Is South Africa ditching Botswana?
30 January 2017
Addis Ababa - Has South Africa ditched its support for Botswana’s candidate to become African Union Commission chairperson?
International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane has hinted as much during an interview at the weekend, when she said she had no specific preference for a candidate.
Elections for Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s successor are set to take place on Monday afternoon.
Botswana’s foreign minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, who failed to muster enough votes at the AU summit in Kigali in July, was officially endorsed as candidate by the Southern African Development Community in April last year. As such, South Africa has to date publicly been backing her.