DIRCO on: SA chairing the AU; outcomes of the recent AU Summit; with Minister

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International Relations

26 February 2020
Chairperson: Ms T Mahambehlala (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Committee was briefed by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) on South Africa’s chairship of the African Union (AU) for 2020, and the outcomes of the 33rd ordinary session of the Assembly of heads of state and government of the African Union. President Ramaphosa was the new chair of the continental bloc, and would lead the organisation under the theme Silencing the Guns; Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development.

The Committee learned that under the chairship of President Ramaphosa, South Africa would seek to implement legacy projects such as the minting of gold coins, the building of a Pan-African Parliament, and the digitisation of the archives of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)/AU. The meeting also touched on what President Ramaphosa was expected to do while in office, such as representing the AU in all areas of its competences and participating in various partnership summits.

Of serious concern was the delay in locating a site for the building of the Pan-African Parliament which Members argued was something that was going to embarrass the President if action was not taken. They wanted to know the reason for the recent lack of participation by SA in election observer missions. What benefits had been derived from the OAU/AU’s existence? What was SA’s view on sanctions against Zimbabwe, and developments in Lesotho and Malawi? What was the government’s reaction to the United States Ambassador’s comments on expropriation without compensation? Was SA going to push the AU to institute a court similar to the International Court of Justice?

Meeting report

Introduction and Welcome Remarks

The Chairperson welcomed the Minister of International Relations, Dr Naledi Pandor, and her delegation from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), and accepted apologies from Deputy Minister Alvin Botes, who was away on government business in Geneva.

Outcomes of 33rd Ordinary Session of the African Union

Ms Bongiwe Qwabe, Chief Director: African Union (AU), DIRCO, informed Members of the outcomes of the 33rd ordinary session of the assembly of heads of state and government of the African Union which took place on 9 and 10 February in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The session was held under the theme for 2020 titled, “Silencing the Guns and creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development.”

It was during this session that South Africa assumed the Chair of the AU for 2020. Minister Pandor had led the South African delegation, which was comprised of different Ministers assisting in various areas. They included Minister in the Presidency, Mr Jackson Mthembu, on African Union Development Agency (AUDA) and New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Ebrahim Patel, on economic development, the Minister of Public Service and Administration, Mr Senzo Mchunu on African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) issues, and the Minister of Communications, Ms Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, on the 4th Industrial Revolution.

The Committee was made aware that President Ramaphosa, as the Chairperson of the AU, was expected to represent the AU in all areas of its competences, including participation in partnership summits, the G20 (or Group of Twenty) international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 19 countries and the European Union (EU), the World Economic Forum (WEF), etc.

Ms Qwabe said that the Bureau for 2020 was composed of South Africa as the Chair, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was First Vice-Chair, Mali was Second Vice-Chair, Kenya was Third Vice-Chair, and Egypt was the Rapporteur. The incoming Chair of the AU for 2022 was elected at the Session, and it was going to be the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

The Assembly had received several reports on institutional reform, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), and peace and security on the continent. It had also considered reports of the committees of the Assembly and from leaders on the specific thematic areas, such as the Committee of Ten (C10) on Security Council Reform, the AU High-Level Panel of Libya, NEPAD, APRM, etc. The summit had adopted legal instruments of the AU and appointed candidates to the AU Organs.

South Africa, as the new AU Chair, had priorities which it would seek to advance during its tenure in office. The priorities were:

  • Economic development, trade and investment
  • Advancing peace and security, and silencing the guns,
  • Advancing women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship
  • Supporting good governance and a democracy agenda
  • Infrastructure development
  • Advancing AU-United Nations (UN) cooperation.

On economic development, Ms Qwabe emphasised that South Africa's thrust would be on the operationalisation of the AfCFTA and the implementation of the Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative (PICI) of NEPAD, in support of the AfCFTA.

The Assembly would convene an extraordinary summit of the AfCFTA back to back with that on “Silencing of the Guns,” to finalise the outstanding issues before the start of trading in July 2020.

To advance peace and security, South Africa would work with the collective AU membership and Commission to intensify efforts towards resolving conflicts in Libya, South Sudan, Sahel, etc. An extraordinary summit on “Silencing of the Guns” had been scheduled for May 30, 2020, to find a practical way forward on this matter, and South Africa had pledged humanitarian support of $1 million to the Sahel.

The Assembly had declared 2020/30 as the decade of women’s financial and economic inclusion. Furthermore, it had adopted a declaration on promoting closer collaboration and cooperation between the AU, the African diaspora, and people of African descent in the Caribbean and Pacific regions. The Africa-Caribbean Community (CARICOM) summit would be hosted in Kenya. The 400th anniversary of the transatlantic slave trade would be hosted in Ghana, and 9 March was declared by the Assembly as APRM Day.

South Africa’s Chairship of the African Union in 2020

Dr Pandor updated the Committee on South Africa's chairing of the African Union in 2020.  South Africa had assumed the chairship of the AU under the stewardship of President Ramaphosa on 9 February 2020 under the theme “Silencing the Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development.” She said the strategic focus of South Africa's chairship was in line with the country's national interest in promoting peace and security, economic development and good governance on the African continent, in line with Priority 7 of the National Development Plan (NDP) and Agenda 2063 of the AU.

South Africa's chairship would focus on the five priorities which Ms Qwabe had mentioned in her presentation. South Africa would also chair the African Peer Review Mechanism and the Committee of African Heads of State on Climate Change (CAHOSSC).

Urgent issues that would be addressed would be the extraordinary summit on the AfCFTA and the summit on “Silencing the Guns.” The two meetings would be held in Johannesburg on May 30, but the venue was yet to be confirmed. Other issues that would be addressed would be on the rationalisation of the agenda and programme of work of the Assembly, continuing with the reform of the Commission, the infrastructure high-level forum, and partnership summits, such as the Africa/EU and Africa/Arab League.

Minister Pandor pointed out that South Africa, as the new Chair, had some legacy projects that it would seek to champion during its tenure. These included the digitisation of the archives of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)/AU, providing the site for the construction of the Pan-African Parliament, and the minting of gold coins to commemorate the founding fathers of the OAU/AU. The Ministry would conduct its diplomacy by coordinating positions with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) sub-region and also lobby like-minded countries on the continent.

Discussion

Mr D Bergman (DA) asked the Minister why they had not mentioned Morocco in their peace and security initiative, and argued that as the first step to dialogue, President Ramaphosa should send an ambassador to Morocco. He also wanted to know why South Africa had not been participating lately in election observer missions, yet it expected free and fair elections to be rolled out on the continent and in the region.

Minister Pandor responded that there were no changes in South Africa's stance on Morocco, and that the continent supported and respected people's full liberties and human rights. On elections, she would check for data on all the elections conducted in the SADC region to establish whether or not SA was part of the observer missions, and give feedback. However, she highlighted that what had now become an issue of concern was the time that the observer missions arrived in a country. She argued that there was a need for observer missions to arrive early in countries conducting elections so that they could have a clear picture of the process, and said that that discussion had already started.

Rev K Meshoe (ACDP) asked the Minister why there had been delays in identifying the Pan-African Parliament site. Why was the AU not coercing non-signatories to the APRM? Had the free trade agreement discussions already listed the products that would be traded? Were there any benefits that one could identify since the existence of the OAU/AU?

Minister Pandor responded that she was waiting on the Department of Public Works (DPW) to give her feedback on the Pan-African Parliament site, but she was doing all she could to meet the deadline so that the issue did not embarrass the President and the country.

On APRM, she argued that there were no provisions to coerce Member states to be signatories, as the AU respected the sovereignty of countries and their right to choose.

She said that on the free trade agreement, products were part of the discussion, and trade ministers were discussing them and would present to their Presidents on the products at the summit to be held in May.

Regarding the benefits derived from the AU, Minister Pandor pointed out that the anti-apartheid movement was a result of the AU, the Abuja Treaty had come about as a result of AU deliberations, and that the promotion of African unity under the most difficult circumstances had been as a result of the OAU/AU.

Mr T Mpanza (ANC) recommended that the term “founding father” be abolished, as it was gender insensitive, and asked the Minister to brief the Committee on the situation in Zimbabwe and sanctions against that country, Lesotho and Malawi.

Minister Pandor noted Mr Mpanza's concerns on the “founding father” term, and advised that she would take the matter further for it to be addressed.

On Zimbabwe, she responded that the President had been briefed by the President of Zimbabwe on the political actors dialogue that had been created in Zimbabwe, which sought to see if the political actors in Zimbabwe could agree. On food security, Zimbabwe had indicated that it wanted to buy maize from South Africa, and not seek aid from SA. She added that SADC had agreed to call for the lifting of sanctions on Zimbabwe, as they were affecting the ordinary citizen.

South Africa was monitoring the Lesotho situation closely and would allow the judicial process to take its course. It was aware that parties were meeting in Parliament to make Constitutional amendments.

Focusing on Malawi, the Minister the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had respected the court order, and fresh elections were going to be held.

Ms T Msane (EFF) asked the Minster how they were going to deal with United States of America (USA) interference on the continent. What steps was SA going to take at the UN Security Council? Was SA going to push for the AU to have a court similar to the International Criminal Court (ICC)? What was the Minister’s take on the American Ambassador to SA’s comments on expropriation of land without compensation? She also asked the Minister about progress on the Cape to Cairo railway project.

On USA interference on the continent, Minister Pandor said Africa needed to be in control of its resources and security in order to do away with outside interference, and stressed that Africa had to be the driver of its geopolitical issues.

Responding on steps SA was taking on the UN Security Council, she said SA respected the UN, but reform was necessary as the composition of the Security Council was not democratic, because Africa was not represented. SA would continue to push for the reform of the Security Council.

On the ICC, the Minister said the issue was an agenda item which was already at the AU, as they believed that focus should be not only on Africa leaders, but should be around the globe.

As for the American Ambassador's remarks, she responded that she was yet to read the statement, but she was going to read it and write a response.

On the Cape to Cairo rail project, the Minister said that with the permission of the Committee, DIRCO would come and give a report on the African continent Infrastructure projects. 

Ms B Swarts (ANC) asked the Minister if SA could use its chairship to expose those countries that were abusing and dividing Africa.

Minster Pandor responded that they would intensify action to promote peace, and believed that Africa’s problems must be solved by Africans. They were aware of those countries that fuelled problems around the continent.

The Chairperson asked the Minister to brief the Committee on the Malabo Protocol.

Dr Pandor replied that the Malabo Protocol did not fall under her purview, as it was under the Justice Department.

Committee Minutes

The Committee considered and adopted seven draft Committee minutes.

The Chairperson adjourned the meeting.

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