Chairperson, Minister, Deputy Minister, hon members, diplomatic corps, ladies and gentlemen, South Africa's foreign policy has undergone an evolution since the advent of democracy in 1994. The metamorphosis of our foreign policy has led to our policy's being labelled as lacking a sense of purpose and direction.
The first democratic government from 1994 to 1999 chose a moral and ethical, principled foreign policy, which was transformational in nature, observing human rights as the core pillar of foreign policy. This was to ensure that we were a respectable and responsible global citizen.
From 1999 to 2008 the focus was on the consolidation of our foreign policy, with the primary attention on globalisation, universalism, multilateralism, and ensuring that there was equality in the global system, with equal responsibility and accountability.
The current period, 2009 until 2011, is that one of utilitarian continuity that focuses on economic diplomacy, co-operation and the building of commercially driven partnership.
In spite of this evolution, the challenge of our foreign policy still remains a lack of coherency, cohesion and co-ordination. Our foreign policy still fails to link domestic priorities with foreign policy. Hence, there are continued clashes of our core values of human rights with commercial trade interests. We have in the process compromised on our core values with a quest for economic power. The question is: How will our foreign policy address the core domestic imperatives of poverty, unemployment, underdevelopment and job creation?
Allow me to highlight the following points of concern. The first one is human rights and economic diplomacy. South Africa has been hailed as a beacon of hope in championing human rights. However, we have dropped the ball in the process, with our focus on economic diplomacy, which compromises our constitutional values for commercial and trade interest.
We need to revert back to our principal stance on human rights. The difficult balancing act of marrying human rights and economic diplomacy is still a big challenge, as both are compatible. This has led to the ongoing clash between our values, interests and partners. It has caused our foreign policy to be labelled as "lacking direction and purpose". An example is the suspension of the human rights tribunal by the Southern African Development Community, SADC, leaders - which South Africa supported!
The second issue is the capacity of the department. There is a lack of capacity in the department, with over 400 vacant posts in both middle and low levels. The department cannot attract new cadets from tertiary institutions to further their careers in International Relations. We still cannot fill the quotas in multilateral institutions.
We are not using candidate diplomacy adequately to influence decision- making in these institutions. We speak about reform of these institutions. The real reform will only happen when we start to fill the strategic positions in these institutions.
The third issue is the United Nations Security Council. We welcome the election of South Africa for a further two-year term in the UN Security Council as a nonpermanent member. We hope we use this term to redeem our image by taking principled decisions and communicating them efficiently.
We would also like to welcome the decision of South Africa to support the no-fly zone against Libya. This is for the primary reason of protecting civilians in Libya against its brutal dictator government. The fourth issue is regional integration. We cannot champion regional integration without first getting the basics right. We need to ensure that there is democracy, good governance and respect for human rights in the SADC region, and stand strong against regimes that do not observe these principles. Zimbabwe and Swaziland are classic examples. They still remain a problem in the region, which will affect regional growth and progress. We need to influence change in these regimes and call for their reform.
The fifth issue is the African Renaissance. We acknowledge the principles outlined in the African Renaissance and New Partnership for Africa's Development, Nepad, programmes and our leadership role in the African agenda, which encourages Africa's renewal, political democracy and economic growth.
These noble ideas cannot happen while we are still faced with armed conflict, war and undemocratic governments. It is for this reason that we are calling for South Africa to champion the ratification of the Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance to ensure peace, stability and legitimacy. It has so far been ratified by 11 countries, including South Africa, and it needs 15 countries to ratify it for it to be in force.
The sixth issue is public diplomacy. We welcome the revitalisation of this unit and its change into a full branch, as well as the outreach done by the Minister and the Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Co- operation over the period of last year. We need to communicate our foreign policy principles more to the public at home, as most of them do not know and understand our foreign policy - what we stand for, and the decisions we take in multilateral forums.
Public diplomacy is the most effective way of communicating our message to audiences, both at home and abroad. We need to explore new ways of communicating, like e-diplomacy, in order to influence this diverse audience. Linked to this is the involvement of nonstate actors in our foreign policy.
We acknowledge that the department is in the process of drafting a White Paper on Foreign Policy which will culminate in the Foreign Service Act. We hope that broader consultation will happen with stakeholders so that our foreign policy is clear and coherent. We also welcome the establishment of the SA Council on International Relations, which will be inclusive.
The seventh issue is conflict resolution. South Africa is expected to play a major leadership role in Africa, with conflict resolution and peacekeeping. Hence, we are still involved in peacekeeping missions, but we need to recognise and be cognisant of our limited resources. We need to have partners on the continent and in the world who can assist.
We cannot impose ourselves as a hegemonic superpower without resources. Conflict still breeds instability in many African countries. Our leadership role is to ensure that there is peace and security that will lead to prosperity, development and economic growth on the continent.
In conclusion, our foreign policy should be able to close the gap between our domestic priorities and foreign priorities. We need to take our leadership role seriously and be strong on principle issues of democracy, human rights and good governance, for without these principles all the good intensions of the African Renaissance will remain a pipe dream.
In our quest for an equal global system with equal responsibility and accountability, we need to begin at home by ensuring that our foreign policy is responsive to our competing domestic challenges. It should be coherent, cohesive and co-ordinated. We need to implement proper guidelines for how we conduct our foreign policy so that we can claim our rightful place among the global nations as one of the emerging leaders in the world.
Let me join my colleagues in commending the outgoing director-general, Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba, for the sterling work that he has done in the department and in the committee. We have enjoyed very fruitful working relations with him.
We also wish to welcome Ambassador Jerry Matjila in his appointment as the new director-general. We are looking forward to working with you. We have already engaged with you - last week in the portfolio committee with the briefing on the Millennium Development Goals . All I can say is, so far, so good! Thank you. [Applause.]