The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Mr Ronald Lamola, is leading South Africa’s delegation at the 47th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Executive Council taking place on 10 and 11 July 2025 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
The Council will consider and adopt the AU Budget for the period 2026. The budget is a key enabler for the AU to address challenges facing the continent, ensuring Africa’s continued resilience and the sustenance of the AU Commission, which is the key implementing agent for AU decisions.
The Council is expected to elect and appoint the outstanding two Commissioners for (i) Economic Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals (ETTIM) and (ii) Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (ESTI).
Minister Lamola will also seize this opportunity to update his counterparts on the progress made during South Africa’s G20 Presidency. The G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg, scheduled for November 2025, represents an opportunity to amplify Africa’s voice on the global stage.
South Africa’s participation during this Ordinary Session of the Executive Council is rooted in her commitment to strengthening the AU and its Organs.
Minister Lamola said: “Our aim is to ensure our Union effectively pursues the noble aspiration of Silencing the Guns by 2030; the accelerated implementation of the Second Ten-Year Plan of Agenda 2063, which embodies our collective vision for prosperity; and the robust advancement of the African Continental Free Trade Area”.
Beyond the formal agenda, the Minister will seek to foster deeper solidarity by holding bilateral meetings with his counterparts aimed at exchanging views on issues of mutual interest.
Africa Fact: Lalibela is not the only place in Ethiopia to have such wonders. A cotemporary archaeologist reports research that was conducted in the region in the early 1970’s when: “startling numbers of churches built in caves or partially or completely cut from the living rock were revealed not only in Tigre and Lalibela but as far south as Addis Ababa. Soon at least 1,500 were known. At least as many more probably await revelation.”
Africa Fact: In 1209 AD Emperor Lalibela of Ethiopia sent an embassy to Cairo bringing the sultan unusual gifts including an elephant, a hyena, a zebra, and a giraffe.
Africa Fact: In Southern Africa, there are at least 600 stone built ruins in the regions of Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa. These ruins are called Mazimbabwe in Shona, the Bantu language of the builders, and means great revered house and “signifies court”.
Skylark
The wonder of a man with a running stomach is that he knows the direction of the door without anybody’s guidance.
Frenzy
Fun South African Fact: Vilakazi Street in Soweto has been home to two Nobel Peace Prize winners. A tour through Soweto will always stop at Vilakazi Street to reveal a number of heritage sites of great importance to democratic South Africa. Both Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu lived here at some point in their lives. In 1984, Archbishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition for his non-violent fight against the apartheid regime. Nine years later in 1993, Nelson Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize with then-president F.W. de Klerk as an award for their role in bringing about the peaceful end of apartheid. Nelson Mandela then went on to become South Africa’s first democratically elected president in 1994.