Zuma heads to AU Assembly

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma will travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the 28th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the AU, starting tomorrow.

The summit, under the theme “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend Through Investment in the Youth”, runs until Tuesday.

Zuma will be accompanied by several cabinet ministers, including the Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, and Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Buti Manamela.

His spokesperson, Bongani Ngqulunga, said the AU Assembly will be preceded by a retreat of AU heads of state and government, where leaders will consider a report to be presented by Rwanda President Paul Kagame on institutional reforms of the AU aimed at enhancing the continental body’s governance systems.

The report was commissioned at the last AU Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. A former governor of the South African Reserve Bank, Tito Mboweni, was appointed by Kagame as one of the experts to assist him with the project.

“Amongst other things, the Assembly will consider and deliberate on reports focusing on the state of peace and security on the continent, the African Peer Review Mechanism and Climate Change,” he said.

Ngqulunga said the AU Assembly would also elect a new chairperson of the AU Commission, deputy chairperson and eight commissioners.

The term of office of the incumbent chairperson of the AU Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, came to an end in June 2016. Her term was extended to allow the AU to elect her successor.

The Assembly is also expected to consider the application by Morocco to become the AU’s 55th member state.