Time Sadc runs AU Commission

no doubt that this is Sadc’s time and that the candidate being proffered is of a better quality and stability and revolutionary credential than the one trying to cling on the power.
Jean Ping has clearly demonstrated both the inability to be autonomous from the West and the incapacity to successfully protect the interests of African countries, especially in course of events in Libya. Libya exposed Ping as a circus of great substance, far away from a professional who can be trusted by all and sundry.
Attempts, undertaken by the AU to outline a political resolution to the Libyan crisis, failed due to Ping’s inert political performance, which, in turn, resulted in vast civilians casualties. If anything, Ping collaborated with the West and Nato at the expense of an African country he was supposed to protect and his links with former French president Nicholas Sarkozy, leaves a lot of be desired.
To aggravate the situation, Ping preferred not to notice the massacre of citizens of African states employed in Libya, labelled by the opponents of Gaddafi’s regime as mercenaries. Soon after the aggression against Libya stockpiles of weapons from the country’s military arsenals found their way into the hands of “AQIM”, “Boko Haram” and other radical groups, operating on the African continent.
Now Africa has problems from the ripple effects of that war and Mali is a testimony of that. If fact, Ping, should apologise to Africans. He failed the continent.
During his term as head of the AU Commission Ping failed to meet expectations of those African countries, which supported and voted for his candidacy.
Moreover, he misguided the attention of the union of AU countries away from the problems at hand. As a result, the AU is abused by the Western countries to enforce advantageous scenarios of crisis management in Africa, through Ping.
The above mentioned representative of the southern part of the African continent has never headed the AU Commission. This, in turn, does not correspond with the principals of rotation.
The appointment of Dlamini-Zuma as AU Commissioner is a far more reasonable and logical choice, because South Africa is a regional power player that has both economic and political weight on the international arena, much of which is accumulated through its membership in BRICS. 
As a non-permanent member in the UN Security council South Africa also productively represents African interests and sustains a leading role in Sadc – the only regional organisation that successfully accomplished the development of Stand-by forces.
All these factors will enable Dlamini-Zuma to attain an active and independent position, effectively protecting the interests of African countries from the West. Victory for Dlamini-Zuma’s candidature in next month’s African Union Commission chairperson election will be a victory for gender equality and a fresh awakening to pan African sentiments, the Pan African Business Forum has stated.
Endorsing Dlamini-Zuma’s the South African Home Affairs Minister will give the continent a new impetus for economic development and an important player in world politics if elected. If she is elected, it would be a victory for gender equality and indeed affirmative action for the whole continent since all three AU chairmen till now, have been men.
Last January, Dlamini-Zuma stood against Jean Ping, a former Gabonese Foreign Affairs Minister and none garnered the required two-thirds majority votes to be elected the AU Commission chairman.
During the fourth round of voting, which incumbent Ping was the only candidate following the established voting rules, he still failed to garner the two-third votes, hence a re-run was slated for June.

Professor Anna Mititi Michero is a political scientist in Kenya and writes for DayAfrica.com.

 

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