26 November 2007
Honourable Minister Kasrils
Mr Joe Nhlanhla
Veterans
Distinguished guests
Directors-General
Members of the Services
Colleagues
It is a great honour and privilege to speak at this intelligence services
day awards ceremony.
Foreign Services and the Intelligence services are two sides of the same
coin. Someone once said that diplomats use the front door, and the intelligence
operators use the back door, but in the end both of us serve in the national
interest. We do so co-operatively, and as team South Africa (SA).
It is now a matter of proud record that through the intelligence services
'Holy Trinity' i.e. through the collection of quality information; its
sophisticated analysis and assessment; and its timely presentation, you have
enriched and reinforced our diplomatic work.
The Ten Priorities identified by the services has ensured that the services
are constantly improving your work and capacity. Let me once again remind
ourselves of the ten priorities:
1. Ensure that sufficient funds are allocated to core business.
2. Targeted recruitment, training and strategic placement of members
3. Improve operational capacity in the provinces and abroad.
4. Deepen synergy with regard to intelligence sharing and co-ordination between
all services, including crime, defence and finance.
5. Enhance the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee's (NICOC)
analytical skills, national intelligence estimates and the national early
warning centre.
6. Develop intelligence co-operation in Africa and with our international
partners.
7. Minimum Information Security Standards (MISS) within all government
departments.
8. Strengthen security at our borders and ports of entry.
9. Develop costing of the South African National Academy for Intelligence
(SANAI ), its syllabus, training commitments and future.
10. Comprehensive improvements in our vetting capacity.
President Mbeki on 23 November 2006 speaking to the services said: "All of
us draw strength from the fact that the work we do quietly and away from the
public glare ensures that South Africa remains united, our democracy is
deepened and conditions for the creation of a prosperous future become more
entrenched.
Sun Tzu, "The Art of War":
"What makes the enlightened rulers and good generals to conquer the enemy at
every move and achieve extraordinary success is foreknowledge. Foreknowledge
cannot be elicited from ghosts and spirits. It cannot be inferred from
comparison of previous events or from calculations of the heavens but must be
obtained from people who have knowledge of the Enemy's situation."
"An army without secret agents is exactly like a man without eyes or
ears."
The importance of the reality that we live in a globalising world which
requires that we position ourselves correctly, relative both to the African
continent and the rest of the world. Strive to contribute what we can to the
task to build a better world as well as advance our national interests.
We are not above the law.
We are accountable to the duly elected and duly appointed civilian
authority.
We accept the principle of political non-partisanship.
We owe our loyalty to the Constitution, the citizens of our country and the
State.
We strive to maintain high standards of proficiency in the performance of our
functions.
A year later we can confidently proclaim that the services have sought to
respond to what the president said.
Chairperson,
The 2007 National Intelligence Framework, like the previous ones, makes a
significant contribution to our diplomatic work. Let me take this opportunity
to share with you foreign affairs strategic perspectives, and together we must
assess how this is dialectically linked to the 2007 estimate.
Our strategic approach remains to achieve an international order with
greater security, peace, dialogue and greater equilibrium between poor and rich
countries. We are guided by the principle of a "better South Africa, a better
Africa and a better world".
We seek to achieve this strategic objective acutely conscious that today,
there is a growing tendency on the part of some of the powerful countries, to
reduce the complex and inter-related problems of the world to a militaristic
approach to national interests, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. This
simplification and reduction of the problems is the ideological basis of
so-called pre-emptive war, which is used to justify all kinds of unilateral
solutions, regime change and the control of countries through economic
domination and military actions.
Given this reality, the following factors in particular form the basis of
our approach to foreign policy:
1. securing, protecting and advancing our national interests and our
national sovereignty
2. advancing our regional and continental interests including the African
Agenda
3. working to eradicate poverty, including poverty; the growing income, wealth
and asset gaps between rich and poor and dealing with the multiple forms of
inequality nationally, regionally, continentally and globally
4. addressing the negative consequences of globalisation including
underdevelopment, uneven-development, unemployment and the challenges of the
global division of labour and determining how best countries can position
themselves with respect to globalisation
5. strengthening the culture of human rights, respect for fundamental rights
and freedoms and the rule of law including the independence of the
judiciary
6. promoting democracy and strengthening the institutions of democracy and good
governance
7. democratising global multilateral institutions of governance
8. promoting pro-poor, ecologically sensitive sustainable growth and
development
9. promoting peace and security across Africa and the globe, especially the
Middle East
10. promoting South-South co-operation and solidarity
11. challenging neo-liberalism and identifying the core elements of a
progressive political discourse and creating and nurturing an African and a
global progressive political agenda.
Our approach has to of necessity be complex and be based on an understanding
of current global conjuncture and how it intersects and interplays with
regional and national development goals. It requires a critical analysis of the
socio-economic and political conditions as well as the institutional
arrangements of governance and administration which either promote or inhibit
the socio-economic and political development of the South.
We have to function in a fundamentally transformed world situation. This,
inter alia, includes:
"The dominance of one major power and the absence of a balance of power in
the global system;
"the continuing move to unilateralism and the weakening of the multilateral
system;
"the stark failure of the attempts at UN reforms and the failure to reaching
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs);
"the failure of progressives to develop a response to globalisation."
It is within this reality that we have identified three major
challenges:
1. Poverty alleviation and sustainable development in South Africa, Africa
and the world
Globalisation is not a new phenomenon. The post 1980s globalisation however
has restructured the world economy. Economic globalisation is fundamentally
about the transformation of the world's economies into a world economy, placing
the interests of transnational corporations ahead of those of individual
nations.
Joseph Stiglitz in his book "globalisation and its discontents" writes that
"globalisation, as it has been advocated, often seems to replace the old
dictatorships of national elites with new dictatorships of international
finance. For millions of people globalisation has not worked, they have seen
their jobs destroyed and their lives become more insecure".
The historic United Nations (UN) Millennium Summit concluded:
"we believe that the central challenge we face today is to ensure that
globalisation becomes a positive force for all the world's people. For a while
globalisation offers great opportunities, at present its benefits are very
unevenly shared, while its costs are unevenly distributed. We recognise that
developing countries and countries with economies in transition face special
difficulties in responding to this central challenge. Thus, only through broad
and sustained efforts to create a shared future, based upon our common humanity
in all its diversity, can globalisation be made fully inclusive and
equitable."
Since that lofty proclamation, what is the reality today? "50 000 people die
daily as a result of poverty and poverty related diseases." 30 000 children die
every single day before they reach the age of five because they do not have
adequate food or medicines. This is 210 000 children a week equivalent to one
Tsunami each week killing our children;
"In a world of six billion people, two billion people live on the poverty
line of less than $2 a day and 700 million of them are classified as
desperately poor." 1,5 billion of our fellow inhabitants have no work. The
national per capita income of the twenty richest countries is 37 times larger
than that of the twenty poorest, a gap which has doubled in size over the last
forty years.
In Sub-Saharan Africa: "Over 40% of Sub-Saharan African people live below
the international poverty line of US$1 a day." 34 of the world's 41 highly
indebted poor countries are in Africa. "The cost to Africa of servicing its
foreign debt of US 349 billion in 1997 amounted to 21.3% of its earnings from
the export of goods and services." Africa with almost one-sixth the world's
population accounts for only one-fiftieth of global trade and its share is
diminishing.
"The high mineral commodities change prices and the discovery of new oil
reserves can change the bleak picture. To successfully fight poverty and
achieve sustainable development, we must challenge the hegemony of the
neo-liberal conservative paradigm, which worships the market and absolute
liberalisation. It puts emphasis on the private as opposed to the public, the
individual as opposed to the collective, the individual as opposed to the
state. It also demands a limit to state power.
We seek to do this in a complex and unpredictable global environment which
necessitates the building of capacity for rapid response to instant and
emerging changes in South Africa, the region, the continent and the global
environment. Within this globalising context, our strategy for the next coming
years will remain firmly anchored on the African agenda and co-operation with
the developing countries of the South in order to tilt the balance in favour of
the developmental agenda.
This requires a long term commitment to the successful restructuring of the
Southern African development community, strengthening of the AU structures and
organs, including the implementation of the the New Partnership for Africa's
Development (Nepad) and ensuring peace, stability and security in Africa within
the framework of the African Union (AU) Post-Conflict Reconstruction and
Development policy (PCRD).
Today, we are convinced that an historic opportunity presents itself to end
the scourge of under development that afflicts Africa. The resources, including
capital, technology and human skills, that are required to launch a global war
on poverty and under-development exist in abundance and within our reach. What
is required to mobilise these resources and use them properly, is bold and
imaginative leadership that is genuinely committed to a sustained human
development effort and the eradication of poverty, as well as a new global
partnership based on shared responsibility and mutual interest.
Despite all weaknesses, obstacles and challenges, there is a major
transformation process that is taking place on the African continent that is
anchored on key principles of African ownership and leadership, self reliance
and a new partnership with the developed and developing world that is based on
mutual respect, responsibility and accountability. Its ultimate expression in
the new partnership for Africa's development, Nepad.
Chairperson,
While presently we have to contend with the hegemony of a super-power, there
are however exciting new developments. Latin America is currently undergoing
some political re-orientation which has resulted in the emergence of
governments with left leaning tendencies and progressive credentials. We need
to correctly understand these developments and avoid jumping to unscientific
conclusions.
A key challenge that we have to confront is how do we defeat outside
interference and subversion of Latin American countries with a progressive
agenda? Especially how do we respond to the programme for regime change in
Cuba; and the other countries that have embarked on a new political
dispensation?
We also have to make a more scientific analysis of the left forces in other
parts of the world: Africa, Asia and Europe. Today we are witnessing the
phenomenal economic growth of China and India and their impact on global
trajectories. Also we are witnessing the increasing manifestation of a richer,
confident Russia on the world stage.
What are the consequences of these developments? The second major challenge
that we face is: Peace and Security. As I have said earlier, we have to contend
with a hegemonic super-power. The United States of America (USA) national
security strategy of 1990 concluded that the USA had "to reinforce our units
deployed or to project power into areas where we have no permanent presence,
particularly in the Middle East (ME), because of the free worlds reliance on
energy supplies from this pivotal region. The USA would also need to be
prepared for low intensity conflict involving lower order threats like
terrorism, subversion, insurgency and drug trafficking that are menacing the
US, its citizens, and its interests in a new way".
Many interpreted this to mean that the military was indicating that in the
post cold-war situation, the USA intended becoming the police of the world."
Sept 11, 2001 yet another decisive moment.
The USA national security strategy of 2001 gave the world a clear warning
that the USA will use its political, economic and military hegemony to fight
any challenge to its hegemony. Also that it will act unilaterally against any
"terrorist" organisation, against any state that harbours a "terrorist
organisation" and against any individuals that they declare to be assisting
terrorism.
We are now confronted with concepts such as: "Axis of Evil", "Rogue States"
and "Failed States". To justify such actions, policies have been introduced
based on: "Clash of Civilisations", "Religious crusades", "Islamo- Fascism",
"Preventative action", "Regime change".
Some dangerous consequences of the new international paradigm most starkly
evident is:
Afghanistan, Iraq, Middle East, Iran nuclear programme and conflicts in
Africa. A deputy assistant to former President Clinton noted that "rather than
continuing to exist as first among equals in the post-war international system,
the USA would act as a law unto itself, creating new rules of international
engagement without agreement with other nations".
African conflicts
Since 1994, SA has been actively involved in conflict prevention, resolution
and post conflict reconstruction with Burundi; Sudan; Cote d'Ivoire; Somalia;
Western Sahara; Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zimbabwe
Africa's new challenges
New scramble for Africa
Politics of oil, gas and minerals
Former colonial countries are tightening their neo-colonial grip of some
African countries and further deepening the existing challenges. Increasing use
of official development assistance (ODA) for political objectives.
Regime change
Increasing presence of foreign troops in Africa
The Services have a crucial role to ensure that Africa is not once again
ruthlessly plundered an exploited.
Middle East
2. The third major challenge we face is the restructuring of the global
exercise of power
* This must extend to political, economic, social and military spheres
* Multilateralism remains the only viable framework within which to address
global issues- as such the UN, while not a perfect instrument, remains the only
viable instrument through which to deal with such issues
* The challenge, inter alia, demands urgent reforms to make the UN more
relevant to current realities. It must become more transparent, representative,
responsive to the needs of all its members and not the few powerful and rich,
more streamlines, efficient and effective. SA took its non-permanent seat in
the Security Council in January 2007 for a period of 2 years.
We seek to restore the global exercise of power in world order is
characterised, inter alia, by:
* Unilateralism vs. rules based global system (erosion of
multilateralism)
* Networks and alliances based on specific issues (e.g. "coalition of the
willing")
* National interests often supersede adherence to international law (common
interests) Kyoto, Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), International Criminal Court
(ICC), invasion of Iraq
A major study, "The rule of power or the rule of law by the institute for
energy and environmental research and the committee for nuclear policy
concluded that the "USA has violated, compromised or acted to undermine in some
crucial way every treaty that we have studied in detail, including the nuclear
non-proliferation treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban treaty and the
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
According to the report, the USA is "devising a way from regarding treaties
as an essential element in global security to a more opportunistic standoff
abiding by treaties only when it is convenient".
Kofi Annan (Sept 2006),
"We face a world whose divisions threaten the very notion of an
international community upon which the UN stands for. The events of last 10
years have not resolved but sharpened the challenges of our unjust world
economy, world disorder and contempt for human rights and the rule of law".
Chairperson,
We are operating in an international order that is a fundamentally
transformed paradigm that is constantly changing, forever throwing up new
challenges and threatening our very existence. Our correct understanding of the
international dynamics will also help us to understand our domestic
challenges.
So the development of a vision of a progressive global discourse must be
comprehensive and must include the socio-economic and political domains. Such a
vision for the 21st century has to be compelling; it must be inclusive and
address the central challenges identified. As a vision it must be centrally
concerned with: social justice and injustice; exclusion and inclusion; human
rights and the denial of human rights; a clear role for the developmental
state; a determined effort of deal with market related and market induced
inequalities; providing equality of opportunities; developing social inclusion
and cohesion; promoting peace and stability regionally and globally; promoting
sustainable growth and development; ecological and environmental
sustainability; and dealing with the glaring unequal division of wealth on
global, national regional and national levels.
To successfully challenge the status quo and to put in place something
wholly new requires not only the full participation of progressive governments
but the mobilisation of the people of the world in their social movements
behind an agreed-upon agenda as collective global agent for change.
The intelligence services, as never before, has a historic responsibility to
ensure that our international work is guided by the "holy trinity" of quality
information, sophisticated analyses and assessments, and its timely
presentation.
Together we can ensure that we have "a better South Africa, a better Africa
and a better world".
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
26 November 2007
Source: SAPA
