Hon Chair and hon members, there is a direct link between South Africa's international relations policy and its trade policy. In simple terms, South Africa trades with countries with whom it enjoys diplomatic relations. Since 1994, this country has been rapidly integrated into the global economy as part of a worldwide process of trade liberalisation and economic integration, otherwise commonly known as globalisation. It is common knowledge that under former President Mandela, South Africa's foreign policy was based on respect for human rights, meaning that South Africa expected its diplomatic partners to have as much respect for human rights as South Africa itself.
Under former President Thabo Mbeki, South Africa played a much broader international role, perhaps to the detriment of the national and regional agenda. President Zuma's government has promoted the so-called African Agenda. The emphasis here is that Africans should try to find African solutions to African problems. However, there have been many criticisms of South Africa's international relations policy on many fronts for various reasons.
Greg Mills, the head of Brenthurst Foundation based in Johannesburg, has characterised South Africa's foreign policy as "... a bit of this and a bit of that." In The Economist magazine of 12 March 2012, it says that South Africa's foreign policy or international relations policy is "... all over the place." Former ambassador Thomas Wheeler called South Africa's foreign policy as "not making sense at all". He adds that: "There is no substance and no coherence."
In the Sunday Times newspaper of this last Sunday, South Africa's former ambassador to Argentina and former leader of the DA, Tony Leon, says that South Africa's foreign policy moved away from Mandela's vision of respect for human rights in our dealings with other countries. He says:
Here, we certainly chose to be highly sensitive and often deeply inconsistent; often moving all over the map as we favoured solidarity over principle; and often struggle sentiment over ruthless pursuit of our national interest.
Chairperson, one can ask: What is the role of South Africa in its quest to develop strong economic and diplomatic ties in Africa? Perhaps former President Thabo Mbeki put it more aptly when he said:
There are expectations from Africa that South Africa should make a significant contribution towards peace and development on the continent. South Africa's problems cannot be worse than those experienced by other African countries. Despite our limitations and problems, it is our objective to make a significant contribution to ensuring peace, democracy, respect for human rights and sustained development. These principles are fundamental to our foreign policy.
On regional integration, Mbeki said:
The Southern African region expects a positive contribution from South Africa in terms of their own development. They expect that we interact with them as partner and ally, not as a regional superpower so that what we achieve in terms of political, security and economic relations is balanced and is of mutual benefit.
Chairperson, what then constitutes South Africa's national interest? According to Stephen Krasner, national interest is defined as: The preferences of nations' leaders, or put differently, the goals that are sought by the state.
He adds that such preferences or set of objectives must be related to general societal goals, persist over time and have a consistent ranking of importance in order to justify the use of the term "national interest".
The DBSA has said that South Africa's national interest should include the country's mission and vision that are derived from all sectors of society, regarding what and how best its vital interest can be served. Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, once said:
... our involvement in world affairs has been premised on the view that the strength of this nation depends on the strength of the entire continent.
Finally, Chair, the concept of national interest should be a sustained one. It should take into account the following: foreign policy; economic diplomacy; public interest; and national security. I thank you. [Applause.]