The Southern African Development Community Secretariat has asked member states to vote for Madagascar in the African Union Commission chairship race set for Saturday.
SADC Executive Secretary Elias Magosi on Wednesday wrote to members urging them to back former Madagascar Foreign Affairs Minister Richard RANDRIAMANDRATO.
In the letter dated February 12, Magosi recalled that at a meeting in Harare in August 2024, the Council directed the SADC Committee of Ambassadors in Addis Ababa and the Office of the Permanent Representative to the AU to monitor the election, provide guidance on the way forward and encouraged all members to support to the shortlisted candidates from the SADC region for the different posts of the Senior Leadership of the AU Commission.
Magosi said Madagascar had written to SADC Secretariat requesting support of member states for their candidate, Randriamandrato.
“This letter, therefore, serves to encourage SADC Member States to support Mr. Richard J. RANDRIAMANDRATO, a candidate from our region, for the position of the AUC Chairperson during the upcoming elections of Senior Leadership of the African Union Commission, in line with the August 2024 Council decision stated above,” the letter said in part.
The letter was addressed to Angola, Botswana, Comoros, the DRC, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Sychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The communication came on the day of election of AUC commissioners in which Moses Vilakatin from Eswatini (Southern region) won the Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment post, while Lerato Mataboge of South Africa (Southern Region) got the Energy and infrastructure position. Mataboge garnered a massive 41 votes, against Cameroon’s Marie Nyakoko.
Amb Bankole Adeoye or Nigeria (West Region) was elected commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, while Amb Amma A Twum-Amoah of Ghana (West Region) is the new commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development.
