DIRCO & ARF 2020/21 Annual Performance Plans; with Minister

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International Relations

21 May 2020
Chairperson: Ms T Mahambehlala (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

Video: DIRCO & ARF 2020/21 Annual Performance Plans 

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) presented the Strategic and Annual Performance Plans and its entity, the African Renaissance Fund (ARF).  

Minister Naledi Pandor said that COVID-19 had caused challenges for the continuation of DIRCO’s international work. However, she had been in contact with other foreign Ministers through virtual meetings like this one. President Ramaphosa, as current Chairperson of the African Union (AU), had started to convene several virtual meetings of the AU Bureau in order to ensure it gave leadership to the continent as Africa dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. He had proposed to other African heads of state the creation of a COVID-19 emergency fund, because the AU was aware that countries on the continent would not be able to respond effectively to the threat of this virus with their own resources. The fund had been established, to which several countries had now made donations, including South Africa. South Africa had also benefited from its partnerships with various countries in Europe and the United States, which had provided support in the form of health equipment.

The Minister also referred to the events that had unfolded in Mozambique and said the President of Mozambique had sent an envoy to the President of South Africa seeking assistance. The two countries had been in discussion to iron out what this support would entail.

Despite the impact of COVID-19, several African elections would be taking place this year. The Minister said that she would have thought that the countries would actually postpone elections, given the end of term limits and the risk of instability that could arise from extending terms, but it had been these countries’ judgment to proceed with elections.

The Committee was told the Department’s plans had been drafted before the pandemic, and were based on the assumption that it would be business as normal. However, it was working with Treasury to draft a revised plan. Sourcing foreign direct investment was one of the biggest core objectives, with the Department seeking to raise over R50 billion during the next five years. It was also looking to starting a Diplomatic Academy that would increase its skills base. The Department’s allocated budget for the 2020/21 financial year was R6.850 billion, which was a 5% increase from the previous year.

A process was under way to repeal the current ARF Act and provide for the creation of a new entity through the South African Development Partnership Fund (SADPF) Bill, which was being revived for consideration by Cabinet. Institutional policies and strategies for the ARF would guide the work of the entity over the five year planning period, or until the new bill on SADPF was passed into law, whichever occurred first. Both the bill and the current act sought to improve cooperation between the Republic and other African countries, including the promotion of democracy and good governance, the prevention and resolution of conflict, socio-economic development and integration, humanitarian assistance and human resource development.

Most Members agreed that the post- COVID 19 scenario would require a shift to a “new normal” in the international arena, and wanted an assurance that the Department was preparing for this eventuality. The Committee raised issues around the lack of feedback from the Department on issues raised previously. It wanted to know what the Department was doing to deal with its ailing Information Communication Technology (ICT) system. It also asked the Minister to look into ways in which DIRCO could help South Africans who had jobs in other countries, to leave South Africa.

Meeting report

Committee Chairperson’s introductory remarks

The Chairperson wanted to highlight that this specific meeting was important for the Portfolio Committee, as it marked the beginning of it building its own legacy in its oversight mandate over the Department. The Committee so far had been dealing with a backlog of issues from the fifth Parliament, and this meeting signaled the start of the next five years of robust oversight over a new mandate, provided by the government through the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) 2019-2024.

The Department was responsible for priority seven of the MTSF, and it was expected to map its way forward and inform the Committee on how it was going to drive service delivery on the priorities in outcome 7 and how it would link domestic imperatives to the Department’s international work. The Portfolio Committee was looking forward to a discussion that would show it how the Department was using the country’s global footprint through its 125 missions abroad and bilateral relations shared with many countries around the world. The Committee wanted to see if this footprint was being used for the improvement of the lives of South Africans.

Africa was a centrepiece of South Africa’s foreign policy, and the Committee appreciated the fact that President Ramaphosa was the current chairperson of the African Union (AU). The Committee would like to see South Africa’s national interest contribute towards a safe, secure and prosperous Africa. Conflict hotspots in Africa, such as South Sudan and eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo must be addressed with urgency. The Committee would like to witness the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for a self-sufficient Africa that could have striving inter Africa trade, and progress on regionalism and economic integration within the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The Committee remained steadfast in its belief that the Department should continue to position South Africa as a partner and global player in the international arena. Its presence on the UN Security Council should be used to promote the maintenance of international peace and security, including calling for the reform of the UN Security Council. Relations with the global south should continue to address similar challenges, remain strong and be mutually beneficial. The historical relations with the north should remain to yield results that would drive the development agenda of South Africa, Africa and the global south.

The Chairperson said that from the short encounters and interactions the Committee had had with the Department regarding the previous MTSF, it was clear that the organisation of the Department was not aligned to its strategic goals, and she hoped this would be addressed. Its recent past had been marked by physical constraints, recurring qualified audit outcomes, outdated information communication technology (ICT) systems, issues related to foreign exchange fluctuations, areas of ineffective financial management, supply chain management (SCM) contraventions -- especially in New York -- a shortfall in the compensation of employees, the issue of reviewing South Africa’s global footprint, the migration of the headquarters of the Pan African Parliament and the global COVID-19 pandemic that the world was currently facing.

The Committee hoped the strategic direction that the Department was presenting today would show a resolve to mark a new beginning and start an era of high service delivery. The Committee had issues that had remained unresolved with the Department, and wished to discuss these issues with it. She would convene a meeting with the Department and the Portfolio Committee very soon to iron out outstanding matters and forge a way forward.

In conclusion, the Chairperson promised the Minister even more robust oversight for the next five years on the commitments the Department was going to make in its presentation today.

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation

Dr Naledi Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), said she was glad that all the Members were well and observing all the COVID-19 protocols that were currently in place in the country. She was sure the Committee was aware that the pandemic had caused challenges for the continuation of the Department’s international work. Many countries on the continent were in a state of lockdown, as were countries globally. One of the most affected sectors had been the airline industry, which had essentially led to a situation where most people were stuck in the countries where they were located before the lockdown began.

They had attempted as colleagues and fellow Ministers within the foreign relations sector to ensure that they continued their contact and collaboration, and maintained partnerships through virtual interactions. The Department had had its last significant international activity, the African Union Summit, in February this year. By the time the Department went to the summit in February, it already had a full warning of COVID-19 and that the significant infection and death rate had began to rise in the Republic of China.

In January there had been the introduction of the lockdown in China and the declaration by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that COVID-19 was a global pandemic. At the AU summit, which consisted of the heads of states and other foreign Ministers on the continent, she had had a quite an extensive discussion about the need for the continent to be on the alert to what was occurring in other regions of the world. At the time of the summit, Africa had not yet had a confirmed case of COVID-19, but it was apparent that Africa could not avoid the pandemic. On her return to South Africa, the Minister and other Ministers and their respective departments had begun to prepare for what health officials were warning would be the eventuality of infections in South Africa. This had led the South Africa government in late February to begin an alert discussion as to how it might begin to prepare itself for the pandemic.

In the international affairs domain, President Ramaphosa had to ensure that he maintained his role as chair of the AU through regular contact with at least the African Union bureau. This was in order to ensure the bureau gave leadership to the continent as Africa began to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. President Ramaphosa started to convene several meetings of the African Union bureau from early March, and had worked closely with the AU Commission chairperson to ensure that the continent developed responses and practical action to address the pandemic. The Department had worked closely with Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Commission, and Professor John Nkengasong, director of the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, based in Addis Abba. The Department made sure that they were getting information from the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention on the progress of the virus on the African continent and were receiving advice from them on what the continent’s various systems should be doing.

The AU Commission had ensured that all Health Ministers on the continent convened a meeting in order to prepare for what the AU considered would be a continent-wide emergency. This also ensured that Health Ministers from different African countries would be collaborating in combating this pandemic. President Ramaphosa also proposed to other heads of state the creation of a COVID-19 emergency fund, because the African Union was aware that countries on the continent would not be able to respond effectively to the threat of this virus with their own resources and institutions, so a COVID-19 fund was established to which several countries had now made donations, including South Africa. The intention of the COVID-19 fund was to assist countries that had inadequate basic health equipment, such as testing kits, temperature screening devices and personal protective equipment for health workers.

The other support that the fund was providing was to the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in order to create a basis for them to be able to gather data and deploy their staff to different countries on the continent that might need help, and may not have a strong health science base and might need advice at an expert level. The Minister said she was pleased to report that it was not only African countries that promised support to the Centre, as it also received support from the continent’s partners in Europe and the United States, because all countries realised that this particular emergency required scientific assistance. Having a strong and robust centre for disease control was seen as an imperative.

South Africa had also benefited from its partnerships with various countries in Europe, with the United Kingdom being among the first countries to provide South Africa with support. It had also received support with health equipment from Germany, and many other countries had come forward to support South Africa in this health emergency. It had received the first shipment of ventilators that were being provided by the United States, and Germany had promised similar support. It had also received a grant in aid through United States Aid for International Development (USAID) to assist with equipment and other needs.

The Department had been very active in the international community, primarily through virtual meetings such as the one in which Members were participating. South Africa had also been assisting with several issues that were of concern and occurring on the continent. One of the most worrying was the security developments in Mozambique, where attacks against the civilian population in Cabo Delgado had increased to a level that had become extremely worrying. The Department had had a meeting with Mozambique officials, and a special envoy was sent to South Africa by the President of Mozambique to seek assistance with the security challenge Mozambique had been confronted with. The South African and Mozambican governments were in discussions as to how South Africa might give her support and resources to help Mozambique. At this point, the Mozambican government was using private security providers in order to fight this insurgent group whose identity had not been publicly revealed. One of the attacks on a community in Cabo Delgado had been identified by ISIS as being their responsibility, but the Department had no definitive knowledge as to who had been responsible for this insinuation.

The Minister reminded the Committee that several elections on the continent should be taking place this year. On 20 May, there had been the presidential election in Burundi, and counting had been under way ever since polls closed, but no result had been indicated as yet. In July, there would be an election in Malawi. The President of Malawi, who had had the initial election annulled by courts, had appealed that decision to the Supreme Court of Malawi, and the Supreme Court had ruled that a rerun of the election must proceed in July, so preparations were being made for that election. The Department understands that at the moment there were three candidates in the running for president, and all three had submitted their papers confirming candidature, as well as their vice-presidential running mates. The Department was paying close attention to this situation.

President Ramaphosa had also been carrying out his role as facilitator in Lesotho, and envoys deployed by the President had now arrived at the position, where yesterday the Prime Minister of Lesotho had finally resigned and the former Finance Minister, Mr Moeketsi Majoro, had been sworn in as the new Prime Minister. South Africa was hoping that all the agreements that had been reached in 2019 would be honored by the new Prime Minister, and that the Lesotho Parliament would finally be able to meet to consolidate all the constitutional arrangements that had been made, as per the agreements, in order to allow Lesotho to start a new history of stability and development.

The Department remained in contact with a large number of foreign affairs ministers around the world, and was discussing multilateral matters and, where necessary, providing support to each other. Several colleagues from other countries had been in touch with the Department concerning the repatriation of their citizens from South Africa, and South Africa in turn had had assistance from a number of countries and had worked very well together these countries. She had been most grateful to countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, Australia, India, Brazil and many other countries that had worked closely with DIRCO, as well as with the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) in ensuring that both countries were able to repatriate their nationals. Over the last few weeks, she had had to confirm several repatriation trips.

Minister Pandor said the Department had had to postpone two extraordinary summits that had been planned for the end of May. One was on the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, and the other was on the review of “Silencing the Guns” and identification of further action towards that goal. She and her colleagues on the continent had agreed that these summits should be held later this year, when international travel was possible.

The Department remained resolute that as South Africa, they would execute their obligations as Chair of the African Union, and would do all that was necessary to ensure that the AU Commission continued to function and act on the programme that had been adopted at the summit that had been convened in Niger in August 2019. The Minister also said she had been having meetings with the bureau of the Executive Council of Ministers of the AU, and had received reports on the African response to COVID-19, as well as on the programmes of the AU that had to be implemented in this year. She was hoping that she would be able to arrange a meeting for the entire executive council. which should be all the ministers of the continent. She was working on a date, but it was an important interaction that needed to be done since she had been approached by several other Ministers on the continent that they would like to have such an interaction.

The Department had had a meeting of Southern African Development Community (SADC), which had consisted of Ministers of foreign affairs, and she was confirming to the Committee that the Department was keeping international work alive. Unfortunately, the meetings it should have held were being conducted in a virtual manner.

The UN Security Council continued being robust in its way, and the Department was offering advice to its team on the Council. The Department was doing everything in its power to ensure that the pandemic did not bring international collaboration to a standstill.

DIRCO’s 2020/25 Strategic Plan and 2020/ Annual Performance Plan

Mr Kgabo Mahoai, Director-General (DG): DIRCO, said the Department’s five-year strategic plan and annual performance plan had been drafted prior to COVID-19, and was based on assumptions of business as usual. It recognised that the pandemic had altered the way people interacted fundamentally. It had compelled countries to introduce unprecedented measures to contain the spread of the virus and maintain livelihoods, and South Africa was not immune to this. The strategic plan and APP being presented would be affected by the Special Adjustment Budget (COVID-19) that the Minister of Finance would table before Parliament. On the other hand, the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) was also assisting departments to revise their plans accordingly, with DIRCO being one of these departments.

Strategic Plan

Through its 2020/25 Strategic Plan, DIRCO was committed to the excellent execution of South Africa’s foreign policy, which would place South Africa as an influential actor and partner on the international stage while effectively contributing to the delivery of the country’s domestic priorities and advancement of the African Agenda. The Department’s structure and composition of its budget programmes included administration, international relations, international cooperation, public diplomacy and consular services, and international transfers. These programmes were informed by the MTSF, the Department’s APP and the strategic plan. The strategic plan would be amended and revised to reflect the changes forced on the Department by COVID-19.

Mr Mohoai said the Department was looking to create a modern, effective department with capable and skilled employees, which was committed to the excellent execution of South African foreign policy. This outcome was informed by the new indicator which would be the creation of a Diplomatic Academy positioned as a centre of excellence for service training. The five year target for this indicator was quality training programmes offered in line with the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) quality management standards. The Academy would be recognised by its peers and institutions through formalised and signed partnerships and networks, with the capacity to offer UN/AU official languages to meet international certification.

DIRCO was also looking towards leveraged bilateral, political, economic and social relations to achieve the objectives of the NDP and the MTSF priorities. This outcome would be informed by the percentage of structured mechanisms reviewed and accepted, implemented and utilised to achieve the objectives of the NDP and MTSF. This was not a new indicator, and the Department had already achieved 13 of the 139 targets set, meaning that 9.42% of the structured mechanism had been honoured and reported on.

The 2020/25 Strategic Plan was also seeking to increase Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and contribute to economic growth in South Africa. The value of FDI pledges reported on through the DIRCO’s engagements was a new indicator for the Department, and the target was to raise R50 billion in FDI through its engagements over the next five years.

It was also seeking increased regional integration, and would start by implementing prioritised projects of the regional indicative strategic development plan (RISDP). This was also a new indicator, and the target was to achieve 20% of prioritised projects implemented in the RISDP over the five years.

The Department was also focused on being the proponent of strengthening multilateral institutions through consistently upholding South Africa’s principled positions. This indicator was informed by the percentage of resolutions and outcomes of multilateral and multi-state organisations aligned to South Africa’s positions being promoted and reflected.

The Strategic Plan also called for a united and politically cohesive continent that worked towards shared prosperity and sustainable development. This indicator was based on South Africa’s inputs to all African and AU’s official strategic partnerships, prioritising the agenda 2063 and African flagship programmes. This was a new indicator for the Department.

Another new indicator that falls under this outcome was that 90% of South Africa’s obligations to SADC and the African Union should be fulfilled over the next five years. The strategic plan aimed to see South-South relations strengthened and consolidated in advancement of national and continental priorities. This indicator would challenge the Department to achieve 100% of South Africa’s negotiating positions for engagement at groupings of the South, in advancement of national and continental priorities. Relations with the North should also be leveraged for the advancement of national and continental priorities.

The Department would over the next five years, through its Strategic Plan, increase domestic and foreign audiences informed by South Africa’s foreign policy objectives and priorities. An increased audience for South Africa’s foreign policy objectives would be reached through public diplomacy platforms, which would include a diplomatic fair of 25 000, 10 000 Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), 75 000 Ubuntu Magazines, 30 000 social media engagements, and 10 000 Ubuntu Radio engagements. The target for this indicator was to increase audience reach by 5%.

The 2020/25 strategic plan also called for an improvement in compliance with the diplomatic regulatory framework, and the target would be to achieve full compliance with the legal framework through the implementation of a controlled duty-free purchases regime.

 Annual Performance Plan

Mr Mahoai said the APP was informed by MSTF priority 7 and DIRCO’s strategic plan. It would focus on building a better South Africa, utilizing its bilateral relations and global footprint to identify strategic opportunities for skills and knowledge development, targeted investments and growing markets for South African products and services in an integrated and inclusive manner. There would also be a focus on building a better Africa that would continue to capitalise on South Africa’s role in supporting multilateralism to resolve global disputes, and to assist the continent in laying the foundation for shared future.

South Africa would use the 2020 AU Chairship to deliver on the continental agenda, continue to contribute to the implementation of the AU’s Agenda 2063 -- “The Africa We Want” -- and ensure that DIRCO closely monitored South Africa’s contribution to the operationalisation of identified Agenda 2063 flagship projects. South Africa would continue to prioritise and participate actively in advancement of the reform of the Security Council in the context of the ongoing intergovernmental negotiations (IGN) in the UN General Assembly. The Department would also seek to continue with efforts to combat international terrorism under the auspices of the UN by participating in UN counter-terrorism structures, and promote disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control, including the AU’s “Silencing of the Guns” by 2020.

On South-South cooperation, the Department would continue to use its membership and engagements with groupings of the South, such as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation ( FOCAC), the Group of 77 (G77) and Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) in order to advance support for foreign policy objectives, to advocate strong , mutually beneficial South- South cooperation, and for focused regional integration in the fast-growing markets, and to strengthen regional cooperation in areas of interest with countries of the South.

Cooperation with countries of the North would involve continuing to facilitate and monitor the implementation of existing mechanisms, such as the Joint Africa- EU strategy.  This would include developing a strategy for South Africa’s engagements in the G20, which was one of the important forums for global economic policy and coordination.

The Department would also focus on building a better a better DIRCO, which would place human resources (HR) and development at the centre of developing a capable and ethical workforce, with effective HR management to ensure that adequate and sufficient skilled resources were in place and that performance was monitored. Efforts would go into the rebuilding of an organisational culture guided by a shared vision and new values. The Department would also implement effective financial management through the application of good financial management systems, including management accounting, financial accounting, supply management, risk and internal control in line with the requirements of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).

The APP for this year would seek to focus and improve all the five budget programmes and their sub-categories. These were:

Programme 1: Administration

The Department seeks to provide leadership, management and support services to the Department. This would be done through adopting a digital transformation strategy. Plans were being put in place to transform the information commuinication technology (ICT) system, which would lead to modernisation of the Department’s infrastructure. The most important deliverable under this programme was its desire to move from a qualified audit opinion to an unqualified audit opinion. The Department would also seek to formulate codes, directives and regulations for the Foreign Service act, as may be appropriate, because it had experienced quite an anomaly when it came to applying public service regulations in a foreign service context.

Programme 2: International Relations

This programme seeks to promote relations with foreign countries and strengthen global partnerships. The Department aimed to have all its structured mechanisms reviewed, with the outcomes of structured bilateral mechanisms and high-level visits showing a delivery against the NDP and the MSTF, as identified in the country’s strategies. This time around, the Department was seeking to develop country-specific strategies so that it could have focused engagements, and target issues that would address the country’s national priorities, and measure the success of these measures.

Programme 3: International Cooperation

This programme would ensure that the Department participated in the initiatives of international organisations and institutions in line with South Africa’s national values and foreign policy objectives. It would pursue a long-term strategy for SA membership/candidatures on vacancies that occurred in international organisations and institution, and would also identify important memberships/ candidatures to pursue, while at the same time also reviewing current memberships. DIRCO would also look at new ways to promote South Africa’s interests, and these should be reflected in the outcomes of multilateral and multi-state organisations dealing with peace and security, human rights, and economic and social development. At the same time, the Department would also seek to comply with international reporting obligations, such as treaties and mutually signed agreements.

DIRCO was also looking to contribute towards the operationalisation of identified Agenda 2063 flagship projects, and would recalibrate its plan for the effective implementation of the African Union’s Agenda 2063. South Africa would also have to deliver on the strategy for the AU Chairship, As AU Chair, South Africa must lead continental efforts aimed at resolving conflicts. The Department would then be able to report back at the end of the term as to what had been achieved through the AU Chairship.

Programme 4: Public Diplomacy and State Protocol and Consular Services

The Department aimed to communicate South Africa’s role and position in international relations in the domestic and international arenas, and provide protocol services. Improved communication on global developments would allow it to pursue more strongly the dynamic linkage between what it did abroad and what it wanted to achieve in the country domestically, by continuing to think globally and acting locally. The Department was also seeking to improve its rapid and timeous support for missions on domestic and global developments. It also wanted to improve consular services rendered, the legalisation of services rendered at missions around the world and lastly, the establishment of internal control systems to monitor compliance with the diplomatic regulatory framework.

The Department’s allocated budget for the 2020/21 financial year was R6.85 billion. This represented an increase of 5% from the 2019/20 budget allocation. The increases over the MTEF were at 5%, 3% and 4% respectively. The increase was mainly for compensation of employees (CoE). The allocated CoE for the 2020/21 financial year was R3.071 billion, which represented a 7% increase from the 2019/20 budget of 2.874 billion. The increase was mainly attributable to annual personnel adjustments, which was mainly affected by exchange rate fluctuations. The Department continued to experience foreign exchange challenges resulting from the strengthening of other currencies against the rand.

The CoE had three main components -- the RSA salaries, the transferred staff allowances, and the locally-recruited personnel salaries. The Department’s goods and services budget was made up mainly of contractual obligations such as the operating leases for offices and staff accommodation abroad, the PPP agreement for the head office building, transfer costs and computer services (bandwidth). The international transfers for the Department included contributions to the AU, SADC, the UN, the African Renaissance and International Cooperation Fund (ARF), and India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA).

African Renaissance Fund: 2020/25 Strategic Plan and 2020/21 APP

The Chairperson said because of time constraints, the Director-General should try his best to go quickly through the presentation. Committee members would go through the presentation and could make submissions to the Department at a later stage if their concerns were not covered. The Director General agreed and said he would touch on only some areas of the African Renaissance Fund’s (ARF’s) five-year strategic plan.

Strategic Plan

Mr Mahoai said there was a process under way to repeal the current ARF Act and provide for the creation of a new entity through the South African Development Partnership Fund (SADPF) bill, which was being revived for consideration by Cabinet. Institutional policies and strategies for the ARF would be informed by the strategic objectives as set out by the ARF, and would guide the work of the entity over the five-year planning period, or until the new SADPF bill was passed into law, whichever occurred first. Both the bill and the current act seek to improve cooperation between the Republic and other countries, in particular African countries, and include the promotion of democracy and good governance, the prevention and resolution of conflict, socio-economic development and integration, and humanitarian assistance and human resource development.

The ARF remained committed to pursuing the six objectives articulated in act. Over the past five years, the Fund had responded to demands necessitated by both socio-economic trends and political imperatives. For example, due to climate change, sub-Saharan Africa had experienced unprecedented hazards, including cyclones, resulting in devastating floods and drought. It was therefore not surprising that 49% of the ARF allocations went to humanitarian assistance-related support. This was followed by more direct bilateral cooperation with other countries, in particular African countries, which took 35% of the allocations.

The sixth administration had identified seven priorities, which were contained in the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF). As foreign policy was an extension of national priorities, the ARF would contribute to the seventh priority of “A Better Africa and World.” In the next five years, the ARF would focus on partnering with other development agencies and countries with common values and interest in the execution of projects. The ARF allocations and pledges were guided by both socio-economic and political imperatives, in line with South Africa’s foreign policy. Over the next five years, the ARF seeks to enhance the promotion of democracy and good governance. A percentage of SADC election observers would be funded by DIRCO with the aim of achieve a target that 100% of SADC election observers would be funded by DIRCO over the next five years, and 80% of these elections would be helped with technical assistance. It would also increase the percentage of funding for institutions that promote good governance. The ARF also sought the prevention and resolution of conflict, and supported socio-economic development and integration.

Annual Performance Plan

The implementation of the 2020/21 APP would be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The last couple of months had seen unprecedented lockdowns in various countries. The APP focused on two strategic objectives in line with the theme of the African Union -- “Silencing the Guns” and “Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development,” in support of South Africa’s Chairship of the AU during this period. The objectives were firstly to support socio-economic development and integration, and secondly the prevention and resolution of conflict on the continent.

The ARF planned to fund 80% of mediation and conflict resolution talks for the 2020/21 year, 20% for 2021/22 and 20% for 2022/23. These percentages were similar for socio-economic development and integration, with 80% for projects to provide support for the operationalization of the AFCFTA, and for 2021/22 it would then be 20%.

The total 2020/21 budget allocation for the ARF was R50.840 million. R3 million of this money would be used for cooperation between South Africa and other countries, R5 million would be spend on the promotion of democracy and good governance, R8.816 million would go towards the prevention and resolution of conflict management, R24.024 million would be spent on socio-economic development and integration, and lastly, R10 million would be spent on humanitarian assistance. This was a brief outline of how the ARF would spend its budget, and gave an indication of what matters would be focused upon for this financial year.

Discussion

Mr D Bergman (DA) thanked the Minister for her role in the repatriation of South Africans stranded abroad, but was a bit worried about the ambassador to China being recalled and what was happening on the diplomatic side of things. There was also the problem of people needing to be repatriated from Wuhan, and people wanting to go back to Wuhan. He asked if the Minister could give the Committee a brief explanation of what was happening with China. At a press conference this morning, the Minister had mentioned that the Department had a flight schedule for the next two weeks, and asked what the schedule looked like. He asked the Director-General and the Minister if they could come to a resolution to allow South Africans to leave the country so they could get back to their jobs overseas.  He referred to the sponsorship by Sasol for the repatriation flights, and asked whether the money was going to South African Airways (SA) or DIRCO, and what would be done with that money.

Mr B Nkosi (ANC) said the post-COVID world would be different. There would be challenges to multilateralism and to institutions of global and international governance, so the Committee had to look to the Department to provide strategic leadership to contextualise a post COVID-19 world. He referred to outcome 1, which speaks about modernising and creating an effective department through the creation of a diplomatic academy. The department had 3 576 staff, not including the staff situated locally in South Africa, so he wanted to know who the Department was targeting with this academy -- would it be existing employees, or would it be new staff? Was it going to be open to people other than those who were already in the system?

On the proliferation of firearms issue, he had learned through the media that Denel was actually selling firearms to Syria, and this created a reputational issue for South Africa. To what extent was the Department able to address this issue and be able to explain where the arms ended up, and whether or not the arms would end up being used in the conflict currently happening in Syria. He also wanted to know why the DG had not provided a demographic breakdown of the Department’s HR contingent that supported its vision, particularly on issues around gender and youth

Rev K Moeshoe (ACDP) said that in the Minister’s introduction, she had referred to the situation in Mozambique, and in the presentation the DG it was said that the Department was continuing with efforts to combat international terrorism under the auspices of the UN by participating in the UN’s counter terrorism structure. Was the situation in Mozambique already being classified as international terrorism? If not, what would be the reason for it not being classified as such? What did the UN counter-terrorism structure look like, and how many African countries belonged to this structure? He also asked whether plans were being put in place to reduce the number of diplomatic missions due to COVID-19 related budgets cuts. Nothing had been said on what would be done to fix the Department’s ailing ICT system, which had been a problem for some time -- would it be revamped, or would it be replaced?

Ms T Msane (EFF) commented that there would be global patterns of change towards global power due to COVID-19. There had been an allocation of R8 million which was going to the foreign policy review panel. She wanted to know what analysis had been done to date on predicted changes that would happen post COVID-19 to the foreign policy of South Africa. The African Development Bank predicted economic growth of 3.9% for the continent before COVID-19, and she wanted to know what the forecast stood at currently, and what impact this would have on South Africa’s economic development. She asked how the SADC lockdown rules would be coordinated, seeing that countries were easing lockdown regulations. She also referred to elections on the continent during the pandemic, and asked if the African task force for COVID-19 had looked at systems on how to limit the spread of the virus during elections.

Had the task force looked at challenges facing refugees? The Finance Minister, in his 2020 budget speech, had highlighted that there would be a reduction of missions, and the Committee had requested the Department to send it a list of which missions would be downgraded, and how far this process was, but it had not yet sent such information. Why had it not yet sent the information to the Committee?

She referred to the Pan-African University that was also outlined in the Finance Minister’s budget speech, and asked how far the Department was in setting that up, and why it was not mentioned in its Strategic Plan. How far was it in developing a proper project management plan that would deal with only the properties of the Department? She would like to know from the Department whether it was true that a Turkey flight landed in South Africa and received firearms. She also complained about the lack of information from the Department to the Committee around repatriations, and said it did not respond to the Committee when it asked for information. The DIRCO website was not updated daily, and the Department needed to provide the Committee with an update on all missions, their ambassadors and contact details.

Mr D Moela (ANC) thanked the Minister for a very progressive output regarding COVID-19. He agreed with Mr Nkosi on the issue of the inclusivity of youth, people with disabilities and gender equality in the Department’s human resource contingent. The Department had promised a breakdown, but had still not provided the Committee with this breakdown. Another important issue involved the organisational structure -- how far was the Department in resolving this matter? There was also the previously raised issue of long-term membership and candidature, and he wanted to know how far this matter was from being resolved.

Mr X Nqola (ANC) appreciated that of the 49% that had been allocated to the ARF, at least 35% of this funding went to the African continent. It was worth noting that South Africa was investing in the African continent, and also consistently funding election observers, which was very important as the continent had a history of conflict around elections. He had also noted in the conflict resolution programme of the ARF that there was 80% funding for the 2020/21 financial year, but there only 20% funding in 2021/22 and 2022/23, and wanted to know why there was such a huge gap. Also, why was there only 20% of funding available for the humanitarian programme, but 80% of funding available for the good governance programme -- what had influenced these allocations?

Mr T Mpanza (ANC) asked about the Foreign Service Bill that was sitting with the President. What was the progress on the signing of this Bill, and had the Minister engaged with the President on this?  He asked the Department to give feedback on the ICT systems and organisational structure issues. Would the Department present a revised plan that would include the effects of COVID-19? He also asked for clear timesframes on how far DIRCO was in solving the many historical issues the Committee had raised.

Ms B Swarts (ANC) asked whether DIRCO’s property management was configured and equipped to deal with the responsibilities of the property management value chain, and asked the Department to provide a breakdown of the personnel working in this section, their qualifications were and what percentage of staff had the following skills -- real estate management, property evaluation, quantity surveyors and project management. When was the Department going to review its property management strategy to be aligned with its new strategy outlined in the bill?

The Chairperson asked what the timeframes for the repeal of the current ARF Act were, because the Department had been mentioning it consistently and it had taken no action at all on the establishment of the SADFA. The Director-General was the accounting officer of the current ARF, accounting to himself, and the Committee could not have a Director General who reported to himself, as this was a conflict of interest. As there were no oversight structures in place for the ARF, it seemed like the DG wanted to continue operating it as his slush fund.

The Chairperson reminded the Director General that he would not have enough time to answer all these questions, and some would need to be responded to in writing by the Department to the Committee.

DIRCO responses

Mr Mahoai answered the question on SADFA, and said a draft bill had been sent to Treasury to sort out some elements, and the revised bill would then be referred to Cabinet for consideration. The Department would have discussions with the Minister on how they would revive the process to ensure that SADFA got implemented.

He assured Ms Swarts that he had noted her questions and would respond in writing to the Committee.

Employment equity was a matter that the Department would have to report back on, as he would need to compile a detailed report on its human resource complement. However, as of March there was a total of 398 African males and 435 African females at a senior management level in the Department. These were incomplete numbers, as the Department was still busy completing data for the 2019/20 annual report, and it would present a completed report to the Committee.

Regarding the ICT system, the Department had a task team in place to advise it on the way forward. The team had completed their work and the Department now had results and had been able to identify areas of immediate, medium-term and long-term solutions. It was very clear now what the Department had to do. For example, it would have to acquire new desktop computers and laptops, and refresh the Department’s server environment. The Department was confident that the steps that had been taken had started the digital transformation process of the Department, and it would report back to the Committee soon on this matter.

On the issue of the Sasol sponsorship, all money had gone directly to SAA, as they were the entity that had operated the repatriation flights, while DIRCO had only facilitated them.

Mr Mahoai agreed that in the post-COVID world, there would be changes that affected the Department’s strategic plan, but these would be reflected in its revised strategic plan, and it was a process it was already embarking upon with the National Treasury, where there was special adjustment process that showed how COVID would affect the Department.

The diplomatic academy would look to new and current staff with the aim of upgrading and raising the Department’s special skills base.

Because of time constraints, questions that had not been answered would be answered in writing by the Department.

Minister’s comments

Minister Pandor said she was not sure about the concern Mr Bergman had been referring to. South Africa continued to enjoy a good relationship with China, and there had been no particular problem with China that the Minister was aware of. They had repatriated most citizens without any problems. The one matter that had arisen was the issue of racism and xenophobia that had been reported by a number of citizens of different African countries. DIRCO had communicated with Chinese officials and the Chinese Embassy in South Africa, and they had assured DIRCO and the African Union that the Chinese government was taking action, and there would be more deliberate investigations into this matter.

As for citizens who had jobs outside South Africa and wished to go back for purpose of employment, this matter was being addressed and resolved. It had been agreed that those people would be allowed to leave South Africa for employment reasons, and the Department had to follow all the protocols of the other countries during their lockdown stages.

The Minister said the Department was discussing the very nature of a different world post COVID-19. The experience of COVID-19 had pointed to the fractures in the world and had in a very astounding fashion pointed to the necessity of multilateralism. In fact, COVID-19 had been the biggest push towards global collaboration, despite it being a tragedy and a crisis. Those countries that wished to remain unilateral had had to begin to engage with the larger international community. COVID-19 was showing the world that it must embrace multilateralism and multilateral institutions if it wanted to combat difficult challenges such as COVID-19.

There also a lesson that COVID-19 had taught South Africa and the African continent, such as the inadequacy of the continent’s research and innovation institutions. This stood out as a very important lesson that it had to attend to. Other lessons included the inadequate nature of the continent’ss public health systems and the need to hasten the implementation of a manufacturing and industrialisation strategy. The continent needed to reflect on these lessons and put strategies in place to overcome the challenges.

On the matter of Denel, the Minister said the Committee knew there was an Arms Control Coordinating Committee which reports annually to the Joint Defence Committee, and suggested that Members read the annual report of that committee. Members would find more information on the Turkey matter, and the Committee should remember that it was not the government selling weapons, but rather Denel in its capacity as an entity. There were provisions and legislation as to what needed to be looked at when arms were sold to any country.

Regarding the international recognition of the incidents in Mozambique, the security situation had been recognised by the African Union and the United Nations. However, there had not been a labelling of the incidents of violence as indicating international terrorism, but concerns had been raised by the African Union and United Nations, who believe groups were linked to terrorism movements in the southern region of the African continent. The African Union was collaborating with the countries involved in order to look at how the situation in Mozambique could be addressed.

Movement was taking place in the reduction of missions, but there was no plan as yet on how it would be completed. The Department would have to go to Cabinet, as it involved a policy shift and required the input and approval of Cabinet. Only once that had happened could the Department present a plan to the Committee.

The Minister referred to the matter of elections, and said she understood that in the elections that had been held up too now, the practice of social distancing and the insistence of wearing protective masks by everyone had been implemented by countries that had held elections thus far. She would have thought that countries would actually postpone elections, given the end of term limits and the risk of instability that could arise from extending terms, but on these countries’ judgment, they had decided to go ahead with the elections.

The matter of refugees had been raised, and there was a dedicated committee within the African Union which focused on refugee issues.

She said the Pan-African University was being arranged in terms of different faculties. South Africa had been awarded the Space Science faculty, and this was the one located at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. The programme was under way, students had been registered, and there was collaboration between several universities. Other faculties were in West Africa – the agriculture faculty was in East Africa, and the humanities were elsewhere, so everyone in the regions of the African Union got different disciplines as responsibilities. The African Union felt that they could not built one Pan-African university which would have been in only one country, as it would defeat the purpose of the Pan-Africanism that the AU sought to pursue.

The details on the repatriation schedule for the next weeks were available in the newsletter released today on the Department’s website. The Minister encouraged Members and all South African citizens around the world to access and look at the schedule. The reason the Department published such a newsletter was to make sure all South Africans were informed on repatriation matters.

Closing Remarks

The Chairperson reminded the Minister that her time was up, as the unfortunate element of these virtual meetings was that meetings had to finish within their stipulated timeframes. She thanked the Department and the Minister, and said the Committee was looking forward to the next five years.

The meeting was adjourned

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