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Pan-African Parliament should have rotational leadership, says Thandi Modise


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Pan-African Parliament should have rotational leadership, says Thandi Modise

National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise
National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise

2nd June 2021

By: News24Wire

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Speaker of the National Assembly Thandi Modise said she expects the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) to follow rotational leadership.

As more chaotic scenes unfolded in the PAP, Modise delivered Parliament's budget vote to a hybrid mini-plenary of the National Assembly from the chamber in Cape Town on Tuesday.

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At the PAP, the bone of contention was who should be the president, with the bloc from southern Africa insisting it should be awarded on a rotational basis.

Some of South Africa's representatives were involved, with Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema threatening to kill a representative from Mali on Thursday.

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On Monday, a Malian delegate kicked at African National Congress (ANC) chief whip Pemmy Majodina, while Malema stormed the podium on Tuesday.

Malema was later shoved by a female delegate.

Meanwhile, in a more sedentary sitting in the national legislature, the only interruption was the odd comment from EFF MPs via the virtual platform.

In her speech, Modise said Parliament must continue representing South Africa on international and multilateral levels.

"We continue to see positive progress at SADC-PF [Southern Africa Development Community Parliamentary Forum] towards being our regional Parliament. Indeed, the quality of model laws at this level can only contribute towards a cohesive region, which promotes stability and growth," she said.

"We host the PAP as a country. We have delegated members to serve there. We do need to take a more active interest in the affairs and functioning of the PAP. Whatever goes wrong at the PAP, South Africa gets blamed. The truth is we have not been able to properly play the role of host, we have to remedy this.

"We want to reiterate the PAP is an organ of the AU, that whatever rules, whatever instructions the AU puts down on all its structures, must apply at the PAP. And, therefore, we expect the rotational rules and process will follow on the floor of the PAP."

ANC MP Bheki Radebe also lamented the proceedings at the PAP.

"What happened at the PAP is really disgusting," he said. "How is the rest of the world going to take us seriously if we do this to each other?"

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