APA-Cape Town (South Africa) South Africa is supporting the candidature of Tanzanian Speaker of parliament Tulia Ackson for the presidency of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) at the forthcoming assembly of the body set for Angola in October.
The IPU is the global organisation of national parliaments, and its role is to empower parliaments and parliamentarians to promote peace, democracy and sustainable development.
“We believe that the IPU needs a young and vibrant person with new ideas to take the IPU forward and ensure that transformation takes place where necessary,” Speaker of South Africa’s National Assembly, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, said on Monday.
She said Ackson had “the necessary expertise for the role.”
The Speaker has just returned from the Seychelles where she led the South African parliamentary delegation to the two-day Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) executive committee meeting held in Mahe over the weekend.
She said SADC countries would start lobbying other groups within the continent to support the candidature of Ackson, who is also the chairperson of the Africa Geo-Political Group.
NM/jn/APA