Honourable Chairperson,

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) congratulates Ms Maite Nkoane-Mashabane in her honorous appointment as the Minister in the new Department of International Relations and Co-operation. In my long association with the Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs I am tempted to say that Minister, you have also inherited an excellent Team of men and women who have always endeavoured to be the best in what they do.

The Hon. Minister recently indicated to this Portfolio Committee that the International financial and economic contraction was making huge impact on the delivery capacity of the Department on pronounced governmental priorities as articulated in the State of the Nation Address (2009). A serious plea from some of us is that the African Agenda be spared any significant cuts. South Africa has an historical and moral obligation to assist in the culmination of the Third World Project bequeathed to Africa through the first Pan African Conference in London (1900), the League against Imperialism and Colonialism in Brussels in 1927, the Bandung Principles of 1955, and the Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity in Cairo 1957. The Third World Agenda was and still is the pursuit of freedom, justice, peace, democracy and development. This African liberation project is not complete.

Honourable Minister, the IFP welcomes programme 3 on Public Diplomacy, in particular the focus on the domestic sphere. Too often when it is mentioned that the President was responsible for South Africa's foreign policy, the public is left with the impression of a state centric foreign policy dictated exclusively by the President and the few elite. Diplomatic workshops, conferences and public meetings are therefore absolutely necessary to involve the South African public in the process of foreign policy formulation.

Often in International Trade Relations Countries that wield the most economic muscle write the rules of Trade. It is like the dictum that the one who controls the economy and the finances controls also the political State. It was therefore not accidental that South Africa shared the same predicament with the Republic of China when it came to the visit of the Dalai Lama to South Africa. It was a classic case of the dictates of economic dominance and dependence. Here exists a vexed universal question, that of promoting the culture of Human Rights within a chaotic atmosphere of relations between States.

While the US and the Quartet led by the former Prime Minister of Britain, Mr. Tony Blair, work to persuade Israel to accept and actively support a truly independent and sovereign Palestinian State, South Africa should concentrate on bringing about the unity and co-operation of the Palestinian people. This factionalism is an impediment to successful political negotiations with Israel.

The IFP supports this budget vote.

Contact:
Liezl van der Merwe,     083 611 7470.