It was the great son of Africa, President Kwame Nkrumah who once said, “We face neither East nor West; we face forward.”

This, Honourable Members, is the foreign policy outlook of this Republic.

Indeed, we as South Africa face neither East nor West, we face forward, we move forward.

We are not the playthings of others.

We welcome this pivotal debate called by Honourable Malema.

We should not bemoan the United States of America decision to revise its USAID policy but seize this moment as a catalyst for change.

While we acknowledge the invaluable contribution of PEPFAR to our health system and the whole continent, we should not bemoan the sovereign decision of the United States of America’s to revise its USAID policy but seize this moment as a catalyst for change.

We must act in unison to mitigate the negative impact of the USAID cuts.

We must seize this moment to reconceptualise our global system and ensure that our domestic imperatives serve our nation efficiently and sustainably.

Section 231 of the Constitution provides that foreign policy of the Republic is the prerogative of the President, in collaboration with the Executive led by the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation. Our struggles were for the common good of all not for a select race.

Today we have thousands of civil society organisations still engaged in action. For the common good here, in other parts of Africa and indeed, across the globe.

Our constitution protects the rights of all citizens to protests as we used protests to fight against unjust laws of Apartheid, there is nothing unjust in our constitution to protest for, in Washington.

Our struggles were for the common good of all not for a select race.

Section 231 of the Constitution provides that foreign policy is the responsibility of the National Executive, which is vested in the President. Ms Powel the GNU does not supersede the constitution.

They’ve positioned themselves against the South African people.

To the DA, it is not about what you allege to be ANC racist policies, it is about a new Agenda that the new US administration represents, UN and its various agencies are also suffering from this culminate and the executive orders withdrawing from them, reads the same as the SA one, that the WHO is misaligned to US interest for example.

They have positioned themselves against the people of South Africa. It is not for us to judge the people of South Africa, our value system non-racialism, non-sexism and peace.

As we mark Human Rights Month, we remain committed to the democratic socio-economic transformation agenda of our country to reverse the legacy of colonial and apartheid dispossession, discrimination and marginalisation. Our constitution enjoins us to build a just, equitable South Africa in which all share in its prosperity!

Speaker,

As a beneficiary of international solidarity, today, South Africa is able to assume its rightful place amongst nations as a responsible member family nation.

We remain steadfast in advancing international peace and security through inclusive dialogue and the peaceful political settlement of disputes, in the African continent and beyond.

Speaker, Honourable members. For 30 years, South Africa and America enjoyed sound bilateral relations. Whenever we had differences, we tackled them through constructive dialogue.

Just as we value the strategic partnership with the US, so we do with countries from the global North. This is encapsulated under the pillar of North-South dialogue in our foreign policy. In short it is about dialogue and partnership, not paternalism and imperialism.

We place great value on our sovereignty, independence and autonomy, while committing to engagement with all states, the United States included. Madam speaker in terms of our foreign policy orientation, we are not in plays of confrontation and antagonism.

We are in the business of diplomacy and dialogue. But this should never be viewed as timidity and weakness. We will continue to remain firm in this regard, hence our President’s mantra that we will not be bullied

The US is South Africa’s biggest trading partner in the world after China. We’ve 601 US companies in our country accountable for 143000 jobs. In 2023, bi-lateral trade between the US and South Africa equalled US$ 22 bn, the US ranked as South Africa’s agricultural exports destination. South Africa exports to the US platinum, motor vehicles, reaction initiators, ferro-alloys, citrus, jewellery, nuts, chemicals, wines, engines and turbines, and ships and boats. There are currently about 22 South African companies invested in the US providing about 6 900 jobs.

There is a huge exchange of knowledge between South African and US Universities that is mutually beneficial. We’ve gained a lot in the exchange of new technologies between the two countries, it is a country we can continue to gain in the field of new technologies and taking our country to greater heights. We value our mutual beneficial relations with the US.

Our worldview is, therefore, universal and not narrow. We are concerned with the well-being of others as our well-being is linked to theirs.

In the context of multilateral trade, South Africa remains an active champion of reforms that prioritise development and equality.

Speaker, the world is rapidly changing.

Interdependence is being pitted against competition.

Cooperation is being shifted in favour of conflict.

For us, values are placed at the altar of transactions.

A growing body of evidence indicates that the actions of the current US administration can be understood through what has been referred to as Project 2025.

To elaborate, Professor Albert at Brandeis University, whose research and teaching focus on political campaigns and public policymaking, argues that nearly all actions taken in President Trump’s second administration were outlined in 2022 in a plan called Project 2025.

Here is an extract on USAID from that plan.

“U.S. foreign aid has been transformed into a massive and open-ended global entitlement program captured by—and enriching—the progressive Left.

The next conservative Administration should scale back USAID’s global footprint by, at minimum, returning to the agency’s 2019 pre–COVID–19 pandemic budget level. It should deradicalise USAID’s programs and structures and build on the conservative reforms instituted by the Trump Administration.“

There is no question that executive orders churned out rapidly are in step with this mandate.

In addition, speeches by US office bearers illustrate a notable shift in perspective; the same nations that we were once cajoled into isolating are now viewed more favourably by this US administration.

The South African government has maintained peace as the only viable solution to the Ukrainian conflict. We were cajoled into isolating Russia, even to the point of being accused of arming the Russians. As we speak, the United States of America is stating that only peace is the viable solution to the Ukrainian conflict and exclusively engaging the Russians.

This begs the question: What do those who accuse us of aligning with Russia have to say for themselves now? We have maintained that non-alignment does not equate to maligning other states. In order for there to be peace all parties must be invited to the table.

Our response to these rapidly shifting sands, should include collaboration and partnership and strategies to be less reliant on foreign assistance.

Speaker, South Africa has much to offer our trading partners. South Africa holds the world’s largest resources of platinum group metals (87.7% of the global total), manganese (80%), and chromium (72.4%), in addition to other minerals that are vital for the green and digital transition, we continue to argue that value add must happen at source and not just the extraction of raw materials from our country.

Achieving health sovereignty for ourselves and our continent is amongst the key aspirations of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

Our experience with the COVID-19 pandemic taught us a great deal.

It taught us that we must become self-reliant or face being at the mercy of rich nations in the West who proved themselves capable of acts like hoarding lifesaving vaccines and giving us, as Africans, the leftovers.

It must not happen again. It will not happen again.

We owe it to ourselves and future generations to build a robust, self-sufficient, sustainable health infrastructure.

The gains we have made over the last two decades are fragile.

Without sustained investment to bolster the national response to pandemics and viruses, the future human and economic cost will be heavy, as the Minister of Health highlighted in the debate.

We must be self-sufficient to safeguard our continent’s future, but in the spirit of progressive internationalism, we will engage all, including the country that will succeed us as G20 President, the United States of America.

This current moment in geopolitics has proven that our non-aligned foreign policy approach is the correct approach.

It is a great privilege that these opportunities occasioned by this shift take place at a time when we hold the G20 Presidency.

We will choose Ubuntu diplomacy, emphasising mutual benefit, solidarity, and cooperation.

We will not give up on equal rights, equal opportunities and equal rules as basic principles of the multilateral system.

By leveraging our leadership in multilateral institutions and international partnerships, we intend to translate our regional and global engagements into tangible economic gains for our citizens and improve our overall economic profile and standing worldwide.

We are clear that promoting our National Interest globally is of central importance to southern Africa and the continent.

We will continue working with the countries of the Global South to address the shared challenges of underdevelopment and promote global equity and social justice.

We face neither East nor West.

So, we will continue working with the countries of the North to forge equitable partnerships based on mutual respect in pursuit of a better world.

We are committed to enhancing the multilateral system and its transformation to better represent the world’s diversity and to ensure our country’s central role in global governance.

In 2022, the African Union adopted the New Public Health Order, aimed at promoting greater self-reliance in health agendas.

It calls for:

a. Strengthened Public Health Institutions
b. Domestic Resource Mobilisation
c. Local Manufacturing of Health Products
d. Health Workforce Development
e. Respectful and Action-Orientated Partnerships

This is the way forward and will be implemented.

We are committed to engaging in global health diplomacy from a position of strength, not weakness. Our strength is defined by our dedication to securing the health of our people. We assert that our continent must establish regional health security, and national health security is the responsibility of our state.

We’ll fight for the right to be free
We will build our own society, and in our own society
We will sing, sing our own song
(Amandla Awethu, Awethu)

This excerpt is from Sing Our Own Song, written and performed by the British reggae group UB40.

The song was created as an anti-apartheid song and faced censorship in South Africa. Featuring the ANC rallying cry Amandla Awethu, it is regarded as a significant protest song of that era.

Our foreign policy echoes the spirit of this song.

We will indeed build our own society.

In our own society we will sing our own song.

Amandla Nagwethu

I thank you.

ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION

OR Tambo Building
460 Soutpansberg Road
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