By Hassan Isilow
JOHANNESBURG (AA) – The legacy of outgoing African Union Commission Chairwoman, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has generated debate, with some saying she did a stunning job and others claiming she failed the continent.
“She was an average performing chairperson. She focused on security, but not much was done on uniting Africans divided along the francophone and anglophone lines,’’ Andre Duvenhage, a political science Professor at the North West University told Anadolu Agency Monday.
Dlamini-Zuma, 68, succeeded Gabon’s Jean Ping in 2012, after a hotly contested election making her the first female African Union chair.
The election created division between anglophone and francophone countries after South Africa played a major role in lobbying for Dlamini-Zuma’s election.
Diplomatic sources told Anadolu Agency that South Africa breached a gentleman’s agreement that did not allow African powerhouses to field a candidate for the top AU job, at the time, but it went ahead anyway.
Professor Duvenhage, criticized Dlamini-Zuma for spending too much time in South Africa, strategizing on how to become the next president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), instead of focusing on her job in Addis Ababa.
“She always had one foot back in South Africa, hoping to secure a job after the end of her tenure. She was never whole-heartedly at the AU,” Professor Susan Booysen of the University Of Witwatersrand School Of Governance in Johannesburg agrees.
– An eye on the ANC
Booysen, however, praises Dlamini-Zuma for her role in bringing organizational structure to the African Union, turning it into a professional institution.
She also credits her role in championing women’s rights in a continent where gender inequality and discrimination are rife.
During her tenure, Dlamini-Zuma advocated for more female participation in politics at both country and African Union level. Numerous women commissioners and female staff served at the AU during her tenure.
Dlamini-Zuma, whose term ends this week, is expected to contest for the post of president of the African National Congress (ANC) later this year, when the south African party holds a conference to elect new leaders.
If she wins, she will almost certainly become South Africa’s next president since the ANC still enjoys majority support in the country.
The outing AU chair has the backing of her former husband, President Jacob Zuma. The ANC’s women’s league and the youth league have also endorsed her candidacy.
“She has an international profile and background in governance which I believe will benefit her in the election” said Duvenhage.
Marc Gbaffou , chairman of the African Diaspora Forum (ADF) praised Dlamini-Zuma for launching the e-passport for Africans, and her role in championing the opening of African borders to allow free movement on the continent.
“We hope her successor will speed up the process of implementing the opening of borders,’’ he said in an interview on Monday. “It’s sad to see that Africans are being turned away from entering certain countries on the continent, which requires visas, forcing them to venture into the Mediterranean where they die.”
He said he hoped the new AU chair would work on integrating Africans, through fighting xenophobia and rights abuses in some countries.
“The AU should take action against African leaders who oppress their people and stop being apologetic to these leaders,” Gbaffou said.
