Hon. Pemmy Majodina speaks on Executive Council decision on PAP

A member of South Africa’s parliamentary delegation to the Pan African Parliament (PAP), Rt. Honourable Pemmy Majodina has bared her mind on the recent decision of the 40^th Ordinary Session of the African Union’s Executive Council (Council) which sat 02 to 03 February 2022 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Hon. Majodina is a ranking member and the Chief Whip of the majority African National Congress (ANC) in South Arica’s National Assembly and a member of the Southern Caucus of PAP.

She was part of the parliamentary delegation that arrived in Ethiopia a week before the Session to follow up on the work done by the first delegation that came in October 2021 during the 39^th Ordinary Session of the Council.

The mission of the February 2022 delegation was to meet with the African Union Commission and to continue the consultations and lobby the ambassadors of member states to the African Union on the need to implement the principle of rotation in the election of the president of the continental parliament.

“When the PAP session collapsed in May 2021 because of differences in understanding of how rotation must be conducted, we were concerned as the Southern region and felt that we must take it upon ourselves to take the initiative to meet with the AUC to prevail upon the PAP that rotation must be implemented as one of the principles of the AU”.

Continuing, Hon. Majodina said that the delegation engaged the ambassadors outside the southern region because PAP is not just for the southern region but for the whole of African continent. She stated that PAP is the legislative organ of the AU but has not sat for two years.

“For two years, there was a lapse in the functionality of PAP and therefore our main concern as representatives of the people through our National Parliaments is that PAP cannot be held to ransom by the very selfish interest of one region or the other that want to hold on to leadership without rotation which is an AU principle” .

“However, we are happy that during this session of the Council, having lobbied all the countries, having put our case very strongly that we want PAP to be reconvened, we must ensure that the principle of rotation is implemented”.

“The issue of rotation is done and dusted and we are happy about that. Secondly, the seat of PAP until further amended is agreed to be in South Africa which has been hosting PAP since 2004. If there is any lobby to move the seat of the parliament, it must be done procedurally and people must not use information that is unverified to try to move the seat of PAP. South Africa is paying a lot to host PAP and we are happy about that. We are looking forward to the session by April that came as a result of the decision of the Executive Council”.

Concluding, Hon. Majodina stated that the Southern region preferred the session to be held in March but the Executive Council resolved on reconvening in April “and we shall watch the space closely”.