The Executive Director for Women at the United Nations, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, has welcomed the UN General Assembly’s decision to elect South Africa to serve in the UN Security Council from next year until 2020 as a non-permanent member.
Mlambo-Ngcuka, a former deputy president, is in Canada alongside President Cyril Ramaphosa – who has been holding meetings with potential investors and business people in Toronto – before travelling to Quebec to join leaders of the G7, who are gathering for their annual summit.
Mlambo-Ngcuka says gender quality will be addressed.
“We are looking forward to SA making a difference in the Security Council. We have the seven biggest and richest economies in the world here and if we cannot crack gender quality in these 7 countries you could imagine how difficult it is in other countries. We want to impress upon these heads of state the importance of investing much more in women. We would like that at least 20 per cent of the money that they use to support the developing countries has a direct impact on women.”
DA pleased with SA UN seat
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says South Africa’s election as a non-permanent member of the United Nation’s Security Council is a positive step towards Africa’s representation on the global stage.
DA Spokesperson in International Relations Stevens Mokgalapa says government’s voting on the council must reflect South Africa’s commitment to human rights, adding that his party will keep an eye on the country’s voting patterns.
Mokgalapa’s also called for some damage repair. “We believe that this is a step in the right direction. However we are calling on the South African government to repair the damage that we have discovered under president Zuma and restore our international credibility. We believe that our voting patterns in the United Nations Security Council should be in line with our foreign based policy and should be in line with our constitutional principles and values.”
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