Duduzile Zuma Delivers Powerful Maiden Speech on Pan-Africanism and Global Justice

Cape Town, South Africa – In a significant address to the National Assembly, Duduzile Zuma delivered her maiden speech, articulating a strong vision for Pan-Africanism, global solidarity, and economic justice. Zuma, speaking as a representative in the Pan-African Parliament, emphasized the critical role of parliamentary diplomacy in fostering cross-border alliances, particularly with nations in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and African counterparts. Her speech underscored the necessity of forging common agendas on human rights, decolonial education, indigenous knowledge systems, and the preservation of sovereignty. Zuma asserted that the Pan-African Parliament must be strengthened as a legislative counterforce to global bodies that often undermine Africa's autonomy. Challenging the notion of a truly global community, Zuma questioned whose voices shape this community and whose lives are deemed expendable for the profits of a few. She called for global solidarity, especially among the Global South, to be reclaimed as a political weapon against neocolonial control, rejecting aid models that entrench dependency, trade agreements that strip sovereignty, and debt regimes that shackle development. Zuma urged South Africa to cease serving as a proxy for Western interests on the African continent. She highlighted rising anti-imperialist sentiments in regions like the Sahel, where what the West labels as "coups d'état" should be recognized as "coups of liberation" by Africans. She stressed that these movements are driven by frustration with corrupt, Western-aligned governments and a desire for genuine freedom. The speech also touched upon domestic issues, with Zuma stating that calling for equality abroad while presiding over local government failures at home betrays Pan-African ideals. She spoke of social sustainability, ensuring every child has access to education and a future, and economic sustainability, shifting from extra-activism to beneficiation, where minerals feed local development, not foreign stock markets. Zuma concluded by declaring that the era of polite begging is over, calling for legislative activism to champion human rights, Palestinian freedom, debt cancellation, and climate justice through African voices, not borrowed scripts from the Global North. She drew inspiration from past African leaders, asserting that a new generation has arrived, committed not just to decorating democracy, but to transforming it.