SOUTH Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party leader, Mr Julius Malema, says anyone could have been elected as leader of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) but they found Zimbabwe’s Chief Fortune Charumbira to be the most capacitated leader who will take the institution forward.
Chief Charumbira, who is also the president of the Chiefs
Council in Zimbabwe, got 161 votes from the 203 cast during the Fourth Ordinary
Session of the Fifth Parliament of the organisation in Midrand, South Africa on
Wednesday. A total of 31 abstained and 11 were spoilt votes.
His election saw him become the organisation’s first leader
from the Southern African Development Committee (Sadc) region.
As per PAP statutes, Chief Charumbira will be deputised by
four vice-presidents who were also elected on Wednesday, where two women being
ushered into office.
Mauritania’s Professor Massouda Mohamed Laghdaf will be the
first vice-president while Ethiopia’s Dr Gayo Ashebir will be the second.
Ango Ndoutoune of Gabon is the third and Lucia Martia
Goncalves dos Passos of Cape Verde was elected as the fourth vice-president.
Chief Charumbira and his executive will be in office for
the next four years.
“Each one of us is best suited to take the institution
forward but we found him to be one of the most capacitated leaders who will
take us forward,” said Mr Malema.
Chief Charumbira holds a Masters in Business Administration
(MBA) as well as Bachelor in Administration Law and Labour Law. He is a
specialist in Institutional Change and Performance Improvement. He served as
the Deputy Minister of Local Government and Public Works in 2000. Wednesday’s
elections followed a stalemate that resulted in the legislative arm of the
African Union failing to choose its leaders owing to differences on modalities
of handling the election last year.
The deadlock was resolved by an Executive Council decision
in October 2021, which reiterated the adoption of the principle of rotation
when electing the leadership of the institution.
Speaking after taking his oath of office, Chief Charumbira
said the continent must immediately fight and destroy the divisions caused by
foreign languages imposed by outside continents which resulted in Africans
identifying each other as Anglophones, Francophones and Lusophones.
He said regardless of how the voting process went, he will
be a president for everyone in his push for a united Africa.
“I want us to come together; we need to immediately fight
and destroy the divisions caused by these foreign languages in Africa imposed
on us by outside continents and resulted in us identifying one another as
Anglophones, Francophones and Lusophones,” he said.
“I am a president for everyone despite how you voted, it is
high time we put our African people forward and do away with unnecessary
conflicts.
“Together we can achieve more, we will only develop our
continent when united and this is an essential thing for our people to see and
experience in our lifetime,” said Chief Charumbira. Chronicle
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