BY HARRIET CHIKANDIWA THE Pan African Parliament (Pap) southern region caucus yesterday seconded Chiefs Council president Fortune Charumbira for the top Pap post.
This was revealed by the Head of delegation and Namibia opposition leader McHenry Venani after paying a courtesy call on Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda ahead of the Pap elective congress.
“We have descended in Harare as the southern African region to strategise on how we are going to win the presidency of the Pap,” Venani said.
“Us descending here is to come and get our house in order to consolidate our region, the whole region is in unison in support of Charumbira as our candidate.”
Pap is headed by a bureau consisting of a president and four vice-presidents. Members of the Bureau represent the five regions of the continent. Last year, African parliamentarians caused havoc during a dispute over the election of a new Pap president leading to the Pap plenary being indefinitely suspended.
Venani added: “Us coming here is just to put our campaign in order and make sure that our financial resources are in order, making sure that our strategies are in order, our messaging is in order, to make sure that we touch those areas that we are seeing loose ends.”
Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda said: “Charumbira has been endorsed by the southern region caucus… so they have decided to come together and map the way forward in readiness for the elections that should take place in South Africa as the host country.”
Initially, the Pap seat was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, before it was moved to Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
