Chairperson, the ACDP welcomes the change in trend from previous years, when appropriations were decreasing, to the current state of affairs, where two 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. So, how exactly is this going to work?
With 47 diplomatic missions in Africa and more in the pipeline, 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. However, 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 this way:
Africa is our home and it is 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.
I have decided to use my allocated few minutes today to talk about Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe hasn't really had much attention in this Parliament lately 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 Zimbabwean elections will impact on this department's budget which, by the way, the ACDP will support.
To the surprise of many, it does seem as if President Mugabe is actually pushing for funding for the upcoming elections with as few strings attached as possible. Hon Minister, does the government-owned Herald newspaper in Zimbabwe have its facts straight in saying that South African President Jacob Zuma has proposed to SADC leaders, at a meeting on the sidelines of the just-ended African Union summit, that they should help to 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 US$132 million and it would be nice if we did not have to foot the entire bill. Zimbabwe's Prime Minister and opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, we understand, is keen to attach the money to the deployment of election 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 think election observers, at the very least, must be attached to that money. Deploying peace-keeping troops might be a good idea as well. [Time expired.]