Venson-Moitoi demonstrates inclusivity ahead of AU chair elections
Correspondent | Wednesday January 25, 2017 16:52
Having visited over 30 countries in person or through her campaign team, since the last AU Chair elections in June 2016 in Kigali, Venson-Moitoi’s campaign has also ensured she attended all major summits where African leadership convened. Here she has engaged widely, with as many as 15 Presidents of African countries in just the last weekend.
Most recently, Venson-Moitoi concluded a trip to Cote D’Ivoire, where she was welcomed by Ivorian President, Alassane Ouattara, at the Presidential Palace in the Plateau. Venson-Moitoi shared more with the President and her Ivorian counterparts about her candidacy and her ambitions for the AU and Africa at large should she be victorious.
Dikgang Makgalemele, Chairperson of Venson-Moitoi’s campaign team said, “We are doing what is expected of any pan-African candidate: engaging widely across all Nations on the continent. This has entailed both Venson-Moitoi and other members of her team criss-crossing the continent to seek support and endorsement ahead of the AU Summit.
Such extensive engagement is a key component of these kinds of campaigns. We remain wholeheartedly committed to such level of dialogue and collaboration. We believe that our proactive outreaches are building towards stronger inter-continental ties that will serve Africa’s developmental interests going forward.”
Venson-Moitoi’s biggest asset remains that she holds the support of the SADC block. The SADC block (and its members) have repeated a number of times that SADC will vote as a block in support of her, making SADC the ONLY block with a single position behind a candidate. The election of the new Chair will be held as part of the 28th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, from the 22nd to the 31st of January 2017. The election takes place on the final day of the summit, for the role of Chair as well as a number of other roles within the AU.
“The electoral college of the AU is 53; this means that each Nation has only one vote and that vote is provided by the Head of State. What this means is that there is a lot of one-on-one interaction with Heads of State.
These interactions are not typically conducted in public. What we can assure the public in Botswana, however, is that we have more than doubled our efforts that got us the lead at Kigali, with inclusion at the heart of our campaign approach. I am confident that Venson-Moitoi will return to SADC as Chair of the AU,” concluded Makgalemele.