By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The 58th Munich Security Conference (MSC) opened in the southern German city of Munich on Friday afternoon with a theme focusing on “unlearning helplessness.”
There is a mounting feeling of “helplessness” in many societies of the world in the face of a growing number of crises and conflicts, according to a security report published ahead of the conference.
“The feeling of helplessness is becoming a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, which leads to give up, even though we have all the tools and resources to address such challenges as the pandemic, climate change or great power confrontations,” said Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the MSC.
In addition, the high-profile conference is about to see a number of meetings on the sidelines to discuss the Ukraine issue.
The MSC, which runs from Friday and will conclude on Sunday, is an annual conference on international security that has taken place in Munich since 1963.
It is the world’s largest gathering of its kind and is normally attended by Heads of State, government and international organisations, Cabinet Ministers, parliamentarians and high-ranking representatives of the armed forces.
International Relations and Cooperation Minister Dr Naledi Pandor will be joined on the panel by Karl Lauterbach, the Minister of Health of Germany, John Nkengasong, the Director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and by Sir Jeremy Farrar, Director of the Wellcome Trust.
The minister will also attend a breakfast engagement with female Foreign Ministers, which will be hosted by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock of Germany and Foreign Minister Marise Payne of Australia.
The breakfast engagement will focus on the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda.
South Africa and Switzerland are the co-chairs of the WPS Network for 2022. Pandor is also expected to have several bilateral engagements with other Foreign Ministers attending the conference.