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From George Maponga in Masvingo
The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) is mulling relocating its seat from South Africa unless Pretoria manages to successfully eliminate the ghost of xenophobia that last hit the country in April this year.
Speaking from South Africa on Wednesday, one of Zimbabwe’s representatives at the PAP and Zimbabwe Chiefs’ Council president Chief Fortune Charumbira said some members of the Pan-African Parliament want the seat to be moved from South Africa because of xenophobia.
Chief Charumbira said a motion was moved to open debate on the possibility of relocating the seat of PAP from South Africa adding that debate on the motion was deferred, apparently under instigation of the host Government.
“This morning (Wednesday) there is hot debate on the possibility of the PAP reconsidering the continuous presence of its seat in South Africa if xenophobic attacks continue to stalk that society,’’ he said.
“The debate on the motion was deferred to May next year for obvious reasons. The South African government lobbied for the debate on the motion to be deferred,’’ he added.
Chief Charumbira said Ghana representative Mr Mubarak Muntaka submitted the motion to debate the continuous presence of the PAP seat in South Africa.
“The motion was submitted in all the African Union’s five official languages namely English, Portuguese, Swahili, French and Arabic, but the PAP president Honourable Roger Dong from Cameroon deferred its debate upon lobbying from South Africa,’’ he said.
Many African migrants stay in South Africa, Africa’s second largest economy by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a situation that has courted the anger of locals who accuse them of snatching their jobs.
Among the foreigners who have been targets of xenophobic attacks in South Africa are Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and Nigerians who constitute the majority of foreigners in that country.
Scores of black foreigners in South Africa were either killed or injured this year while property was damaged following xenophobic attacks that swept across that country inviting condemnation throughout Africa and beyond.
While the South African government managed to contain the situation from spiralling out of control by deploying security forces when xenophobic attacks targeting foreigners erupted early this year, fears abound the situation might explode again any time.
This has reportedly prompted some members of the PAP to push for a motion this week to discuss the possibility of moving the African parliament body from South Africa to another country.
Online Reporter