International relations & co-operation minister Ronald Lamola has defended South Africa’s foreign policy, saying the country must use its diplomatic standing to advance African integration and reform global governance.Tabling his department’s R7.227bn budget vote in parliament on Tuesday, Lamola said South Africa could not retreat from its responsibility to champion multilateralism, international law and the interests of the African continent.“We table this budget at a time when international co-operation is under sustained pressure from unilateralism, economic coercion, wars of aggression, deals of extraction and a winner-takes-all approach to global relations,” Lamola said.He said South Africa’s foreign policy remained anchored in “Ubuntu, justice, international law, dialogue, multilateralism and the needs of our region and our continent”.Lamola placed Africa at the centre of his speech, saying the African Continental Free Trade Area had the potential to create a common market worth $3.4-trillion. But he warned that intra-African trade remained too low, at 16% across the continent and 21% in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), compared with 68% in Europe and 59% in Asia.“This is the source of our vulnerability to external shocks. It is also why regional integration must move from aspiration to implementation,” he said.Lamola said South Africa would use its Sadc leadership from August 2026 to deepen political cohesion, consolidate the Sadc free trade area, reduce non-tariff barriers and build regional value chains in agro-processing, critical minerals beneficiation, pharmaceuticals and other strategic sectors.He said the region held 30% of the world’s proven critical mineral reserves, about 50% of its cobalt reserves, 20% of its graphite reserves and 10% of its copper reserves.Lamola also defended South Africa’s role in global governance reform, saying the country would continue calling for reform of the UN, especially the Security Council. He said South Africa would continue to use Brics to advance reform of global governance institutions, with the expansion of Brics to 11 members being “a significant milestone in the growing voice of the Global South in international affairs”.On economic diplomacy, Lamola said South Africa’s agricultural exports reached a record $15.1bn in 2025, while farm exports reached $3.7bn in the first quarter of 2026, an 11% year-on-year increase.“These exports reach markets across Africa, the EU and Asia. They show how foreign policy can support jobs, production and economic opportunity at home,” he said.Lamola also said migration had to be managed lawfully and through state institutions, not vigilantism.“It means that law enforcement authorities enforce the law with regard to irregular migration, not private citizens,” he said.ANC MP and portfolio committee chair Supra Mahumapelo supported the budget, saying it should be used to deepen multilateralism, strengthen South-South relations and transform global institutions such as the UN Security Council.“A budget is an instrument of revolution,” Mahumapelo said.He proposed that Dirco, the Treasury, the Public Investment Corporation and public works discuss how South Africa’s immovable assets abroad could be used more effectively. He also said foreign direct investment should be assessed not only in quantitative terms but by whether it reduced poverty, inequality and unemployment.MK party MP Wesley Douglas said the world had entered a new geopolitical era and South Africa could not rely on outdated diplomatic methods.“We are witnessing the collapse of one world order and the violent birth of another,” Douglas said.He said embassies should become economic command centres focused on investment attraction, technology transfer, industrial partnerships, skills development, market access and tourism expansion.“Our people do not eat meetings. Young people do not find jobs through diplomatic photo opportunities,” he said.DA MP Mergan Chetty attacked Dirco’s spending record, raising the failed New York pilot project, the long-delayed Pan African Parliament precinct and the cost of foreign missions.“Over half-a-billion rand has already been spent on rentals, and with nothing more than a barren piece of land to show thus far,” Chetty said.He said the Pan African Parliament precinct had become a costly “vanity project”, while millions of young South Africans were unemployed and families were without homes.Foreign policy prioritiesEFF MP Nqobile Mhlongo rejected the budget, saying the department had lost direction in defining and pursuing South Africa’s foreign policy priorities.“We are convinced that we have lost direction in terms of what our foreign policy priorities are and how to pursue those,” Mhlongo said.Mhlongo said the department’s 26.3% vacancy rate weakened its ability to lead South Africa’s work on the global stage and said the budget did not provide a credible plan to address vacancies, ICT failures at foreign missions or deteriorating properties abroad.“We warned in the committee that the targets you set for the department are just a tick-box exercise, with no practical measurable outcomes,” Mhlongo said.Patriotic Alliance MP Millicent Mathopa said the budget should be judged by whether Dirco protected South Africans abroad and warned young people about international trafficking and scam networks.“This vote is not merely about diplomacy and embassies,” Mathopa said.She said South Africans stranded abroad because of financial hardship, expired visas or crises needed swift support from government, while young people were being lured with fake job offers to countries such as Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, only to be trapped in scam centres.FF Plus MP Philip van Staden said South Africa needed to rebuild strained relationships with key economic partners, particularly the US.“South Africa claims to follow a policy of non-alignment, but that should not just be told. It needs to show in how we act in practice,” Van Staden said.He warned that reckless rhetoric and verbal attacks against countries that provide economic support could isolate South Africa from valuable allies.ActionSA MP Malebo Patricia Kobo said the budget reflected a lack of strategic focus and failed to put South Africans first.“South Africans are expected more and more to tighten their belts while the system continually funds inefficiency and entitlement abroad,” Kobo said.She said it cost R3.5bn to maintain South Africa’s 115 embassies and missions abroad, but the department had no mechanism to evaluate their performance or value. She said some diplomatic postings appeared to exist as “cushioned deployments for political cadres”.ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe said inflation and exchange rate pressures would erode the department’s budget increase and limit its capacity to protect South Africans abroad.“The ACDP calls for ringfenced funding for consular protection,” Meshoe said.Meshoe said the department needed exemptions for critical posts, staffing in high-risk regions and secure digital platforms for consular services.“This budget does not show clear measurable impact, strong anti-corruption action or respect for taxpayers,” he said.