Mbeki urges PAP members to work for the continent

President Mbeki flanked by the PAP members

Members of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) have been challenged to work towards fulfilling the dreams and hopes of the people they represent. President Thabo Mbeki told the PAP members in Midrand, Johannesburg today that African people want to know whether their representatives "will help give birth to the humane Africa that eluded all of us for so long".

"They want you, their elected representatives, to help them to change their material conditions so that they escape from the jaws of poverty and their countries and continent from the clutches of under development. They want you to help them to ensure that their governments discharge their responsibilities to them, telling them no lies, respecting their obligation to be accountable to the people, desisting from poisoning the kola nuts they bring to the people as gifts."

Mbeki says it is a shame that the issue of self-determination for the people of Western Sahara remains unresolved. He says the challenge for the members of the PAP is to work towards helping change all that. African people expect their elected representatives to give them the possibility to control their institutions, he says.

Establishment
The PAP was established on the basis of continental decisions expressed in the Constitutive Act of the African Union. The PAP is governed by its own protocol and the president says this makes the unequivocal statement that the peoples of Africa yearn for peace, democracy and respect for human rights.

He says such establishments make the unequivocal statement that the peoples of Africa are determined to extricate themselves from poverty and underdevelopment. Mbeki also says that South Africa, as hosts of the PAP, have a responsibility to create the best possible conditions for the assembly of the peoples of Africa to successfully discharge its mandate.
"This we will do to the best of our ability."