PAP Southern Regional Caucus pledge to build a new, united and responsive Parliament

The leaders of the Southern Regional Caucus in the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) has resolved to build a new, united and responsive parliament that would protect the interest of African people as opposed to the current system where the parliament seats for two or three sessions in a year after which it remains silent for the rest of the year.

This was disclosed by Hon. Pemmy Majodina, a member of South Africa’s delegation to PAP and the ANC Chief Whip in the Parliament of South Africa who chaired the three-day strategic meeting of the leaders of Southern Caucus country delegations to PAP which ended last Friday in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Hon. Majodina disclosed that the Southern Regional Caucus will reach out to the other four regions to preach unity and cohesion of the continent and ensure that PAP plays its expected oversight legislative role which is currently lacking.

“It is important for all member states to work together to make PAP a rare people’s parliament” regretting that “PAP’s silence in the continent has become too loud in terms of injustices, inequalities, poverty, political instability, gender based violence and femicide”.

“PAP is an organ of the African Union and therefore mutatis mutandis, what is done in the continent must also be done at PAP in terms of structures” noting that PAP is supposed to protect the interests of our people.  

She stated that the coming together of the leaders of the Southern Caucus in Zimbabwe “was to say, how do we shape this PAP? How do we ensure that we adhere to the founding principles of the OAU which turned AU?”

Hon. Majodina disclosed that the leaders of the Southern Caucus also had a meeting with the African Ambassadors from the continent in Harare.

“We shared with the Ambassadors, the vision that we have as a host region for the Parliament, to take ourselves serious and lead from the front, meaning that we must pass motions, we must propose amendments, we must bring innovations to PAP working with the SADC because at SADC, we have Speakers (of Parliaments), and Heads of State. And it is very important that we must share our vision with them because the Speakers by nature, are supposed to be associate members of PAP”.

She maintained that the Heads of State must be interested in what is going on at PAP and assist PAP to be a responsive parliament, a people centered parliament, a youth friendly parliament and a women friendly parliament.

“The strategic meeting was very empowering, it was very transparent because we made our own introspection”.

She posited that PAP must revisit its rules for the continuity and sustainability of the Parliament in terms of lack of uniformity of tenure which does not make room for cohesion as well as the composition – women, youth, persons with disability stressing that change is a necessity that must come, for us to have the “Africa we want”.