Modulasetulo, ke leboga Maloko a Palamente ka moka ao a kgathilego tema ngangi?anong ye ya boutu ya rena le ditekanyet?o t?a kgoro ya rena. [Chairperson, I would like to thank all the Members of Parliament who took part in the Budget Vote debate of our department.]
Don't worry about your gadgets. I will save you the agony.
It is really quite a pleasure, honour and privilege to work with the members of this portfolio committee. Every time I sit here and listen to the deliberations, I feel the sense of commitment to exactly what the hon Mubu - a professor, I learnt today - said, that South Africa's international stature has never been better than it is today. I think he has summed it all up and, after the sip I have taken, I can only thank you very much for that support, coming for the first time, maybe, from the DA.
I would also join hon Magau in saying that maybe there is a need for a bilateral meeting between her and hon Mokgalapa. Whilst these accolades for the department have been mentioned, he still feels that there are things that we need to do. We will definitely take heed of all the contributions made by all the members of the committee.
Chairperson of the portfolio committee, we want once again to reiterate what we have said on numerous occasions, that we were really devastated by the demise of Anton Hammerl in Libya. I know for sure that this matter has also been raised with Col Gaddafi by the President. I think the sad reality and the most painful thing for his wife, his children, his family and friends, and in particular the colleagues he was with on that fateful day, was that they almost got sworn to secrecy themselves - for their own safety they could not say a word until they were released. As we said earlier on in the press conference, our officials had to follow the released journalists across the border to Tunisia to listen to the trauma they had gone through of being sworn to secrecy for 44 days about the whereabouts and demise of Anton Hammerl.
I know that I will not be justified in saying, "May his soul rest in peace," until we are miraculously able to find his remains in that desert and bring his remains home. Libya remains a war zone, so it is going to be quite an arduous task to search for his body, but I would like to quote the words of the Austrian ambassador, who is based in South Africa and who said on that fateful day, when the sad news was broken to us, that in his 35 years as an ambassador, he had never seen a government taking so much time and making such an effort to find one person in a war zone. That is what the Austrian ambassador said about the South African government. [Applause.] We will spare no effort, but do just that, informed by what our foreign policy and Constitution calls on us to do.
I thought I also needed to take advantage of being in this gathering to highlight what hon Magau and other members said about the famous Resolution 1973. Chairperson, to hon Holomisa, with due respect, South Africa, Nigeria and Gabon were advised by the African Union to vote positively on Resolution 1973.
Who sponsored Resolution 1973? It was the Arab League. The Arab League sponsored Resolution 1973. Why would it have been the Arab League? Countries in North Africa, as the geography indicates, are on the African continent. However, politically and culturally they think they are Arab first, so that resolution was sponsored by Arabs. What informed South Africa's participation in voting on it positively? It was exactly what hon Magau said: our Constitution, our human rights record, and so on.
What I need to say for sure is that South Africa did not vote for a regime change. By the time we voted on this resolution, more than 2 000 people had been mowed down by their own government, which had been supposed to protect them. So, there was no way we could do other, and we will apologise to no one for having been informed by our foreign policy to vote the way we did, and we will continue saying that.
About sharing of information when there are debates in the international community, and in particular in the Security Council, we will again spare no effort, even with the constraints of budgets, in continuing to share information with the ruling party and with opposition members. This is because on foreign policy - and that is why we are bringing the international relations council to the fore - we want to engage with all South Africans. We are out there defending the gains of our freedom for the entire nation, South Africa - the South Africa of Mandela, the South Africa of O R Tambo, the South Africa of all, and the South Africa that fights for the weak and the voiceless.
The hon Dudley raised questions about an issue very close to us - the future of South Sudan. Rest assured that we are determined to support the South Sudanese people and make sure that they lead a viable and democratic state. I did not spend Christmas at home, because President Zuma sent me to that part of the world, first to appeal to President Bashir to allow the referendum to proceed peacefully, freely, and fairly. That happened, and we thanked the government of South Sudan and also the government of North Sudan for having allowed that to happen. We also appealed to President Kiir of South Sudan that it was important that he avoided all provocation and focused on the ball - that 9 July should come. We will never condone the maiming and killing, and the occupation of the Abyei region again.
I would also like to take this opportunity to call specifically on all the friends in the West, and in particular the United States of America, and remind them that before the referendum, undertakings were made publically by the USA government that after the referendum the name of the Sudanese government in Khartoum would be removed from the international list of state-sponsored terrorism, that there would be the lifting of sanctions, and that there would be a cancellation of debt. None of these three things have happened. As we are making an appeal to them, we also remind them of what other friends have been saying about their commitments. We want to take this opportunity to urge the United States government to please come to the party and make sure that, as we nudge people to do the right things, they respond. If we have made undertakings, we should come back and implement them.
Hon Holomisa, South Africa is respected by the entire AU collective. Confidence and faith in South Africa has never been so good, and that is why, when we were dealing with the problems in Cte d'Ivoire, the AU asked that President Zuma be part of that delegation. When we were dealing with the problems in Libya, President Zuma was again asked to deal with the situation.
I now come to why we have joined the Brazil, Russia, India and China group, Bric. You know, every time I listen to South Africans, I remember that the entire global community, in particular the members of Brics, have never stopped celebrating South Africa's entry there. The majority of progressive South Africans have also come to the party to celebrate South Africa's entry.
I hear hon Mokgalapa asking how we link domestic priorities with international work. How best could we have shown you, hon Mokgalapa, that we mean business than by linking our domestic priorities with the work that we do internationally? Could we have done that by not having been admitted to Brics?
I want to say this in my mother tongue as I don't know how to explain it in English. I think that is the problem, largely, of my people.
Ka Sepedi ba re moja sa gagwe o a khuti?a. [In Sepedi they say hide what you have, to avoid sharing it with others.]
Every time people tell South Africa to take its rightful place, South Africa says, "No, not now, a little bit later." The international community said to us through Brics: "South Africa, you run the biggest and most diverse economy on the African continent. South Africa, you are the champion of human rights on your continent, and we want to share the experience of the work that you have been doing with regard to peace, security and development on the African continent with you. South Africa, you are endowed with mineral resources that are exploitable, but you also have the mechanism to beneficiate these resources. Come join Brics."
So, when you ask all the other Bric members, they will tell you that they have seen the important role that South Africa can play in bringing the right kind of politics that are respected internationally into Brics.
South Africans themselves do not recognise the fact that the entire community of the African continent also appreciates the role that South Africa plays, because South Africa's foreign policy, which is open for every person to read, is that our national interests are best safeguarded by our looking at the interests of the continent of Africa. The partners of Brics see the one billion people in Africa - South Africans talk of the 49 million people! At what point will we see that we have this leadership role to play, bestowed on us by history? We are there now. Let's stop looking back. Let's move forward. Let's be positive, because the world expects just that from all of us.
We will continue, as we said in our presentation, to fight for the reform of all global institutions of governance including, and in particular, the UN Security Council. We think that the time has come for this to be implemented. I can tell you that there are no contradictions between the work we do internationally and our foreign policy. We follow that to the letter, and that is where we earn respect and continue to command respect.
We have said on numerous occasions that it will take the leadership of Zimbabwe to solve the problems of Zimbabwe. The Southern African Development Community, SADC, will stand ready to work with the people of Zimbabwe. We shall spare no efforts in continuing to support the initiatives of Zimbabwe. Hon Dudley, I have said that if you want to know how resolute we are, you should read the SADC communiqu which was not far- fetched and drafted in some smoke-filled room. That statement was drafted informed by the outcomes of the Zimbabweans themselves, by their Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee, Jomic, the committee that oversees the implementation of the Global Political Agreement, GPA, itself. We will continue doing that because there is nowhere in the world where you can choose relatives and neighbours. They are there, and we have to continue working with them.
The secondment policy, which has been passed now and endorsed by Cabinet, will allow us to be able to continue to fight for allocated quota positions, particularly at international fora, but I must also hasten to say that I have experienced the anomaly where South Africans apply for positions and, on the eve of their accepting their seats, they have just said, "Ha, that place is very cold. It is not as good as the weather in South Africa. No, I am not taking the position." Things will change if we start realising the importance of taking these positions.
As far as the filling of vacancies in our department is concerned, there were 69 vacancies at the senior management service, SMS, level, when our former director-general spoke to you. Since that time, to date, we have filled 38 of those 69 positions. The rest, which have been advertised, will be filled during the course of this month.
Once again, ke a leboga [thank you] for your co-operation. Let's continue marshalling our forces at home and abroad to champion South Africa's foreign policy. I thank you. [Time expired.][Applause.]