Online Reporter
Gibson Mhaka
Zimpapers Politics Hub
THE Pan-African Parliament (PAP) opened its Fifth Ordinary Session of the Sixth Legislature in Midrand, South Africa, today, with a strong focus on addressing reparations for Africans.
The session, running under the African Union’s 2025 theme of the year: “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations,” is set to run until July 31, 2025.
The opening ceremony is being presided over by the president of the Pan-African Parliament, Chief Fortune Charumbira.
Professor Miguel Cesar Domingos Bembe, Ambassador of Angola in Ethiopia and Chairperson of the African Union’s Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC), will deliver the keynote address as the guest of honour.
The significant event is drawing a host of distinguished guests and speakers, including Thandi Moraka, Deputy Minister of International Relations and Co-operation of South Africa; Hilarion Etong, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie (APF) and Mohammed Ould Errachid, president of the House of Councillors of the Kingdom of Morocco.
Also slated to address the ceremony are Hamma Salama, Speaker of the Saharawi National Council; Bernard Ahiafor, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Ghana; Mrs Nardos Bekele-Thomas, CEO of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD); Ambassador Marie Antoinette Rose Quatre, CEO of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and Ambassador Nzapayeke, Dean of the African Ambassadors in South Africa.
The session is expected to feature robust deliberations on mechanisms for achieving justice and reparations, aligning with the AU’s continental agenda for a more equitable future.
