Hon Chairperson, hon Minister Dr Lindiwe Sisulu, hon Deputy Minister Sampson Makwetla, Acting Secretary for Defence, Members of Parliament, and our honourable guests, I am not going to respond to some of the things said by the hon Maynier. I would be wasting my time, because he spoke as if the Minister is responsible for the underfunding of the SANDF.
He forgets that it is his duty, my duty and the duty of the entire Parliament to ask the Treasury to put more money into the SANDF so that they will be able to carry out their mandate of defending you and me. That is what we should be doing as a Parliament and not attack our Minister as if she is responsible for the underfunding of the SANDF. It is not her fault. It is our fault that we are not putting pressure on the Treasury.
As articulated in our document Ready to Govern, in the Reconstruction and Development Programme, and in the Mafikeng, Stellenbosch and Polokwane conferences, there is a critical need to ensure peace and stability on our continent and internationally in order for the objectives of the national democratic revolution to be realised.
Our position as the ANC refers to a wider security dimension, which emphasises the security of the people, the non-military dimensions of security, and a holistic approach to peace, stability, security and development. In this regard, the elimination of poverty and unemployment and an improvement in living standards will ultimately minimise crime and conflict, especially among the youth, and generally among the people and countries of the world.
This calls for an integrated approach to development that focuses on peace and stability in South Africa and the SADC region. This includes improving the working conditions of security personnel, improved training, effective border control and the strengthening of intelligence capacity. It includes the increased responsibilities of intelligence in defending our democracy, including helping to combat terrorism. The recognition of the emergence of new threats globally occasions a need for a well-co-ordinated intelligence- gathering capacity.
This budget should assist endeavours to expand and deepen co-operation among the law-enforcement agencies in the region and further afield. At the same time, it should enhance cohesiveness in the improvement of the capacity of our Defence Force and intelligence agencies to secure the integrity of our nation-state. Above all, it must help to build a more focused and responsive Defence Force.
The budget of the department must ensure that security forces are an essential and strategic service in terms of resources. Section 198(a) of the Constitution states: National security must reflect the resolve of South Africans, as individuals and as a nation, to live as equals, to live in peace and harmony, to be free from fear and want and to seek a better life.
Section 200(1) states that the Defence Force must be structured and managed as a disciplined military force. The Minister has referred to that on several occasions.
The resolve to live in peace and friendship precludes any South African citizen from participating in armed conflict, nationally or internationally, except as provided for in terms of the Constitution or national legislation. National security must be pursued in compliance with the law, including international law. National security is subject, of course, to the authority of Parliament and the national executive.
Section 200(2) of the Constitution states:
The primary object of the defence force is to defend and protect the Republic, its territorial integrity and its people in accordance with the Constitution and the principles of international law regulating the use of force.
The Ready to Govern document states that "South Africa shall be committed to resolving conflicts primarily through non-violent means and security forces shall be subject to checks and balances."
As captured in section 200 of the Constitution in postapartheid South Africa, the Defence Force must be structured and managed as a disciplined military force. With regard to security services, section 199(8) states:
To give effect to the principles of transparency and accountability, multiparty parliamentary committees must have oversight of all security services in a manner determined by national legislation or the rules and orders of Parliament.
Parliament, through the Defence and Military Veterans committee, should participate in the strengthening of national security, defence policy, the integration of military veterans and ensuring public finance management. The security services, including personnel, infrastructure, readiness, budgets, expenditure and acquisition, must ensure a stronger, more focused and responsive Defence Force. This continues to be our commitment as representatives of the people in line with our electoral mandate.
Part of the key task is to regularly visit the security services at their bases, as we did last time, borders - somebody will talk about that, I hope - ports of entry, offices, defence entities and other places of work to remain abreast of developments. In parliamentary language, this refers to announced and unannounced visits by us or by joint standing committees, and so on.
In building and strengthening cohesiveness and unity, Members of Parliament in the Defence and Military Veterans committee are obliged to exercise a significant degree of confidentiality while promoting the principles of transparency and accountability. Internationally, the area of defence has to balance the needs for secrecy and sufficient transparency and accountability. In our actions and conscience we need to deepen the capacity of defence forces in a manner that is responsive.
The need to deepen cohesiveness and unity to ensure a stronger, more focused and responsive Defence Force requires a focus on the youth and their needs, especially their skills development. This is compatible with the state of the nation addresses over recent years.
In line with the government's view to create development opportunities for the youth of South Africa, the Department of Defence introduced the two- year Military Skills Development System, MSDS, in 2003 - a two-year programme that grants young people, mostly school-leavers, the opportunity to do voluntary military service.
The department seeks to enhance the SANDF's combat-readiness through annual intakes of young, healthy and fit individuals that are representative of the country's population, as part of its contribution to nation-building. It seeks to afford development opportunities for the youth of our country.
Subsequent to their basic military training, successful MSDS recruits are afforded the opportunity to choose training in specific areas. The ANC supports this Budget Vote. Thank you very much. [Time expired.] [Applause.]