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 ought also to 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 on the part of 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 organise 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 of 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; as well as 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 a strong and genuine participant in reclaiming and restoring the economic sovereignty of the peoples of the continent of Africa? Does South Africa possess sufficient economic, military and technological capabilities to assist African communities against the 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 African Unity, OAU, founded on 25 May 1963, in Addis Ababa. We remember the emergence of a formidable Pan-Africanist movement in 1900, driven from the diaspora, on the African continent, led by Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe, George Padmore, W E B du Bois, Sylvester Williams, Julius Nyerere and Kenneth Kaunda, just to mention a few. Today the peoples of Africa salute them. I thank you. [Applause.]