Hon Speaker, the Deputy President has failed to give a full and accurate picture of our international obligations. Article 80(1) of the Vienna Convention states that: All treaties signed after 1969 must be submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations. Article 102 of the UN Charter states exactly the same. This means that South Africa cannot invoke the treaty in front of the United Nations in order to sanction its presence in the Central African Republic.
Further, the treaty is frowned upon for not being open and transparent. The Department of International Relations and Co-operation has confirmed that the extension of the 2007 memorandum of understanding cannot be considered valid. The department also confirmed that the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans did not receive full powers from the President to enter into international relations on behalf of South Africa. Therefore, does the Deputy President not think that it was irresponsible to send the SA National Defence Force to the Central African Republic, CAR, on a memorandum of understanding that did not fully comply with the procedures of the international law that are meant to safeguard against secretive, illegitimate and poorly drafted treaties? I thank you.