International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane briefs media on the outcomes of the recent Joint Ministerial Meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and the upcoming BRICS Summit to be held in Brazil. (Photo: GCIS)
Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane recently attended the AU summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and had a few interesting things to share with the African continent.
In an interview with Nigeria’s TVC News before the summit, the minister said South Africa had no favourites among the candidates who were poised to take the AU top job, as the country had no sworn enemies within the continent.
“We have no favourites,” she said, though she said personally she would like it if a woman took the job.
She further “volunteered” to answer a question that the interviewer had not asked, on the appointment of the new director-general of the World Health Organisation.
“As I walked into the room, I met with the former foreign minister of Ethiopia, who has just been elected the director-general of the World Health Organisation, so I took advantage of hugging the man who is going high up. Maybe next time we will have to make an appointment, but we are elated. I know that I’m jumping the gun here,” the minister said.
There is nothing wrong with a minister congratulating another minister for getting a top job, only that Nkoana-Mashabane congratulated Ethiopia’s former foreign minister Tedros Adhanom on an appointment that has not happened yet and cannot possibly happen for a number of months.
Adhanom is one of three candidates who are still vouching for the top position and the appointment will only take place after a vote in May.
Watch the cringe-worthy interview below:
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