Speaker, let me assure all the people of South Africa that South Africa's involvement in the Central African Republic, just as was the case in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and elsewhere, has been in pursuance of our international obligation to ensure stability and peace on the continent. As we have indicated before, our foreign policy is fundamentally based and designed for the furtherance of South Africa's national and strategic interest. The Freedom Charter directs that "there shall be peace and friendship; South Africa will respect the rights of other states and will strive for peace." Our foreign policy objectives are based on the need to build a better Africa and a better world and recognise that the future development of our own country is intrinsically linked, first and foremost, to that of the continent. There is no possibility of developmental and economic success for a South Africa that is surrounded by a pool of instability, war and hunger around the continent. A key principle that informs our foreign policy is the diplomacy of ubuntu, reflected in the idea that we affirm our humanity when we affirm the humanity of others. In line with the character of the democratic society we want to build, South Africa chose a diplomatic policy based on the need for peaceful co-existence and friendship with our neighbours.
This is in direct contrast to the apartheid approach of deploying the previous SANDF for cross-border raids, killing innocent civilians within our continent. Some of the members of the Official Opposition who differ with our policy of friendship are former members of this previous SANDF and will wish that their own involvement as members of that Defence Force should be forgotten. They will desperately want to exploit any negativity about the pursuance of our policies to call for this country to dump the plight of the continent.
As part of this, they have used the mainstream media to build a consistent campaign to distort the mission of our soldiers in the Central African Republic. The spokespersons of the DA almost thanked their gods for handing them the gift of the loss of our soldiers so close to the next general elections. [Interjections.]