The Pan African Parliament (PAP) came home to South Africa this week — toothless but full of hope in a ceremony rich with the continent’s culture and talent.
President Thabo Mbeki welcomed the 230 African parliamentarians, five from each of the 46 states that have ratified the PAP protocol, to their new R18-million a year home at Gallagher Estate in Midrand.
”Today we meet at this gathering of the representatives of the people of our continent to write a new page in our continuing efforts to give meaning to the rallying call of our struggle for liberation, that the people shall govern!
”We meet in South Africa today because the peoples of Africa dared to make the necessary sacrifices to end the criminal system of apartheid in our country and thus bring to a close the long period of colonial and white minority rule in our country.
”It is a matter of great shame and regret to all of us that, nevertheless, the issue of self-determination for the people of Western Sahara remains unresolved. This presents all of us with the challenge to ensure that we do everything possible to ensure that these sister people enjoy this fundamental and inalienable right, whose defence by the entirety of our continent brought us our own freedom.”
In the audience were the five members of the PAP from the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, officially recognised by Pretoria on Wednesday. One of them, Salah Abd Mohamed, said: ”This new development brings closer the Saharawi dream of self-determination.”
African Union and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan did not attend the second sitting of the PAP.
Mbeki told MPs that ”the eyes of the peoples of our continent will be focused on you as you carry out your work over the next few weeks.
”These masses do not need anybody to inform them about their conditions and the history they have had to endure.
”They need no teachers to educate them about the denial of their human rights and the right to determine their destiny by military rulers; the theft of their resources by corrupt elites that abuse power to prey on the poor of our continent. Their condemnation to perpetual and increasing poverty because of domestic and international policies and practices results in the poor getting poorer and the rich, richer.
”The African masses look to the [PAP] to help change all of that. They want you, elected representatives, to change their material conditions so they escape from the jaws of poverty, and their countries and continent from the clutches of under-development.”
The PAP President, Gertrude Mongella, said the institution had come ”at the right time … What is needed is serious nurturing of the institution by ensuring that it has the necessary resources for proper functioning.”
And in his address to the PAP, India’s President Abdul Kalam made a surprise announcement of a $50-million satellite, fibre optic and wireless network his country will provide to the 53 AU states. ”This is for tele-education, tele-medicine and e-services. It will connect five universities, 53 learning centres, 10 super specialty hospitals and 53 patient end locations in rural areas.”
Security was extremely tight. Police in full riot gear cordoned off more than 200 Movement for Democratic Change protestors who were demanding an end to human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. Across the Limpopo, Sapa reported that a group of 50 women, aligned to Women of Zimbabwe Arise, demonstrated outside the South African embassy in Harare.