South Africa hosts 43th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conference

The 43rd Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) started here on Tuesday to strengthen relations among commonwealth member states.

The conference representatives comprises of parliamentarians from former British colonies, with the theme of "Strengthening Legislative oversight to improve accountability, deepen democracy and consolidate growth and development in Africa."

The CPA is trying to address problems faced by parliaments in achieving the national development interests with the executive championing that.

The Commonwealth member states are also making efforts in fighting piracy and terrorism in the region.

At the meeting Home Affairs Minister in South Africa Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said, "Parliaments remain one of the central pillars of democracy, serving as a bridge between constituencies and institutions of governance. As the elected body, that represents society in all its diversity."

Dlamini-Zuma said people at the grassroots should be included in the decision-making of countries problems to solve challenges facing Africa. "Africa accounts for more than one-quarter of the world's arable land, however, it currently generates only 10 percent of the global agricultural output and imports tens of billions of dollars of food each year," she said.

"Using our land resources more effectively will enable us to not only contribute to our economic growth, but to ensure we can feed our people ourselves. We will also be able to contribute towards job creation and income distribution," said the minister.

The minister noted that Africa accounts for 12 percent of the world's known oil reserves and 40 percent of its gold, if these are put into good use, poverty would be a thing of the past in Africa.

She challenged fellow African leaders to ensure that rich African resources like sunshine, wind and biodiversity are used to benefit their people.

She further elaborated that emerging markets in the world have increased demand for raw materials and resources in Africa, giving a hope for Africa.

Dlamini-Zuma called for the improvement in the infrastructure in Africa so that communication and trade among states will be enhanced.

The minister said, "We cannot be that a continent surrounded by two oceans and some seas has no ship-building capacity. In the long term we should look at the possibility of owning maritime transport facilities. This will increase our competitiveness as it will be cheaper for us to transport our goods within the continent and beyond."

Africa currently has a population of 200 million young people aged 15-24 and this number is expected to double in 2045.

The minister observed that if the problems of creating jobs and attending to other social ills are not addressed these youths may disturb peace in Africa.

The conference is expected to end on July 8.

The attending the conference are African representatives from Botswana, Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.