‘Africa is not a supplicant at global table’, says Parliament Speaker Mudenda

PARLIAMENT of Zimbabwe Speaker, Jacob Mudenda, has told world parliaments that Africa does not approach international governance forums as a supplicant, but as a continent of 1.4 billion people and 54 States.

Mudenda was speaking during the General Debate at the 153rd Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly and Related Meetings in Arusha, Tanzania on October 9, 2026.

He said global norms must be co-designed with the majority of the world, especially those whose lived realities should inform how governance systems are built and improved. Partnership, not approval, is what Africa seeks, he said.

“Parliamentary diplomacy is not ceremony, but a strategic instrument for accountability, cohesion and legitimate policy-making,” Mudenda said.

He said Africa confronts harsher realities including resource constraints, inherited institutional fragility and external pressures that architects of global governance often fail to fully consider, yet its constitutional frameworks reflect ambitions as high as any nation.

The Speaker also conveyed Zimbabwe’s gratitude to the IPU family of Parliaments for supporting Zimbabwe’s election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

He said President Emmerson Mnangagwa has pledged that Zimbabwe will advance global peace and security guided by preventive diplomacy, strict adherence to multilateralism and faithful respect for International Law.

Mudenda praised the government and Parliament of Tanzania for exceptional hospitality and commended IPU President Tulia Ackson for her vision and leadership in hosting the Assembly.

He anchored his intervention on Zimbabwe’s domestic philosophy of “leaving no one and no place behind” and that Zimbabwe must be built by its own people, citing Parliamentary Women and Youth Caucuses, Women and Youth Empowerment Banks, implementation of the Disability Act and the 5% Constitutional Devolution Funds as practical examples of inclusion.

Zimbabwe was elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council on June 3, 2026 during the 80th UN General Assembly in New York.

It was the sole African candidate after endorsement by the African Union and won overwhelmingly with 182 votes out of 191 cast in the first round, alongside Austria, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago and Kyrgyzstan.

The five will replace Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia and serve from January 1st, 2027 to December 31, 2028.

This will be Zimbabwe’s third term since independence after 1983-84 and 1991-92, campaigning on President Mnangagwa’s doctrine of being “a friend to all and an enemy of none.” Zimbabwe cannot hold a permanent seat – the five permanent members with veto power are Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

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