Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Ministers, distinguished guests, comrades, ladies and gentlemen, in five days' time we will be celebrating 16 years of freedom, democracy and the right to be citizens in our own country. When we do so, we must indeed ask ourselves how far we have come in abolishing the contradictions that continue to define South Africa's social and economic conditions. In that context, what is the role of International Relations and Co-operation?
In responding to this question, my organisation, the ANC, humbly and honestly states that we have come a long way. Considerable progress has been made. A lot still needs to be done, but by working together we can do more.
The ANC proceeds from the premise that there can be no lasting prosperity and stability in South Africa when there is strife, abject poverty, war, conflict, instability and underdevelopment in Africa.
Let me state from the very outset that our budget must indeed advance our commitment to robust international engagement. It must help us to achieve our own national priorities and contribute to the task of shaping our country's and continent's development in the interests of a better life for all.
The ANC believes that economic and political co-operation with other countries can and must help us to achieve our own national priorities and improve the lives of our people. We shall indeed continue to work towards a better life for all, a better Africa and a better world, without hunger, disease, conflict and underdevelopment.
This also relates to international and continental solidarity work, party- to-party relations, etc. Amongst other things, this refers to solidarity with Cuba, and the Western Sahara, continued support for the peace process in Zimbabwe, support for the Palestinian people's cause for freedom and self-determination through the realisation of a two-state solution, the resolution of the conflict in Somalia, and normalisation and a return to democracy, peace, stability and development in Haiti.
We must ensure the consolidation of the African agenda through working together with all other peoples on the continent and continue to engage with countries such as India and Brazil through Ibsa, and with China and beyond.
We need to strengthen our strategic capacity to respond to developments in our region, continent and the world. Our continent has the possibility to move towards a renaissance of hope and social progress. At present, in spite of the global economic crunch, economic growth is accelerating.
There is a determination to turn our continent into one of the centres of rapid industrialisation and social development. Indeed, most of the conflicts on the continent have been resolved and democracy is spreading.
President Zuma's state of the nation address reiterated the government's commitment to peacekeeping missions and humanitarian assistance in an effort to build a better world and a better Africa through multilateral fora, such as the African Union, the United Nations and other international instruments.
Indeed, the recent African Union endorsement of South Africa's candidature for a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council relates directly to this message and is an endorsement of our good record on the world stage, in spite, of course, of what our detractors at home may say.
Our country must continue to promote multilateralism in matters of peace, stability, development and reconstruction. This includes pursuing even more vigorously the campaign for the reform of institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations, into truly democratic and developmental institutions of global governance.
The building of a cohesive regional economic bloc is an absolute necessity and requires a development-oriented approach to international relations. It calls for the acceleration of infrastructure development, and the advancement of trade and development through collective planning and the execution of regional programmes. These, together with the streamlining of our priorities, will strengthen our collective bargaining power.
Furthermore, the deepening of development and the seeking of integrated approaches to engagement on trade agreements, peace and stability and post- conflict reconstruction, require co-operation and resources. The powerful nations need to co-operate in order for us to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and put the advancement of the African agenda on a sound footing.
We need to be mindful of the fact that peacemaking or peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance and development could be expressed in different forms by different countries. The IMF and the World Bank should have that understanding when deciding to extend or withdraw financial support to various countries.
Amongst other things, it also requires a fundamental tilting in the international balance of forces - the hon Ngonyama will know what I am talking about - through a co-ordinated programme of the forces of the left, hon member, not just at the diplomatic and government level. However, this requires a thorough analysis and a clear understanding of the current international balance of forces, which continues to favour economies of the advanced and powerful countries.
Chairperson, I can see the longing in the hon members' eyes. Hon members, South Africa is one country with one President who, in terms of our Constitution, is responsible for conducting foreign policy. The failed attempt by the Leader of the Opposition to scupper the World Bank loan for the construction of a power plant, for the purposes of political points scoring, is, at the very least, short-sighted, irresponsible and unpatriotic. This happened with no regard for the consequences for those of our people who as yet do not have access to electricity and with whom the ANC government has entered into a social contract on the basis of the ANC's election manifesto.
Be that as it may, great advancements could and should be made in consolidating the African agenda. Bringing these basic services to our people must be a cornerstone of our approach, because this is indeed Africa's time.
Through this budget we will be able to maintain our focus on strengthening the African Union and its various organs, promoting the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development, Nepad, and promoting regional integration through the Southern African Development Community, SADC. Supporting peace, security and stability and contributing to peace-building initiatives, such as postconflict reconstruction and development, will remain key focus areas for our country.
In this regard, the mooted SA Development Partnership Agency, Sadpa, will be prioritised as a mechanism that is earmarked to perform the crucial function of co-ordinating all of South Africa's development assistance throughout the African continent and the world. Sadpa will also be responsible for implementing South Africa's development, co-operation and partnership policy.
Our country continues to play a leading role in continental efforts to strengthen the African Union and its organs and to work for unity. The focus will be on revitalising Nepad as a strategy for common and social development on the continent.
The Freedom Charter continues to guide our approach to international relations, underpinned by the African agenda, as it recognises the rights of all the peoples of Africa and the world to independence and self- government.
Indeed, it is through co-operation that Africa's development can be realised. Other critical areas for advancing the African agenda include the consolidation and deepening of economic continental integration; strengthening bilateral relations with strategic countries; resolving conflicts peacefully through dialogue; promoting and preventing violations of human rights; and enhancing peacekeeping processes.
It must be emphasised that the ANC remains part of the progressive forces of change internationally in order to contribute to global transformation for a better life for all. This involvement should be guided by the principle of internationalism, and commitment to human and people's rights against all abuses and violations. The state of the nation address reaffirmed our commitment to the resolution of conflict around the world through dialogue and peaceful means, which is an entrenched principle in the Freedom Charter.
Finally, hon members, dear South Africans, the violence directed at African foreign nationals, notably refugees and asylum seekers, remains a matter of grave concern and severely dents our country's image in Africa and the world, and the ANC calls on all our people to desist from such actions. Furthermore, the scandalous, if not atrocious, treatment of 45 African refugee children in Strandfontein, many of them as young as two years old, who have been forced to sleep on the cold, dirty floor of a toilet in a dilapidated building by the DA in the Western Cape, must be condemned in the strongest terms possible. [Interjections.] Cape Town, hon members, is not a colony and the Western Cape is not a republic.
This, together with the infamous, degrading and inhumane open toilet scandal, the Hitler's Nazi-style demolition of Christian churches in the townships and the appointment of a lily-white executive council, only serves to confirm what we know: that in spite of its token deployment of a black person here and there and mastery of the act of window-dressing, the DA remains deeply antiblack, anti-African and antitransformation. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]