The first batch of cattle donated by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to the African Union (AU) Foundation has been auctioned in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare.
The proceeds of the auction are expected to be handed over to the foundation at the next AU summit in June this year.
Three hundred head of cattle donated by President Mugabe to the AU foundation last year were sourced from the private sector and will fund the African Union Foundation’s activities.
Zimbabwe Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi says time frames were set for self-financing as an organization that within the next five years the African union must finance 100% of its operations, at least 75% of its programs and at least 25% of its peace keeping operations and this is being implemented.
Another step for Africa in achieving its set goals. President Mugabe has repeatedly called on African countries to depend on themselves.
COO of AU Foundation Dumisani Mngadi says: “This gesture that the president made which was like a unique gesture to say as Africans we give what we have and we are cattle people as Africans and for us this is a call for all African leaders, business people, people no matter where you are to be able to contribute to the development of our African people.
“The AU Foundation works on areas of young people, issues of women, we are also focusing on making sure that the African private sector gets to participate in the affairs of the AU.”
The African Union Foundation is the brainchild of the African Heads of state and government and it was created for the purposes of collaborating with the private sector, individuals and the diaspora to solicit and seek voluntary contributions towards the financing of Africa’s development priorities in pursuit of agenda 2063.
This is the first auction being held in Harare and further auctions will be conducted in Gweru on Thursday
“Two months ago in March we held the African economic platform which brought together for the first time African leaders, President Mugabe was in attendance and he shared his words of wisdom and leadership but that also included African business people,” Mngadi says.
It also included African academia and the young people to show the innovation and that is meant to be self-financing but more-so to help the African private sector but also to foster integration.
Zimbabwe says this will not be the last contribution to the foundations.
“On the part of Zimbabwe we will continue to make our contribution as and when we are able to do so, obviously this is our organization this is our foundation it is going to continue to need resources and therefore the membership including Zimbabwe are going to continue to contribute to the best of our ability,” Zimbabwe Foreign Affairs Minister Mumbengegwi adds.
This is the first auction being held in Harare and further auctions will be conducted in Gweru on Thursday.
– By SABC
