Parliament of South Africa

07/05/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/05/2022 03:51

Media Release: Cooperation Amongst Parliaments and Shared Best Practices Strengthens Services to the Public, Says the Speaker

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Parliament, Tuesday, 5 July 2022 - As Covid-19 restrictions continue to ease around the globe, a number of sister parliaments have shared their plans to engage in study tours and exchange programmes with the South African Parliament. During bilateral engagements with Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Parliamentary Network sessions, in Azerbaijan, several Speakers identified our Parliament as one of the legislative institutions they would like to share best practices within the areas of oversight and public participation.

Reflecting on the two-day NAM Parliamentary Network launch conference, the Speaker and leader of the South African delegation said there is much that parliaments can learn from one another to enhance their services to their public. The South African Parliament's Public Participation Model (PPM) is one such example that has been used as a case study by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the global association of parliaments. The PPM continues to improve how Parliament interfaces with citizens, which in turn sustains the legitimacy of democratic parliaments beyond the five-year election intervals.

Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula said that, furthermore, the NAM Parliamentary Network reinforces parliaments' capacity to strengthen democracy, law-making, executive oversight and public participation, and enables continuous sharing of best practices and mutual support.

The Speaker described the NAM Parliamentary Network's launch conference as an inspiring experience that has rekindled the passions of those in attendance to build a better world of peace, fairness and sustainable development. Fostering democracy in the international system, restructuring the global economy, disarmament, impartiality and strengthening multilateralism are as relevant today, Ms Mapisa-Nqakula went on to say, as they were in 1961 when 25 countries became the founding members of NAM. This number has now grown to 120 member states. The establishment of the NAM Parliamentary Network is long overdue and its launch takes place in the context of numerous threats to world peace, including the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula pointed out that the world order remains grossly unfair to smaller and less powerful developing nations, such as Palestine, Western Sahara, Cuba and the African continent in general. These nations receive the short end of the bargain in almost all facets of development, including the fight against pandemics, as demonstrated by the nationalisation of the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, the subjugation of Palestine and the Western Sahara and the isolation of Cuba.

Poverty, unemployment and under-development are greater in these nations, most of whom are members of the NAM Parliamentary Network. As Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula raised the plight of the Palestinian people at the launch conference, she emphasised that these matters must be placed firmly on the agenda of the newly formed network.

The South African Parliament delegation, led by Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula, included the Deputy Chief Whip of the ruling African National Congress, Ms Dorries Dlakude, and a Member of Parliament for the United Democratic Movement, Mr Nqabayomzi Kwankwa.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, the Republic of Azerbaijan was elected to host the inaugural event and thus the Speaker of the Azerbaijan Parliament was elected Chairperson of the NAM Parliamentary Network at its first meeting in Madrid in 2021. Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula congratulated the Speaker of the Azerbaijan Parliament for hosting the launch conference, where the NAM Parliamentary Network's constitution (statute) and operating model were adopted after extensive consultations with various parliaments of the NAM member states.

The Speaker also expressed the trust that the resolutions adopted in the Baku Declaration would be pursued with vigour and executed so that the ideals espoused by the NAM founding members affect real positive change in people's lives around the world.

Issued by Parliament of the Republic of South Africa
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