Zim lands ACP-EU co-presidency

Lovemore Chikova News Editor
Zimbabwe staged a dramatic coup against the intransigent European Union at the just ended 34th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Session by winning the powerful and influential co-presidency of the joint standing committee on political affairs of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

The country will co-chair the joint committee after being elected president of the Standing Committee on Political Affairs of the ACP Parliamentary Assembly at the organisation’s 34th session held in Ethiopia from November 19 to 28.

The ACP Parliamentary Assembly is made up of legislators from 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

According to the rules of procedure of the ACP-EU JPA, the EU also elects its own president of the Standing Committee on Political Affairs who will co-chair the joint committee with Zimbabwe when meetings are held by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

Zimbabwe would be at the helm of the committee for the next two years and would be able to influence the agenda and direction of discussions in the joint meetings between the ACP countries and the EU.

There are two other committees for the assembly – the Committee on Economic Development, Finance and Trade and the Committee on Economic Development and Trade, but the Committee on Political Affairs is the most influential.

The Zimbabwean delegation to the ACP EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly is led by Mberengwa East legislator Cde Makhosini Hlongwane and is made up of Mutare South MP Cde Nyasha Chikwinya (Zanu-PF), Mufakose MP Paurina Mpariwa (MDC-T), Ambassador Margaret Muchada and a parliamentary official Dr Godfrey Chipare.

Cde Hlongwane will be the co-president of the Joint Standing Committee on Political Affairs of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly by virtue of him being the head of the Zimbabwean delegation.

Cde Hlongwane yesterday said Zimbabwe would forge new relationships.

“By this election, Zimbabwe has won itself a profound window to wrestle itself from the vices of a historically biled relationship with the North,” he said. “It is an opportunity to now deftly construct a new relational matrix based on a sustainable trajectory of engagement and dialogue.

“In engaging with the North, however, we are acutely aware of the subjugative and violent character of those that occupy global power hierarchies and our national interests never come second in any one course of engagement.”

The lobbying for the presidency started at least a month ago, with National Assembly speaker Cde Jacob Mudenda sending démarches to his colleagues in southern Africa alerting them to Zimbabwe’s wish to assume the post.

Cde Hlongwane then used his position as the head of the Zimbabwean delegation to lobby other legislators in the region to support the country’s bid to land the post.

In the meantime, Cde Muchada was also lobbying her colleagues at the Committee of Ambassadors for the ACP Parliamentary Assembly to ensure the country was elected.

The Zimbabwean delegation at the 34th ACP Parliamentary Assembly session in Ethiopia continued with some intense lobbying of other delegates and officials from the ACP group, leading to the resounding election.

The EU imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe using Article 96 of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly’s Cotonou Partnership Agreement in 2002.

Since then, relations between the two have been messy, with the sanctions having affected Zimbabweans in various ways and retarded their economic and social progress.