Committee to involve everyone on Foreign Services Bill
The Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation has extended the deadline for written submissions on the Foreign Services Bill of 2016. The Chairperson of the Committee, Mr Siphosezwe Masango, said the Committee will continue to receive input from the public and stakeholders on the Bill until it is satisfied that the voice of South Africans is reflected.
He called on the public to make submissions, as it is part of Parliament’s mandate to involve the public in the legislative process.
“Foreign service should not be about protocol and compliance, but about how people understand and relate to it. The field of diplomacy is a discipline that ordinary people do not take a keen interest in and yet it impacts on their everyday lives,” Mr Masango said.
He said South Africans should be given enough time to make input on the Bill, as it is about how the country is best projected in the world.
The Foreign Services Bill seeks to regulate officials working in South African embassies and the conditions for the Foreign Service, while aligning it more broadly with policy within the public service and South African legislation.
Mr Masango said the Bill will harmonise the Foreign Service, and bring certainty into the scope of work for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation abroad.
He said this was a preparatory ground for the country to deploy ambassadors, high commissioners and trade attaches among others, who will best represent the country abroad and who are well versed in all kinds of diplomacy.
For media enquiries please contact:
Sibongile Maputi
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Email: smaputi@parliament.gov.za
