AU urged to intervene as Pan-African Parly elections postponed
For the second day running chaos erupted in the Pan-African Parliament as MPs remain in divided over the rotational leadership system.
EFF leader Julius Malema at the Pan-African Parliament in Midrand, Johannesburg. Picture: @EFFSouthAfrica/Twitter.
New leadership of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) will now be elected at a later date after proceedings were postponed on Tuesday as tensions reached boiling point yet again.
For the second day running chaos erupted at the PAP in Midrand, Gauteng, with Members of Parliament (MPs) still having divided opinions and disagreements over whether the presidency should be on a rotational basis or via a direct ballot box.
WATCH: Pan-African MP kicks Pemmy Majodina ‘Dr Malinga style’
It is understood that southern block is calling for the presidency to rotate while the east and west are against this.
The voting, which was scheduled to happen at 2pm, has been postponed to October according to several news outlets as the MPs are expected to elect the new head of PAP.
Statement on the suspension of the Ordinary Session pic.twitter.com/QazuTOviHm
— PanAfricanParliament (@AfrikParliament) June 1, 2021
Speaking to eNCA, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema, one of the MPs, indicated that the environment was not conducive for elections to take place.
“You have got people who conduct elections in violent situations where they come from. That’s why they don’t see anything wrong. For us it’s not conducive because every time we meet there’s a problem. We must not allow this to go on [because] we have seen a woman being kicked… we have seen a woman being strangled and her arm being broken,” he said.
WATCH: Malema threatens to ‘kill’ MP in Pan African parliament
Malema’s comments come after videos emerged on social media, which saw an MP pushing the EFF leader during the proceedings.
The EFF leader has since called for the African Union (AU) to facilitate the elections in October because “some people were obsessed with positions of power”.
????????♂️ pic.twitter.com/mwNQnHBgGW
— Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) June 1, 2021
On Monday, Senegalian representative Djibril was caught on camera on Monday kicking South African PAP representative Pemmy Majodina during a heated disagreement between MPs.
Majodina said she was intervening to break up a physical fight between two MPs when she found herself being assaulted.
She said she would open a case of assault with the police against War, but she later changed her mind after he apologised.
Controversial incumbent Dang from Cameroon has been at the helm for two terms even though the parliament agreed on the principle of regional rotation.
