VP Mohadi in SA for Speakers’ conference Vice President Kembo Mohadi is welcomed by embassy officials in South Africa yesterday. — Picture: Roselyne Sachiti

Roselyne Sachiti in MIDRAND, South Africa

Vice President Kembo Mohadi arrived in South Africa last night and is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at the 12th annual conference of Speakers of African National and Regional Parliaments today.

Speaking upon arrival, VP Mohadi, who is representing President Mnangagwa, said he is here at the invitation of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP).

He was received by Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to South Africa David Hamadziripi, PAP president Chief Fortune Charumbira, South African government officials and Zimbabwean parliamentarians representing the country at PAP.

VP Mohadi is accompanied by Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Deputy Minister Kuda Mnangagwa and Government officials.

The conference is running alongside the sessions of the permanent committees and other bodies of the PAP, which started on Friday last week and are scheduled to conclude on Friday this week.

The conference is convening under the African Union theme for 2024: “Educate an African fit for the 21st century: Building resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive, lifelong, quality, and relevant learning in Africa.”

The PAP was founded in March 2004, in accordance with Article 17 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union.

It is one of the nine organs outlined in the treaty that established the African Economic Community, which was signed in Abuja, Nigeria, in 1991. The protocol that set up the PAP has been ratified by 49 AU member states.

Chief Charumbira is the current PAP President, after his re-election at an extraordinary session of the Sixth Parliament in March this year.

He previously held the same position between June 2022 and August 2023 before the post became vacant when he left to participate in the general elections in Zimbabwe to renew his term of office as Senator.

The PAP has 275 members, all from their national parliaments, and Zimbabwe has the standard group of five.

According to Article 4 of the protocol, each national Parliament is required to send five representatives, ensuring that at least one of them is a woman.

As stipulated in Article 5 of the same protocol, the representatives of the Pan-African Parliament are either elected or appointed by the national Parliaments of the member states. The creation of the PAP is driven by a vision to establish a unified platform that enables African citizens and their grassroots organisations to engage more actively in discussions and decision-making regarding the issues and challenges confronting the continent.

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