Swakopmund, Monday 16 December 2019 – National Assembly Speaker Ms Thandi Modise has reiterated South Africa’s stand to support the lifting of the targeted economic sanctions against Zimbabwe.
In October National Council of Provinces Chairperson, Mr Amos Masondo, tabled a motion at the 3rd Ordinary Session of the Pan African Parliament (PAP), held in Midrand, urging members of the PAP to demand the immediate lifting of the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
Yesterday at the 46th Plenary Assembly Session of the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF), Ms Josefina Perpétua Pitra Diakite - an MP from Angola, tabled a motion calling for the lifting of the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
Supporting Ms Diakite’s motion yesterday Speaker Modise said: “We stand as South Africa to say to our brothers, our sisters, our neighbours – in fact our family because we have intermarried, to say that your pain is our pain.”
“Without South Africa standing up and joining up with other neighbours, the economic progress of the region will be retarded. The issues of child mortality, of hunger, will continue to besiege the region,” said Speaker Modise.
In her Motion Ms Diakite said Angola was deeply concerned that these “economic sanctions had affected negatively people's livelihoods, economic development and access to health, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable population, including young girls, women, children, the disabled and the elderly people.”
“The economic sanctions are a violation of the human, economic and social rights of the people of Zimbabwe and have a negative impact on the Government's efforts to leverage the economy and boost the living standards of the Zimbabwean people,” said Ms Diakite.
She added that they were concerned that these “sanctions have had an adverse effect on the SADC region's growth and sustainable development objectives and will slow down the economic and regional integration efforts as they undermine commercial, economic and financial relations between Member States.”
Meanwhile, the 46th Plenary Assembly also adopted a motion by Mr Sally Saleh Alley – from Tanzania, calling for the free movement of people and goods across the SADC Region in preparation for the successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
In addition, South Africa’s delegate - Mr Tshitereke Matibe’s move for the adoption of a motion to develop Cross-Border Agricultural Value Chains in SADC as a catalyst for successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area was also adopted.
The 46th Plenary Assembly Session of the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF), which has been meeting in Swakopmund, Namibia, concluded today.
An audio clip of the Speaker supporting the motion can be downloaded on the following link: https://iono.fm/e/792226
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
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