Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members and invited guests, it is a pleasure for me to come back again and to make a presentation before this august House. This is a clear sign that one is beginning to adjust and familiarise oneself with the processes here in Parliament.
The overwhelming mandate affirmed for us by the electorate during the recent April 22 national general election expressed their love, respect and confidence in the ANC as an organisation that was established to carry their hopes, aspirations and future prospects.
As we gather in this House to engage on a topic that is very close to the hearts of our people, building effective and competent intelligence services, I am overwhelmed by a desire to start from the genesis of intelligence politics in this country.
While scores of our people in Africa and the Diaspora were being sold as slaves, killed for defending the integrity of their country and their land and being forced to adapt to foreign identities, Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela and Nkosikazi Nosekeni Fani Mandela in this period engaged in a progressive struggle that led to the birth of the son of the soil, Tat'omkhulu Nelson Rolihlahla Dalibhunga Mandela, whose contribution is being celebrated internationally.
Hon members, the Freedom Charter says, "There will be houses, security and comfort!" This affirms the indivisibility of the relationship between security and development.
The ANC Polokwane Conference resolved to capacitate the intelligence services of our country so as to proactively deal with matters threatening the peace and stability of our country. This resolution was taken with acknowledgement of the important and critical role that this section has to play in the efforts to fight crime and also to ensure that the service is used for its intended objective, which is forewarning.
We clearly understand that for this to happen there must be intensive training and ongoing capacity-building of the staff in the services. This will therefore ensure that the intelligence structures render to the nation quality service and advice.
Hon members, within the intelligence services, there is an academy - the South African Academy of Intelligence - which has been tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the staff within the intelligence services is capacitated so as to be able to adapt to the ever-changing local, global and continental environment.
This structure has been faced with challenges of resources and some accreditations. This has now been partially addressed as the institution has some courses which are accredited by the South African Security Services Education Training Authority.
The ANC members in the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence commit themselves to assisting this academy to improve on its performance and the quality of its product to the best of the Intelligence Committee's ability. We will ensure that the academy is properly resourced to fulfil its mandates, whilst we will also exercise a robust oversight to ensure that there is accountability in respect of financial expenditure.
Mhlalingaphambili, oosomakhwekhwetha kwezobuNtlola kumazwe afana neSkotilani banamaphulo okuqeqesha iintloli zabo ekuphuculeni umgangatho wobuchule. Eli phulo lokuqeqesha iintlola zethu kweli lizwe, lingasinceda ngakumbi kwikamva nokhuseleko lwelizwe. Kuyafuneka sibandakanye namapolisa kolu qeqesho kumacandelo onke. UMzantsi Afrika lilizwe ekujongwe kulo yi-Afrika iphela. Xa sizimisele ekuphumeleliseni eli phulo, singabuvuselela ubuzwe bethu. Kufuneka siyibeke ezingqondweni zethu into yokuba ukhuseleko lubalulekile kwaye luxhomekeke ekuthini sizazi ezona zinto zinokuthi zibe ngumqobo nezingumceli-mngeni kukhuseleko lweAfrika. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)
[Chairperson, experts in intelligence services in countries such as Scotland have projects that focus on training their agents in improving their standard of expertise. The initiative of training our agents in this country will greatly benefit the future and the safety of the country.
We need to involve the police in this training in all spheres. South Africa is the country that the whole of Africa looks up to. We can revive our nationality only if we are fully geared to make this project a success. We have to instil in our minds the fact that safety is of the utmost importance and that it depends on knowing things that could be major obstacles and challenges to the safety of Africa.]
Hon Minister, it is then of the essence that the budget put before us addresses the aforementioned issues and, if it is possible, it should be increased in order to put more emphasis on the needs of training in this regard. I am mentioning this because it would not be proper to budget less for training as it is advantageous for building a sustainable future in this sector. As the budget was presented by the hon Minister, I am of the view that one could not have done better. To do justice to your good work, hon Minister, let me honestly support this budget as I am hopeful that it will bear desirable results.
Ndiyabulela Mhlalingaphambili. [Thank you, Chairperson.]