Luanda - The Speaker of the Zimbabwe Parliament, Jacob Mudenda on Saturday, praised the efforts the Angolan counterpart, Carolina Cerqueira, is putting forward for the constitution of the future regional parliament of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
In a congratulatory message sent to the Angolan Parliament Speaker, the deputy also praises Carolina Cerqueira for her leadership efforts in elevating women.
“Congratulations, Your Excellency Speaker, for your bold leadership efforts in elevating women”, reads the message.
Early on Thursday, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) became the 12th SADC member state to formalize its adhesion to the agreement to transform the organization's Parliamentary Forum into a regional parliament.
This was signed by the DRC ambassador to Angola, Constantin Kalala Mayba, to whom President Felix Tshisekedi gave full powers to sign the protocol.
For its entry into force, the agreement to transform the SADC-PF into Parliament requires a minimum of 12 signatures.
Carolina Cerqueira, welcomed the step taken by the DRC, considering that the conditions have been created for the SADC-PF to become a regional parliament.
"It is a date that remains in the institution history and in SADC parliamentarism, because, today, we managed to constitute the necessary group of two thirds, in accordance with article 9, point 1, paragraph a) of the Constitution of the regional organization, to give green light to the defined objective”, Cerqueira said.
According to Carolina Cerqueira, it is a consultative parliament that, as a geopolitical bloc, within the scope of regional consultation, is to address the concerns of the populations and, above all receive contribution from parliaments, in the approval of model laws, reinforcing the democratic process and the preservation of the Democratic Rule of Law.
The Angolan Speaker said her country’s intention is for the entire bloc to sign the protocol, including the Mauritius islands, Madagascar and Botswana.
Established in September 1997, the SADC-PF, based in Windhoek, Namibia, provides a platform for dialogue between the parliaments of the 16 SADC Member States on issues of regional interest and concern.
The Agreement amending the SADC Treaty was adopted by the SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government, in Kinshasa, DRC, on August 17 2022.
The region has more than 3,500 parliamentarians from Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Comoros, DRC, ESwatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
ART/CF/AMP
