Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Ministers, hon members, today the IFP is tempted, although with some trepidation, to predict difficult times ahead for South Africa's realist- idealist approach to international relations and co-operation, characterised significantly by legal and moral values, pragmatism and international principles, to name a few.
Plato, in his search for the ideal form of state, discovered that he did not like international relations and believed that the only time when states should relate was when they were at war with each other. He supported a politically and economically self-sufficient state, with no trade relations and agreements with other sovereign states. He argued that such a state of international affairs would prevent the encroachment of the soul mates of foreign trade and investments, that is, political and moral decadence, including corruption and economic domination. His became a strong call for vigilance against the making of modern-day political and economic slavery by economically powerful nations of the world.
It is an empirical fact that national interests have a fundamental bearing and influence on foreign policy formulation and direction, and one of the major determinants of an effective foreign policy is found in the national character of the state. Here we refer to: one, strong sovereign authority, that is the collective will of the people; two, efficient and visionary leadership; three, a strong sense of national security; four, good laws; and five, economic wellbeing. A deficit in any of these principles would no doubt result in what prominent African author and professor Chinua Achebe once observed: that when the centre failed to hold, things were bound to fall apart.
Since 1994, Madam Minister, the Presidency, in conjunction with the Ministry and the department, has established a stable foreign service, girded firmly by prudent foreign policy and officialdom. On the contrary, the centre represented by domestic policy is not steadfast and herein lurks our nemesis-in-waiting. When one of Africa's biggest economies threatens to become the Achilles heel of Africa's political and economic sovereignty, colonial political domination and economic exploitation are unalterably revisited on the millions of people of the African continent.
The South African body politic is allowing itself to be infested with vices that are historically responsible for the predicament - at worst, the demise - of many of the post-colonial African nation states, when their administrations collapsed under harshly escalating poverty and unemployment, human and drug trafficking, small arms proliferation and ethnic wars, political infighting, crime and racism.
In case we don't believe the past about racism, some people believe that racism is widely feared as the expression of psycho-historical fantasies, grounded in the culture of powerful nations and social groups, and with its irrational power it will continue to distort both domestic and foreign policy and undermine freedom, independence and human rights.
Madam Minister, while supporting the department's strategic priorities for the period 2010 to 2015, the IFP urges the department, among other things, to place stronger and wider emphasis and resources on public diplomacy to further empower and consolidate the sovereign authority of the body politic. Once you have a weak body politic or the sovereign authority is weak, then the foreign policy is going to be weakened.
Further, the IFP urges the department to expedite the establishment of a specialised programme on the deployment of Africans in the diaspora, in particular in the public service, education and the economy. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]