The mandate of the Commission Chief of the African Union was extended after the body failed to elect a chief for the seat as it accused a group for “Slow Decision Making”.
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the former South African Minister and ex-wife of South African President Jacob Zuma was pitched against the Incumbent Commission Chairman Jean Ping of Gabon but the latter failed to claim an outright majority for him to be ceclared winner in a four round voting.
After hours of deliberations during which South Africa’s foreign minister said the deputy chairman would take over as interim commission chief, the African Union later said it had decided to extend Ping’s mandate for a further six months until the next summit in Malawi in June.
The commission is the AU secretariat’s top organ and the chair is its public face.
Smaller countries said Zuma’s candidacy broke an unwritten rule that the continent’s dominant states do not contest the leadership.
With the election stalemate, AU decided to extend the current chairman of the commission.
The AU were widely seen in a supportive role to Muammar Gaddafi’s regime as it cracked down on an armed uprising and only recognised the National Transitional Council as Libya’s de facto government long after most Western and Arab nations did.
Africa is currently facing conflicts in different areas and that did not pass the African Union’s attention.
South Africa, which has complained the United Nations needs to pay more attention to the pan-African body, especially when it comes to African crises, had pushed Zuma’s candidacy hard, saying the AU needed the strong leadership she could give it.
South African President Jacob Zuma’s failure to secure a majority for Dlamini-Zuma, after Ping’s much criticised tenure, dealt a blow to South Africa which regards itself as an emerging power championing African causes.
