two to three resolutions that come from the ANC, not from individuals. The one resolution deals with transformation and global governance. I hope you will be able to find that, otherwise I will donate it to you when I haveam finished. It is about the United Nations. The ANC is committed to the reform of the UN Security Council to make it more democratic, accountable and representative.
The ANC continues to advocate for the expansion of the UN Security Committee in both permanent and nonpermarnent categories, as well as improving its working methods. It supports the demand for two permanent seats for Africa. The ANC encourages the AU to reinvigorate discussions and seminars on the reform of the UN, particularly the Security Council, towards a renewed consensus.
The other resolution is about the economics. It is also important to understand it because you can't move from a neoliberal type of approach without being able to appreciate what has happened at this particular process around the world: How the economics are being debated; and how economics and politics are taking a different dimension.
For us, the balance of forces has changed. There is no stagnation. We are able to say to you that when the recession that took place in 2008, or a recession that took place in 1930, does come closer to the fact that the balance of forces isare moving. The African continent is not stagnating; it is faced with new challenges.
Hence, within the ANC, we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the AU. When those different leaders had met, they made decisions on the basis that leadership wais changing within the African continent. The economics that are taking place within the African continent are changing. How we are beginning to relook at the natural resources and how we do we continue to strengthening ourselves, is what is missed in your analysis.
What is also missed is that your continued changing of the unipolar processes is not about the North itself and what the strength the North hads in the past. The recession or the intervention of the banks has brought a total different dimension to those economics. So, the deteriorating economies of the North do influence the change of our economies or how they interrelate with our own economy, and how do we relate to the AU.
These are unnecessary developments that we are supposed to have reflected on. We are supposed to be able to engage when we come to the decisions and what types of economies are beginning to influence our relationship within Africa as a continent. Do we reflect on that? Are we moving back?
South Africa has long accepted that there is intertrade. That is one part of our policy because that is why we talk about economic development and diplomacy. You should re-engage and be able to say: dDo an assessment of what types of economies are taking place or are evolving within the African continent.? So, whenever you deal with the North-South relationship, you should be able to say that, the North is not the same; it has not conducted a relationship that has been beneficial to the relationship within the African continent.
If you can't deal with that type of dilemma, you must definitely be saying that there is something wrong with the type of analysis that you have arrived at. You can't arrive at a different analysis because South Africa is determined. It has got a trading relationship with quite a number of countries and the European Union is part of this debate. Are they able to assist the agenda of the African continent so that the African continent is able to move away and get unchanged from the types of economies and influences that are being determined by the North? For us, that type of change of relationship is very dynamic; it is not stagnant!
This means that when you deal with the recession of 2008, you should also be able to see what challenges confront South Africa's economy rather than accusing the Ministry or the President in the way they look at a particular development. It is not his making; it is economics. If it's not about economics, then there is something wrong in how we look at diplomacy and how we are trying to purport the new developments that are taking place within the African continent.
Hence, I still want to raise one of the resolutions of the ANC conference because they are going to help us have a proper understanding ofthat from here where does the ANC wants to go from here. The changes that the International Monetary Fund, IMF, and the World Bank are continuously emphasising are resolutions. I will donate them to you: The ANC continues to call for the reform of the IMF and the World Bank to reflect principles of equity and fairness; the ANC will partner with international organisations and alternative tanks in the transformation endeavours; the ANC will on the SA gGovernment to utilise platforms like G20 to lobby for transformation; and the ANC encourages the formation of alternatives, like the Latin American countries have begun the formation of Banco del Sur, Bank of the South.
It does say that: The ANC that we are proudly talking about – not the individuals within the organisation – does have policies so that they are able to guide even the debates that are taking place about the National Development Plan, NDP. It is not an isolated mountain. That is why the President has said that the NDP has to be engaged. We need to be able to reflect on it. It is necessary because it deals with our vision into the near future. We should be able to debate it. It does have weaknesses but we will be able to deal with them.
On the question that you are continuously trying to pose, I think all of us who are looking for change will always reflect and engage on how the change occurs. I am sure that when African leaders met in the AU and discussed how we continuously defend the developments that are taking place in Africa. When ordinary young children are raped, we are supposed to be able to reflect, as a country,; not on our capacity, but to be able to say how you willould defend the interests of the ordinary people. That is what drives our foreign policy when we deal with the issue of defence.
Let us also deal with a matter that is also very important. It was resolved in our conference. I am going to assist you again. This is about United States Africa Command, USAfricom or, Africom, which is an important development. If you deal with defence matters you would know what Africom means. The ANC reaffirmed its position that African states should be resolute against the United States' Africom's presence in Africa under the guise of war on terror. Why would you actually militarise the continent? There are different views.
The ANC recognised that the Africom is more than just a building of American bases on the African continent but includes more subtle programmes involving the US and The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's, Nato's, military and military training of African militaries, as well as the funding of NGOs for anti-African agendas and the increasing introduction of drones under the guise of technological assistance in conflict areas. The Asians respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of fellow African countries and calls on the US and military organisations like Nato to do the same.
For us, that is what it means to be able to build an African defence force that should be able to defend the development that is taking place within the African continent. It also means to being able to defend those young ones, the vulnerable, and the poorest of the poor that cannot make it within the African continent, who come to our borders everyday and request for assistance from President Gedleyihlekisa Zuma.
So, at not stage did you say we should see the Pan- African defence force as a progressive step, much as you have been saying that the Southern African Development Community, SADC,adec Brigade is one of the necessary developments that have taken place. However, as the ANC we are conscious in this department that certain things are unnecessary to be defended and we should always build our capacity within a particular development. We should be able to ask what capacity those that we are interacting with have to be able to assist the ANC or the country itself. We should not evolve or continue to holding on to protectionism.
Hon Maynier, the apartheid regime fell flat when that development took place because they couldn't open their economies up nor did they accept that the world is dynamic and is moving on. I am emphasising that under this Ministry, and if you look closest into the policy on diplomacy that is in front of us to debate, you will find out that this dynamism is the one that will always confront us on how do we deal with the world where unipolarism is getting challenged. You know, asfor a matter of fact that the capacity of China, in terms of economics, is growing and that means the world is changing. In no way will America be on its own in how it conducts itself.
You know, asfor a matter of fact where we are seated and dealing with the debates of Central African Republic, CAR. You will always know that the French role has not been the same as the role that has been played by other European countries. They defend the interests that they have had over a very long time. Within defending thoseat particular interests, they were situated at the airport because they knew exactly that the rebels weare pursuing their agenda.
This is what we knew and that is what we were faced with as a challenge. Hence, that is what we need to confront as South Africans and ask ourselves: What do we do when the rebels are trying to remain in charge and not being able to provide the necessary leadership that is needed within their countries? Under this Ministry, we are able to do something. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mrs C DUDLEY / /Mosa//A N N(ed) / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 432
"National Assembly Chamber Main",Unrevised Hansard,30 May 2013,"[Take-432] [National Assembly Chamber Main][NAC-Logger][mm].doc"
Mr M S BOOI
Mrs C DUDLEY: Chairperson, the ACDP welcomes the change in trend from that of previous years when appropriations were decreasing, to the current state of affairs where 2 budgets in a row have increased, bringing the budget to R5,3 billion in 2012-13 and we see that R3,5 billion is on the cards for 2013-14. We do however note that spending is expected to increase to R6,2 billion due to inflation and lease commitments. The question is, how is this going to work?
With 47 diplomatic missions in Africa and more in the pipelines, we have to ask: How sustainable are all these missions? We know that greater productive and export capacity, and global competitiveness across the region need to be built and we support developmental integration in Southern Africa but we are not entirely convinced that more and more missions are the most cost effective way to do what needs to be done.
Minister Gordhan however, put it in this way:
Africa is our home and it our future. It is a market of over one billion people and it is growing rapidly...Africa now accounts for about 18% of our total exports and nearly a quarter of our manufactured exports...over the past five years, the South African Reserve Bank has approved nearly 1 000 large investments into 36 African countries...these are mutually beneficial, as they support development in those countries and generate tax revenue, dividends and jobs abroad and in South Africa.
Now I have decided to use my few minutes today to talk about Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe really hasn't had much attention in this parliament lately, well at least compared to days gone by, and it might be nice just to show that we care. At the same time their lack of budget and our constrained South African budget seem to be inextricably linked on many levels. I also suspect that the Zimbabwe elections will impact on this department's budget which, by the way, the ACDP will support.
To many surprises it does seem as if President Mugabe is actually pushing for funding for the upcoming elections. Funding with as few strings attached as possible, of course. Hon Minister, does the government-owned Herald newspaper in Zimbabwe have its fact straight in saying that South African President Jacob Zuma has proposed to the SADC leaders at a meeting on the sidelines of the just-ended African Union summit that they should help fund Zimbabwe's elections? I was going to exclaim: Zuma for President! But then I realised that he already was. Of course that did sound funnier at 9 o'clock last night.
Zimbabwe after all needs 132 million US dollars and it would be nice if we did not have to foot the entire bill. The Zimbabwe Prime Minister and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, we understand, is keen to attach the money to the deployment of elections observers for very obvious reasons including fears that ZANU –PF will once again use the security forces to intimidate voters. The violence that accompanied the referendum in 2000 and the elections in 2008 drove hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans across our borders resulting in enormous challenges. I thinking election observers at the very least must be attached to that money. Deploying peace-keeping troops might be a good idea as well. Thank you.
Mrs W S NEWHOUDT-DRUCHEN
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 432
Mrs C DUDLEY
Mrs W S NEWHOUDT-DRUCHEN: Madam Chair, hon Ministers and the Deputy Ministers, hon members and guests, our Freedom Charter states that there shall be peace and friendship. Therefore the Department of International Relations and Co-operations, has formed relationships and worked for peace on the continent and in the world whilst pursuing South Africa's national interest.
Our struggle for a better life in South Africa is intertwined with our pursuit for a better Africa in better world. Therefore the ANC's focus is to contribute to building a better Africa and thus a better world.[Applause.] The vision of building a better world is through strengthening of our South-South co-operation and its strategical relationships.
Partnerships with countries of the south continue to be critical to advancing not only South Africa's own development needs but also that of Africa and in so doing create political, economic and social convergence for the fight against poverty, underdevelopment and marginalisation of the south. The department therefore promotes the strengthening of South-South co-operations and supports the agenda of the south through participation in the activities of all South African forums.
South Africa conducts its foreign policy against the background of an ever changing political and economic environment. This global environment has experienced major shift in global politics, economics, social and cultural dynamics that has impacted on different parts of the world. This impact includes the realignment of new economic powers, new media and social networks, innovations, environmental changes, a heightened demand for scarce resources and also the changing nature of conflicts and insecurities.
Co-operation between developing countries in the South began in the 1950s between a conference of Asia countries and independent African states. This conference in Bandung took place in Indonesia in April 1955. This was the first attempt of co-operation between developing countries with the aim of restoring economic and cultural links within the south, which had been severed due to colonialism, while at the same time strengthening further relationships between the north and the south.
Well six years later, this has led to the creation of Non-Aligned Movement, Nam, in 1961 and the group of 77 founded in 1964 which accelerated developing countries drive for collective self-reliance focusing ...
The Chairperson: It appears the sound system is the problem.
Mrs W S NEWHOUDT-DRUCHEN: South Africa co-operation is pursued as an expression of south-south solidarity and a strategy for economic inderpendence and self-reliance.
The global financial and economic crisis has eroded the influence of countries of the north. This coupled with the recent economic growth and prominence of some countries in the South has led to the increasing relevance and prominence of the South-South co-operation.
This South-South co-operation help to strengthen multilateralism in the promotion of an action-orient4ede approach to the development challenges of the South. Through the collective strength of the South, arising from shared values and objectives, South-South co-operation should enable developing countries to play a more active role in international policy and decision making processes.
Examples of South-South co-operation is through:
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa Forum: BRICS; India, Brazil, South Africa Dialogue Forum, IBSA; New Africa Asia Strategic Partnership: NAASP; forum for China Africa Co-operation: FOCAC; Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Co-operation: IOC-ARC; India-Africa Forum; and Non aligned movement, NAM, to name but a few.
South Africa has recently joined a group of nations that makes up a large portion of the global trade. It is expected that South Africa will gain significantly in investment and infrastructure from this BRICS grouping over the next 10 to 15 years.
These countries, Brazil, Russia, India and China make up 42% of the gross domestic product, GDP.
The four founding BRICS members all share a desire to see barriers to trade reduces,so as to promote a more unrestricted environment for trade and investment. Many analysts are surprised by South Africa's inclusion in Brics considering the difference in South Africa's size and population, but South Africa's inclusion also offers the country a range of possible contracts for South African business as we as South Africa inviting members of Brics to invest in South Africa and the African continent as a whole.
South Africa successfully hosted the 5th Brics summit in March 2013 w2ehere the idea of a new development bank was discussed. In the recent World economic forum in May 2013 our Hon President Jacob Zuma said that the highly anticipated Brics bank should be based in Africa. President Zuma told delegated that Africa feels the bank should established here, because the greater need for the bank is on the continent of Africa. Decisions about details of the bank are to be made in the next Brics summit in Brazil.
We can see some of the economic benefits of the South-South co-operation and South Africa here: In 2011 South Africa's exports to China reached an all time high, valued at R85 billion which shows a 45% between 2010 and 2011; China is now South Africa's fourth largest export markets after ranking seven during 2010; in 2011 bilateral trade between South Africa and India stood at R53,7 billion. South Africa was exporting goods to the value of R24,4 billion to India and importing goods from India to the value of R29,3 billion; trade between South Africa and India is set to reach USS15 billion-about R116 billion per year by 2014; South Africa's exports to Russia has increased from R2,1 billion in 2010 to R2,2 billion in 2011; and Russia is South Africa's 41st biggest export destination.
Through Dirco and through the different international co-operations, about 125 different international training has been offered to South African per year. This training is done different institutions from different countries. Training, such as training in diplomacy, sustainable development, communications, protocol, constitution building' security, language to name a few, is being offered.
It is difficult for our committees to really oversight the work for this department, because we do not get the opportunity to visit all our embassies in all parts of the world, so I would like to thank th DG of Dirco Ambassador Matjila and his team of DDGs for always being willing to thoroughly brief our committee, where possible.
I would like also to thank the DG and his team for the work they do to promote South Africa. The ANC accepts this Budget Vote No 5.
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 433
Mrs W S NEWHOUDT-DRUCHEN
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND CO-OPERATION (Mr M L Fransman): Chairperson, hon Minister and members of the Cabinet, Members of Parliament, the chairperson and members of the portfolio committee, your excellencies and others, ladies and gentlemen, as our foreign policy approaches its 20th anniversary next year, it is critical that we fully assess the progress made in respect of our international relations agenda. It is appropriate that we evaluate the impact of our engagements against the agenda we had placed before us. In her address, our Minister already did justice to just that.
Today, South Africa is indeed a better place than it was 19 years ago. Our promise to create a better life for all our people is beginning to see the light of day. When the ANC took over the reins of government in 1994, our new government was faced with multiple challenges of transformation. Today, this country has been transformed in every sphere. In fact, listening to the hon member Davidson and the DA, one starts to reflect on what they say on the National Development Plan, NDP, but, in particular, the question of foreign relations which are seen as inefficient, and they cannot see the benefit. Now, we do have a value-based foreign relations policy, and we do have, critically, introduced the economic diplomacy perspective into it.
What does that mean? We had earlier heard hon member Davidson ask: But what is our national interest? What is our national agenda? We have five strategic priorities: education, health, issues of crime and corruption, as well as rural development, agricultural, and job creation. That should be seen in the context of speaking to our foreign relations policy and then intertwined with our domestic priority objectives. Therefore, the programmes that are on Brics are critical. We have just heard the previous speaker speak about those issues. We have seen in 1994 the South African government only had something like R90 billion. Today we are seeing the investment potential and the ability of at least R1,1 trillion that we are able to spend to make sure that it can expand, meaning it has increased tenfold over the last few years, and that is what we have seen. Clearly, we have seen the investments and the relations in terms of our foreign relations policy are bearing fruit.
Not so long ago, we have seen the Square Kilometre Array. It is strange that hon Davidson was asking what the benefits are of our South African foreign relations policy. The Square Kilometre Array and new investment of at least R15 billion in the South African economy from where we were, where we had to compete with other countries around the globe, particularly Australia, will create mega potential in terms of science and technology in the context of a poor, rural province like the Northern Cape. That brings together opportunities, therefore, in the context of skills upgrade, in the context of small, medium and micro enterprises, SMME, development, in the context of women and youth empowerment.
Part of that policy then reflects on the regional integration strategy and, therefore, not so long ago, our Minister with the Economics Cluster Ministers convened under our President. There are three regions in Africa – and we have seen a combined potential of investment of at least $1,7 trillion to $1,8 trillion year-on-year. What does that bring in the context of economic opportunities for our people? In fact, what it does is to make sure that the intra-African trade would be able to move from 12% to at least 30% over the next couple of years. So, we have to connect our foreign relations policy with our domestic priorities and our African agenda because, indeed, our progress is intertwined with the progress of Africa. Therefore, it was quite shocking to hear earlier input – the only input, in fact, that I have heard was really problematic today. So, clearly, what we need to do is to ask hon Stubbe's committee to take the DA through a proper analysis of what is required. [Interjections.]
What is the real issue here? The real issue is the fact that we are talking about shared and inclusive growth. We are saying that a trickle-down effect from the economy is not good enough. We are saying that it is not an assumption, when we bring in foreign investment, that automatically it will address the poorest of the poor. We are saying that we need shared and inclusive growth, and therefore we must expand the economy in such a way that it can lead to progress for our people. [Applause.] Ten years ago, we heard the front page of The Economist talk about "Africa, the dark continent", and I have just heard that today from this bench. Ten years thereafter, last year, we have heard the same magazine talking about "Africa, the rising star". All of us can see that Africa is rising. What is ironic is that what we require is that all political parties support a national agenda. We can differ on certain issues around it, but fundamentally we must agree on a national agenda in the context of foreign relations. [Interjections.] Otherwise, you are breaking down the fundamentals of what we intend doing. The problem is that we are sitting with an opposition which is a government in a particular province and which thinks it can be a federalist state. Therefore, we are saying that we will not allow that. [Interjections.]
I also want to indicate that if one looks at this year, 2013, it marks a year before our country celebrates the 20th anniversary of our freedom in 2014. This year also is the 25th anniversary of the death of another icon, another patriot, a diplomat and protégé of our leader Oliver Tambo, Comrade Dulcie September, who was a woman, an activist, an internationalist, a cadre from the Cape Flats. She was brutally assassinated in Paris by the apartheid regime for her commitment to international solidarity, for her commitment to peace, for her commitment to democracy, for her commitment to make sure that children in a new democracy and dispensation can just be children, and that they can love, sing and dance. We are saying that that particular chapter of our history must still be closed properly. Therefore, we will continue to pursue the analysis on that.
In the words of one of our other giants of diplomacy and former Minister of Foreign Affairs the late Comrade Alfred Nzo when he spoke at Dulcie's funeral, he said, "If ever there was a soft target, Dulcie September was one". To the families of our fallen heroes, in particular Dulcie September's nephew who is here today, we thank the family, and we thank the people for their commitment in pursuing a democracy. [Applause.]
It is also important to analyse what we have done under the leadership of our President and our Minister to make sure that foreign relations should not be foreign to the people of the country, that in every community, whether it is in a deep rural village in Limpopo or whether it is in the City of Cape Town, our people must be able to understand and appreciate what foreign relations can do for our people right here in the communities. [Interjections.] Therefore, we have a very strong public diplomacy branch that goes to the length and breadth of this country. In fact, yesterday, we had been in Gugulethu where at least 1 700 people came together and discussed the importance of the African Union. They discussed the question around the United Nations Volunteers programme. [Applause.]
They discussed the issues of how we can, in fact, learn from our veterans within our communities. Our veterans within our communities were, in fact, in exile – put there by some of you here. [Interjections.] They had to leave South Africa, because it was important. Therefore, they went to small rural communities in Africa, whether it was Morogoro or others. So, there are so many of our veterans that can train us today with regard to the spirit of solidarity, international solidarity and others. So, we are saying that we bring honour to the veterans.
The Minister touched on the issue of the South African Development Partnership Agency, SADPA, and we clearly say that that is an area, in terms of our development partnership trajectory, that we will indeed focus and work on together. It will be in partnership with the international community that is also here. In fact, after the United States of America, South Africa has the greatest number of diplomats in the world in Pretoria. That is the significance of our foreign relations policy. [Applause.] We will, with the global partners, find how best to put in place the development package of partnerships that creates stability, that makes sure that there is peace, makes sure that there is development, and makes sure that there is independence in the future of countries which are currently in conflict. That is the type of ability that we have. [Interjections.]
So with that, we will definitely today take what comes from Parliament. We will take it forward and make sure that we increase our foreign relations to the best of our ability. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Mr E M SULLIMAN /Mia / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 434
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND CO-OPERATION (Mr M L Fransman)
"National Assembly Chamber Main",Unrevised Hansard,30 May 2013,"[Take-434] [National Assembly Chamber Main][NAC-Logger][mm].doc"
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND CO-OPERATION.
Mr E M SULLIMAN: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Ministers, hon members of the House and distinguished guests and officials. We are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity, the AU this year and the theme is this: The year of Pan Africanism and the African Renaissance.
We must use this year long celebrations to obtain a better understanding of the challenges facing Africa.
The former President Nelson Mandela in his address to the Summit Meeting of the OAU Heads of State and Government cited the following and I quote: "The tree of our bitterness has come full leaf: and the fall of our century will carry the foliage away."
Our Freedom Charter was clear when it pronounced on various issues that affected and eeeeaffect our people over the past six decades. Its drafters, drafted the aspirations of our people, and as such these aspirations translated into living documents through the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the policy positions that emerged out of the policy conferences of the ANC that shape government policies.
In this regard when it came to foreign policy the Freedom Charter asserted and I quote: "There shall be peace and friendship. The right of all people of Africa to independence and self government shall be recognised, and shall be the basis of close.cooperation." This aspiration translated into South Africa actively advancing the goals of democracy, peace, stability, development and mutually beneficial relations among the people of Africa as a whole, as well as a Pan African solidarity.
The foreign policy of South Africa is guided by seven principles. Amongst these the ANC has asserted: "a belief that our foreign policy should reflect the interests of the continent of Africa. A belief that South Africa's economic development depends on growing regional and international economic cooperation in an independent world.
South Africa's future is intertwined with that of the rest of the continent. Significantly, our foreign policy ensures that the continent's people are able to actively partake in the processes of democracy in their own countries, in order to improve their basic human conditions.
The Southern African region sustained the ANC during our liberation struggle, thus our destiny is connected with this region, and our people are one. Southern Africa is thus, a pillar upon which South Africa's foreign policy rests.
Thus as the ANC in the post-apartheid era committed ourselves to regional co-operation, economic integration, and greater unity within the region and amongst all of the people. Balanced growth and development is needed that will be enhanced through regional cooperation and integration and this will serve the interest of our economy. This will mean that opportunities in trade will be optimal in a region that is growing.
South Africa is a member of the South African Development Community, SADC, and the South African Customs Union, SACU. We will continue to promote within Africa the diaspora for cohesion, unity, democracy and prosperity of the SADC and the African Union, AU. We will continue to advance regional economic integration in Southern Africa on a developmental model that comprises of infrastructure development, cooperation in the real economy and the development of regional supply chains. This is done to pursue and ensure that there is fair, equitable and a development approach towards SADC integration.
The political will within SADC needs to be consolidated to ensure that the region achieves its objectives. We as the ANC have been leading in strengthening and consolidating the region politically. We have to continuously ensure that our approach is developmental and ensure that there is diversification of our economies in our region.
Regional integration is crucial to ensure that the region becomes one of the nodal growth points of the world. This refers to issues relating to the developing of a common market, and having the region as a significant destination point for investment within the context of political stability and economic policies. We also need to deepen democracy and human rights and the consolidation of peace in the region.
We acknowledge that Africa sacrificed a lot for the ANC during the time of our liberation struggle. We as the ANC envision transformation in our continent because we want Africa that is free, peaceful and vibrant and is able to actively partake and contribute in areas of human endeavour and in the multilateral forayeee.
We are committed actively to advance the African Renaissance, the rebirth of the continent as it is a strategic objective and a call to action. Africa's Renaissance should consolidate collective sovereignty; critical to the renaissance is the African Unioneee, the Pan-African Parliament and regional economic communities which must be continuously strengthened to meet the modern day challenges.
Continental cooperation and economic integration has yielded benefits in strengthening Africa's economic relations. We will continuously commit ourselves to the process of regional and continental peace-keeping and peace-making in order to track possible conflict.
The ANC commits to play a meaningful role in the continent in order to actively participate in the development of our continent. Work also continues to attain economic prosperity; intra-Africa trade and other positive and progressive interventions designed Africa forward towards prosperity and a better life for her peoples.
The ANC believes that economic and political cooperation with other countries can improve the lives of our own people and will continue to work towards a better life for all, a better Africa and a better world, without hunger, disease, conflict and underdevelopmenteee.
The 50th National Conference of the ANC in Mafikeng in 1997 contributed to the development of a New Partnership for Africa's Development, NEPAD, as a programme of the AU aimed at bringing about peace, stability and security, eradication of poverty, development, human resources, economic revival of Africa, democracy, good governance and human rights.
Fundamental change has been developed through the launch of the AU and the adoption of NEPAD for significant development and growth to Africa's cause.
The establishment of the AU and the final drafting of NEPAD is work mainly led by the Heads of Government and States. The sustainability and successful implementation of NEPAD and the functioning of the AU involves women, youth and organs of civil society. Africa's development in the multilateral arena has been formal and officially recognised through the adoption of NEPAD by the United Nations General Assembly.
The AU must play a leading role in defending the interests of Africa in multilateral bodies such as the United Nations, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and even the coming of the new Brics bank.
Different organisational and government strategies and mechanism have been implemented to involve the broader South African society on the implementation of NEPAD and the AU as the organisational articulation of the vision of the African Renaissance. We have been developing a theoretical framework and content for better expression of our vision of the African Renaissance.
We strive to ensure that we reach into the resources of the countries of Africa and establish partnerships amongst the countries of the South. This is done in order to mobilise the developed countries of the South to actively partake in NEPAD.
Critically, democracy, good governance and accountability are the essential elements for the success of the AU and NEPAD. The speedy implementation of NEPAD is good governance of all and by all African countries.
The ANC should continue to play an instrumental role in strengthening the role played by the Pan-African Parliament, Pap. We should continue to guide the debate on the future of the Pap, specifically whether or not it should be awarded legislative powers to mould its character. We should advocate and celebrate the existence of Pap in South Africa.
South Africa should assist the Pap to revitalise its role as a key catalyst for the unity and further democratisation of Africa and its member's countries. We should assist the Pap to establish regional parliaments in line with the regional bodies of the AU.
Working together we can build a better, transformed, unified and a democratic Africa.
In conclusion, hon Chairperson, many people are saying that we are over-stretching our role in Africa except from the DA. Let me quote the hon Minister Nkoane-Mashabane when she addressed a church gathering on 21 April 2012: "We cannot afford the luxury of saying Africa's problems are not our problems. It is also in our national interest to have a stable, peaceful and developed Africa."
Rise Africa Rise!
Thank you.
Mr E H ELOFF / Kn / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 435
"National Assembly Chamber Main",Unrevised Hansard,09 Jul 2013,"Take 435 [National Assembly Chamber Main].doc"
Mr E M SULLIMAN
Mr E H ELOFF: Madam Chair, I have to congratulate the Minister of International Relations and Co-operation for trying to give the department credibility, by giving immediate response to issues such as that of Professor Karabus and the Gupta scandal, where she met Virendra Gupta to convey the government's displeasure over his actions. It is strange that she did not know beforehand. She is also to raise the issue with the Indian government. We are awaiting their response and her feedback.
With regard to her Deputy Minister, Fransman, we cannot say the same. He should spend more time focussing on his role as the Deputy Minister rather than provincial party politics. As we have seen with the Central African Republic and other countries, we just have to back the losing horse in all races. Do we really think that in choosing sides, and if our candidate loses, our future relationship with that country would ever recover? No, we are losing the battle to become a major role player in Africa. Why not rather stay neutral and try to get parties around the table to get solutions. Promote democracy and the open opportunity society, and let the people decide for themselves.
We are slipping further back. Our membership in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Brics, was because of our stock exchange, the biggest in Africa. But Nigeria's stock market gained 35% and Uganda's 39% over the last year. Sub-Saharan Africa's growth averaged 4,8% over the last five years and Africa's 5,1%. Our 2,7% paints a grim picture, especially the last quota, of 0,9%.
Foreign direct investment in sub-Saharan Africa leapt from $6 billion in 2000 to $34 billion last year. We have to ask the question as to where the problem? And we why did not get our share? As a committee, we have not been allowed to visit any embassy to do oversight. We do not know how the money is being spent. All we know is that we have more embassies than most countries. All we hear is the progress of the department in doing oversight over their embassies. Until now, we have heard no reports.
I suggest an audit on the embassies to see if some of them can be consolidated. What benefit is it to the people of South Africa? How well is the staff equipped to enhance our tourism and economy? What are the results of every embassy as a unit?
There must be something wrong; otherwise the Minister of Tourism would not have announced, in his Budget Vote, that he is opening more tourist offices in Africa and Brazil. Why can't these offices be combined? Wouldn't it be a huge overlapping? Can't he rather make use of our offices or train our staff to be up to his standards? I call upon the Minister to start a programme ... [Interjections.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms F Hajaig): One moment, hon Eloff. What is it, Ms Fubbs?
Ms J L FUBBS: It is certainly not a point of order, so please relax. [Interjections.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON: (Ms F Hajaig): Then please sit down.
Ms J L FUBBS: However, it is a question. [Interjections.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms F Hajaig): No. [Interjections.]
Ms J L FUBBS: I asked if the member would take a question. [Interjections.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms F Hajaig): No, he doesn't wish to take a question. [Interjections.]
Mr E H ELOFF: No, you are wasting my time.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms F Hajaig): Would you please sit down. [Interjections.] You do not wish to take a question, right?
Mr E H ELOFF: I call upon the Minister to start a programme that includes tourism and economic opportunities in South Africa to all the foreign embassies of South Africa so that have firsthand knowledge to promote our country. Our future to economic success lies with the Southern African Development Community, SADC. Together we can grow to be the financial hub of Africa, although at the moment we are the partner with the smallest growth rate. Article 4(c) and 6(1) of the SADC Treaty states, and I quote:
SADC and its member states shall act in accordance with the principles of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
Instead, Judge A G Pillay, the Chair of the United Nations Committee on Economics, Social and Cultural Rights and former president of the SADC Tribunal, had to say, and I quote:
President Zuma and other SADC leaders effectively killed off the SADC Tribunal at Mugabe's behest. Their decision has left citizens with no recourse to justice when they are abused by their own governments; also corporations are left unprotected.
The tribunal cases in which Zimbabwe and others were found guilty on are still hanging in the air, in silence. Instead of enforcing human rights and the rule of law, we give them a loan. Eighty percent of applications before the Tribunal, which are consisted of cases of individuals against states, show that leaders do not care for human rights or the rule of law. That is the exact opposite vision of the DA. We care not for certain people, but for everybody. [Applause.]
What is the message that we are sending out to the rest of the world, and the investors who want to invest? South Africa is a major transhipment point for drugs on the continent and has the second highest number of narcotics addicts in Africa. The Minister must introduce a regional mechanism for Southern Africa to curb illegal transit of drugs such as Kofi Annan's West African Commission on Drugs to the SADC countries.
Dear fellow South Africans, wake up and smell the wealth coming to Africa. The world needs oil and food. Africa has 60% of the unused agriculture land of the world. When you look at the latest oil and gas deposit map, you will see future oil kingdom from Eritrea down to Mozambique and Namibia. The question is: What are we going to do to be part of it? If you snooze, you lose.
I would like to conclude with the words of Anne Frank, and I quote: "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world". Our moment has arrived. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Ms C C SEPTEMBER / Mpho/.../TM / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 436
Mr E H ELOFF
Ms C C SEPTEMBER: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim, hon Deputy Minister Marius Fransman, the diplomatic core in the gallery, hon members, ladies and gentleman, I rise on behalf of the ANC in support of this Budget Vote. Hon Deputy Minister Fransman, may I at the same time say, thank you very much for paying homage to Dulcie September in this House and also thank you for bringing the family here. [Applause.] The success of its economic diplomacy will determine the extent to which South Africa can achieve its domestic priorities. For South Africa to meet these priorities, its economy must be able to participate competitively in the global market. As The ANC we believe that economic diplomacy is not limited to basic economic knowledge, but should be able to increase South Africa's voice and choice in international relations and co-operation.
The intensification of economic diplomacy is driven by the ANC to ensure that there are changes in the colonial patters of economic relations. Furthermore, there needs to be an equitable and balanced relation between the North and the South, transformation and the beneficiation of Africa's natural resources, sustainable flows of Foreign Direct Investment and access to markets for products from the South, to address the issue of unemployment and contribute to poverty alleviation.
Since the advent of our democratic dispensation, many opportunities have been afforded to South African businesses, continentally and globally.
Our vision as the ANC is for a better world and for a better Africa. Economic diplomacy reinforces the attainment of the objectives of national development. The ANC believes that there can be no peace without development, and no development without peace.
Economic diplomacy has become a priority for South Africa's international policy and a number of initiatives, other than the doom stories we heard here today, have been put in place to achieve the objectives set out in the work programme of the Department of international Relations and Co-operation, Dirco. The ANC welcomes the White Paper of Dirco that articulates, amongst others, its vision on economic diplomacy, other than the selective quotes that we had here from the hon members of the opposition, with regard to the National Development Plan, NDP. Here is a classical example of you Minister, making sure that we follow the prescripts that have been laid down in the National Development Plan by these White Papers and others.
Economic diplomacy is illustrated in the multilateral fora through the global trading system that is administered by the World Trade Organisation, WTO, in which South Africa participates. In contrast to the previous round of trade negotiations, the Uruguay round - between 1986-1994 - South Africa played an instrumental role within the Doha round in the WTO. South Africa, as a developing country, accepted developed country commitments. The ANC hopes that with the new leadership at the helm of the WTO, we can realise a return to the implementation of the developmental agenda and decisions.
It is incumbent on the ANC to pursue as its international perspective the central goal of development and the prosperity of Africa, whilst promoting the African Renaissance through policy positions.
Economic diplomacy relates to the link between international relations and domestic imperatives. The enhancement of the economic diplomacy of South Africa can be used as an instrument of foreign policy. An illustration of this would be that of State-owned Enterprises (SOE) investing in development protects in Africa.
Successful economic diplomacy requires a close partnership with government, business and labour. Hon Davidson, you said only with business. Within the partnership of government, business and labour it is important that South Africa's values, principles, and reputation are reflected in their conduct of businesses abroad.
The solid political relations between South Africa and China led to China's imposition of a voluntary export restraint on 31 categories of clothing exports to South Africa until 2008 and the benefits that the industry has of that.
In the financial services sector a number of banks have set up operations in South Africa. Yet again, a testimony to the confidence they have in this ANC-led government and this country.
The Bric countries pose a combined potential market worth over US$ 320 billion. This is an immense untapped treasure which creates numerous opportunities for South African exporters. China alone has a potential of US$ 133 billion, whereas India has a market for US$ 26,8 billion and Russia and Brazil respectively US$ 11,1 billion and US$ 11,4 billion. This is extremely significant for this country and its people.
For the period April 2011 to March 2012 and April 2012 to December 2012 foreign direct investment markets have been able to track 31 projects from 25 Bric companies with a potential investment of R12,6 billion. [Interjections.]
At the multilateral level, South Africa pursues its economic diplomacy objectives through its membership of the 151-country World Trade Organisation (WTO) and more specifically, the organisations Doha Round of trade negotiations. Alongside Brazil and india, it is commendable that South Africa (in effect, then, IBSA) has played an increasingly active and assertive role in the world trade body and the Round itself.
This is a major success and achievement of the country's economic diplomacy. and ideational incentives. As an outward oriented economy that is largely dependent on trade flows and inward investment, securing market access abroad (particularly for its intermediate manufacturers and service suppliers)
Currently, South Africa is strategically located in two significant developing country coalitions: the G20 that is demanding for fairer agricultural trade and also in the Nonagricultural Market Access, NAMA, which advocates for developing countries' rights to policy space for industrial development. Notably, South Africa is also a member of and supports the Africa group in the WTO. Developing countries and the developmental agenda have been articulated by South Africa that highlights very importantly that what we ought to have is an enhancing market access in areas of export interest to the developing world' balanced rules to protract and enhance policy space and technical assistance and capacity-building programmes to ensure that all developing countries can benefit.
The struggle for peace and development in Africa poses a major challenge to the African Union. The ANC will always enable and has always in the past enabled the South African government, through its effective policies – not confused policies – to promote peaceful and speedy resolutions of conflicts in Africa. Economic diplomacy has become an integral component of the foreign policy of South Africa, particularly when it comes to attaining goals that will improve market access and trade with bilateral partners and increase foreign direct investments. All of this is to position South Africa as a preferred tourism destination and to market ourselves abroad.
It is important to note that there is a link between peace diplomacy and economic diplomacy. South Africa's peace diplomacy efforts have helped bring stability and prevent full blown conflict in areas such as Burundi and the Ivory Coast and continue to mediate in Zimbabwe. Hon Dudley, I think it is time that we accept that we must celebrate that the Zimbabwean people have gone to the polls and have voted for a new constitution. It is an important step in the lives of Zimbabweans to attain what we have all asked, that there needs to be peace in Zimbabwe.
I think, despite the quibbles that we have had here today, we must celebrate that victory. As much as South Africa has been told to stand high on the roof or to employ soft versus loud diplomacy, here is a victory that we can claim as South Africans. At the level of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, South Africa's rapid advancement economic growth has created perceptions and concerns about our real intentions on the continent, whilst others have concluded that South Africa harbours hegemonic views and actions. This is further from the truth.
We have heard yet today of an attempt of prescribing to South Africa. Is it our human rights? Is it our national interests? What is it? We are still confused. We seem to be voting wrong at the UN and all of that. We can't be surprised that that level of confusion is coming from the DA. We are not surprised that we have it because here we have a situation that articulates to us, under disguise of addressing human rights abuse, ignoring the broad consensus and complexities in foreign countries, it seems like the DA often made calls to the South African government to support western imposed regime change. If we cannot continue to negotiate and ask for peaceful solutions, then it means there is a call for something else. As the ANC, we will never do that, on the altar of our people. [Applause.]
In fact, it looks constantly that it sought to undermine South Africa's relations with countries that are hostile to the imperialist agenda. Hostility is being produced all the time towards Cuba and Iran.
I think it is not helpful because they too have made contributions to bring us to the democracy and they are assisting us further. They are not abandoning us but they still continue to assist us.
Hon Minister, maybe we must ask your help in this instance. We do not have federalism in this country. We have a unitary state and we ask that in international relations, we continue to defend our unitary position in this country. We cannot have a situation like last year where hon Helen Zille, in the capacity of Premier of the Western Cape, visited the UK and met with the British government leaders, the liberal democratic leaders and leaders of industry, without consulting you, Minister. Please, clarify. I hope I am wrong in this instance. We do not need that sort of situation here where our country continues to be bad mouthed, in stead of showing unification.
None of the ANC people have ever gone outside the borders of this country and said that we only have eight provinces. We say we have nine provinces in this country, despite the fact that the ANC does not govern the Western Cape. We are never so silly and petty to say that there are only eight provinces. We don't tell them to only invest in the one province and not in the other eight provinces.
So, Minister, we ask that you prevail on this situation because South Africa is a country for all its people. [Applause.] We cannot allow that situation to continue. [Interjections.]
In preparing the country to become a winning nation in the coming decades of the 21st century, our international relations work must endeavour to shape and strengthen our national identity; cultivate our national pride and patriotism; address the injustices of our past, including those of race and gender; bridge the divides in our society to ensure social cohesion and stability; and grow the economy for the development and upliftment of our people. That is our national interest. I thank you. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION (Ms M E Nkoana-Mashabane / Src / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Thursday, 30 May 2013 Take: 437
*incomplete**
The MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION:
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