Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Ministers, hon members, the UDM supports Vote No 5: International Relations and Co- operation. [Applause.] The good role South Africa has played in exporting the principles of good governance, peace and democracy to the continent of Africa is well documented. Despite these achievements, the groundswell of discontent among the poor about government's poor service delivery record demands that we review the amount of resources we plough into the African renewal project. We cannot go around the continent fighting other people's fires while government's poor service delivery record and its neglect of the poor fans the fire on our shores. It is going to be difficult to justify the amount of money we spend on creating stability on the continent when millions of our people struggle to make ends meet, when millions of our people are poor and unemployed.
There is a tendency for crucial foreign policy positions to be taken up by only the Presidency and the Department of International Relations and Co- operation, without consulting Parliament. It is becoming the norm for us to be expected to rubber-stamp these decisions, whether they caused the country much embarrassment or not. In other democracies, the parliament has to first approve international treaties or peacekeeping missions before they are ratified. This is intended to protect the interests of their citizens. By following in their footsteps, we would prevent the abuse of state resources for personal aggrandisement and corruption. With this in mind, we ask whether the time has not come to review the department's approach to foreign policy.
Finally, the UDM would like to join the millions of people, both here and abroad, in congratulating the government on its successful hosting of COP 17 last year. The success of COP 17 could be attributed to, among other things, government's wide consultation with all the relevant stakeholders in the period preceding the conference. The challenge that now remains is how we implement the COP 17 resolutions and ensure that we use them to educate the public about the dangers of climate change. [Applause.]