Foreign Affairs' year end function
15 December 2006
The Programme director
The Director-General is not here
Deputy Minister
Deputy Director-General's
Leadership of the department
All members of the department
It is a pleasure to be here today; at certain times we are not able to share
this end of year day. A few times I have been away when you were having this
function.
Today, I am very happy that we are able to come together, just to celebrate
the end of year because it has been a very hard year. I know that all of you
have worked very hard in your different responsibilities and we can without a
fear of contradiction say we have done well this year, and hopefully we will do
better next year.
I would really like to thank every single one of you but to also say that
the work you are doing in many ways is a contribution to what we have all
committed ourselves in this country, a better life for all. A better life for
all starts with you, whatever responsibilities you are given you have to do
them well. We have to all go to bed every day and be able to say, I have done
my best today. In that way you are contributing to a better life for all.
Of course we have also as this department the responsibility to contributing
towards a better world and that means in whatever we do; our foreign policy and
how we implement it has to contribute to a better world and we must say this
year we have done well.
Peace and security
One of the highlights of our work has been the elections, the democratic
elections in the Congo. The Congo has not had democratic elections for more
than forty years but South Africa has consistently been trying and contributing
to a democratic dispensation in the Congo.
We all recall a time when our former President Mandela, together with his
then Deputy President who is President now spent time on the Antaniqua, that
boat or ship ,where they spent time talking to Mabuto, talking to Kabila
Senior, Laurent Kabila. It has been the long time, almost 10 years since that
time. But we know that this kind of work is not the kind of work where you
plant a seed today and eat the olives tomorrow.
The person, who usually plants olive trees in this department, is not
necessarily the one who will have it but the important thing is to keep on
planting the olive trees. So that there are people in future who will be able
to reap them. So our former president started the process. It ended with the
democratic elections and there are a lot of people in this department, who in
one way or another have contributed to that process. We know that we have
contributed to a better life in the Congo just as we contributed to a better
life in Burundi.
All the efforts that we are making are in a small way consistently
contributing to a better life, so we should in that case congratulate ourselves
for the contribution in the Congo and Burundi because South Africa played a
very critical role in both of these countries.
I think the defining moment of the Congolese process started on the boat
Antaniqua so this department has done well there. But there are lots of other
things that this department has done in various parts of the world, all
contributing to South Africa being seen as an important player. Nationally, we
are seen as a miracle. The truth is, it is not a miracle its hard work.
Men and women in this country have produced the South Africa that we live in
today and are at the same time fashioning the South Africa that our children
will leave in tomorrow.
United Nations
So next year, in January will be serving in the Security Council as a
non-permanent member for the first time and of course that has the implications
for all of us, because that is not just a simple role to be in the Security
Council.
The Security Council has the responsibility for our collective security
worldwide. So, we will be taking decisions that have direct implications for
people's lives worldwide. A lot of decisions of the Security Council are
binding to the governments the world over.
So it is a very responsible position, which means we have to work hard. We
have to understand the agenda and the issues. I am glad we have a very good
team. Just before we came here we were actually discussing part of our agenda
for the Security Council.
As you know the Security Council works 24 hours around the clock so we have
to be a step ahead in terms of understanding their agenda, in terms of
discussing the issues. But we have a good team and all the support from the
department and the government. I am, therefore, quite sure will manage that
responsibility very well.
Department
I think the department itself has grown, and has also been rejuvenated. I
see a lot of young blood around which is nice because it means the department
has a future. Young people are the guarantee of the future of this
department.
So as young people you are very welcome to this department. But being in
this department is a very special honour and privilege. You, therefore, have to
conduct yourself with that in mind, to represent your country
internationally.
It is a big honour that your country has bestowed on all of us that we are
the representatives of South Africa that comes with huge responsibilities and
as young people we have to learn and understand that you have to work hard. I
know a lot of people who make mistakes whilst working hard and that is
acceptable.
I have really no time for people who are lazy. If you make a mistake working
hard, we are all humans but if you think you are going to protect yourself from
making mistakes by being lazy you do not belong here. Anyone who is lazy does
not belong here. I do not see anybody who is lazy here. As long as you are not
lazy, you are welcome and behave yourself in a befitting manner
Editor's note
The Minister deliberated at length on the role of women in society, the
empowerment of women in critical positions of influence in business, government
and our respective communities. Although progress has been made in this regard,
the Minister emphasised that the departmental transformation process should
significantly spearhead the promotion of women to be entrusted to positions of
influence.
Women
She also referred to the Beijing Conference on Women that took place almost
twelve years ago in China and drew on the following examples: "A clause there
that is talking about non-discrimination including sexual orientation. I am
talking about this because is something that is being talked about in the whole
of the country and the South African delegation was defending this clause,
others were saying no and a few delegation was defending it including the South
Africans, maybe in Africa we were not many.
I remember at some stage one of them, bolder African delegations came to us
and said what is wrong with you South African women? Why are you defending this
clause? So we said to them, we come from a very difficult history of
discrimination and as we were fighting our struggle against discrimination, we
were saying to ourselves that we will be building a nation where nobody will
feel discriminated against.
So it has nothing to do with what you think as an individual, its got to do
with the principle that we are not going to discriminate against people and it
is important because the Deputy Minister (Sue van der Merwe) was telling me,
when she was accompanying a foreign dignitary to one of our townships this
foreign dignitary was approached by an elderly South African man who the said,
yes you have passed this law, of course he did not realise that this was a
foreign dignitary, he thought he was a South African but where are the children
going to come from, tell me.
Now it is not for us to ask that question, its personal choices but our
Constitution says we should not discriminate. I think that is what we should be
explaining to our people in case we meet this, we should not be defensive. It
is an anti-discrimination law that the Constitutional Court had said should be
passed and because we believe in non-discrimination, that is what we have done
so that our people understand where we come from, that this is a free
country.
Department
Having said that, please thank you very much for the hard work, I hope most
of you will get time to rest and recharge your batteries.
I hope you will spend some time with your families because one disadvantage
in Foreign Affairs is that most of the time you spend time away from your
families. Some of us at one stage or another, we will spend time away from our
families and this is the time for those who will not be working full-time, the
skeleton staff that will remain, to spend your time with your families.
Please to thank them on our behalf for having been patient with your
absence. Thank them for having tolerated the fact that sometimes you will have
to travel, sometimes you have to come back home late and say to them, we are
very grateful for their contribution to your work, government's work, but it is
also their own contribution to a better life for other people. So look after
them and look after yourselves. We want to see all of you next year. So do come
back.
A lot of you will drink I know. Just drink moderately, do not drink to a
point where you will not remember who you are because lots of things might
happen which might have real consequences for your future, the life of your
family. Please do not put your life and others at risk. So use a condom.
If you think you have drunk too much, ask a friend to drive your car.
Please enjoy Christmas, enjoy the New Year and lastly I am very happy to Mxo
(Mxolisi Nkosi) smiling, welcome Mxo but enjoy yourselves, this is the time to
enjoy yourselves."
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
15 December 2006
Source: Department of Foreign Affairs (http://www.dfa.gov.za)
