[dropcap]Z[/dropcap]IMBABWE’S Chief Fortune Charumbira has been elected new President of the African Parliament.
The African legislative arm of the African Union is holding an ordinary session at its South Africa base in Midrand this week, where elections of the new leadership has taken centre stage, causing a stir among delegates all pushing for their candidates to secure the top job.
Charumbira, also President of Zimbabwe’s Chief’s Council, had faced stiff challenges from South Sudan MP Albino Aboug and Malawi’s Yeremiah Chihana.
Here are seven things that you need to know about the new president of the African Parliament, as compiled by South African news portal IOL:
Fortune Charumbira is a traditional leader in Zimbabwe and the current President of the Chief’s Council.
– In October 2018, Fortune Charumbira was elected unopposed as vice president of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) Bureau, representing the Southern African Region.
– He is married to Priscila Charumbira, and together, they have five daughters.
Charumbira was the SADC’s sole candidate for the Pan African Parliament presidency.
– Charumbira, who occupies a seat in Zimbabwe’s senate reserved for traditional chiefs, secured 161 votes with 31 abstentions and 11 spoilt votes, writes ZimLive.com.
– In October 2017, Opposition parties blasted Chief Charumbira for allegedly pledging his support for former president Robert Mugabe.
In 2018, a Zimbabwe High Court ruled that his comments publicly supporting Zanu PF were unconstitutional as chiefs are required to be neutral. He was subsequently instructed to retract his comments.
