Cape Town - Responding to questions at the National Assembly, president Cyril Ramaphosa reiterated the need for United Nations Security Council reforms.
The president was responding to Questions for Oral Reply in the National Assembly in Parliament, in Cape Town, on Thursday.
Ramaphosa said reform of the UN Security Council was vital to global efforts to advance peace and stability and that government continued to call for urgent reform based on the African Common Position.
The position calls for two permanent seats and five non-permanent seats for Africa; and the abolishment of the veto and for as long as the veto exists, it is a privilege that should be extended to all new permanent members.
“In its current configuration, the Council has failed in the execution of its Charter mandate, because of narrow national interests and the quest for further geopolitical influence,” Ramaphosa said.
“It has not been able in recent years been able to prevent or resolve several damaging conflicts.This is evident in conflicts currently underway in the Middle East, in Sudan, in the Eastern DRC and between Russia and Ukraine.”
African states make up a quarter of the 193 United Nations member states, but no African country has a permanent seat.
The current five permanent members of the UN Security Council are China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States,
“This is a particular concern when many of the issues on the agenda of the Council relate to matters on the African continent.”
Responding to a question related to the GNU, Ramaphosa said the GNU has effectively managed a smooth transition from the 6th to the 7th democratic administration.
“It has ensured stability and continuity. It has promoted inclusivity. Importantly, it has brought together a broad spectrum of political parties to work together to advance shared principles and pursue of a common programme of action to address the challenges confronting the country.
“Building on the work of the previous administration, the GNU has worked with social partners to stabilise the country’s electricity supply and to improve the performance of ports. It has introduced new visa regulations to attract skills, investment and tourism.
Work is underway across government to improve the prospects for inclusive growth, to create employment and training opportunities for young people, to improve the quality of health and education, to tackle crime and corruption, and to provide social support to those South Africans most in need.”
Whether the GNU approach should be extended to other spheres of government, should be discussed among political parties themselves, he added.
On organised syndicates involved in kidnapping and extortion and the involvement of police officers and illegal foreign nationals, Ramaphosa said police have adjusted its operational response to organised criminal syndicates, in particular to kidnapping for ransom and extortion, through internal directives.
Ramaphosa said with each kidnapping case, a special Joint Operations Committee is convened.
“This consists of multidisciplinary resources to concentrate on the investigation of the kidnapping case and deal with the safe release of the victim.”
A Priority Committee was established at a national level to address the various types of extortion that have emerged.