The South African Legislative Sector (SALS) will tomorrow hold its last quarterly Speakers’ Forum meeting for the 6th term of Parliament at The Capital Menlyn Maine Hotel, Pretoria.

Parliament and all nine provincial legislatures will present their 6th term Legacy Reports with important reflections on the work done during the term. The Forum will also discuss preparations for establishing the 7th Parliament and Provincial Legislatures and plan and align its programmes for the new term. The SA Parliamentary Institute will also present a report and the training schedule for Members of Parliament and officials for the 7th parliamentary term. The Institute was established to, amongst others, provide capacity development programmes and production of quality research and knowledge management for the legislative sector.

The Speakers Forum is a closed meeting, but a media statement will be issued after the meeting.

The forum comprises the Presiding Officers of Parliament, Speakers, and Deputy Speakers of all the nine provincial legislatures. The Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Lechesa Tsenoli – now acting Speaker, and the National Council of Provinces Chairperson, Mr Amos Masondo, co-chair the Speaker’s Forum.The Forum oversees the management and coordination of sector programmes and meets regularly to set the strategic direction of the sector.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.

Today, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi extended his condolences to President of the United Arab Emirates, H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, over the death of H.H. Sheikh Tahnoon bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, who left behind a long journey of dedication, during which he exerted sincere efforts and devotion to his country. The President expressed his deepest condolences to the leadership and people of the United Arab Emirates, praying to Allah the Almighty to embrace the deceased with His perfect mercy, grant him entry into His vast gardens, and safeguard the leadership and people of the UAE, and grant them enduring security, stability, and prosperity.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Sizophila Solontsi and Nomawethu Mabenge will make welcome returns to Test rugby after being named in the Springbok Women’s starting team to face Cameroon in the 2024 Rugby Africa Women’s Cup opener in Madagascar on Saturday.

The pair last played together at the same venue in the same competition a year ago, where Mabenge topped the points’ scoring stakes with six tries.

Samantha Els and Aliyah Tchogna-Njamen have been included in the run-on team for the first time after making their international debuts off the bench against Spain early last month, while Nomsa Mokwai will earn a first start since 2019.

There is also a return to Bok duty for Lusanda Dumke and Nompumelelo Mathe for the first time in 2024.

Mathe, as well as the halfback combination of Rumandi Potgieter and Mary Zulu are the only players who started against Cameroon in the first clash between the sides last year.

In all, eight changes were made from the team that started against USA in London on 30 March.

Nolusindiso Booi will again lead the side in what will be another record-breaking appearance in Green and Gold when she dons the jersey for a 43rd time in a Test. She is one of four players who started against USA, with 11 others involved in that match as well.

Springbok Women head coach Louis Koen was happy to welcome back the returning players, and added that Tchogna-Njamen and Els deserved their first starts for South Africa.

“It is great to have Sizo and Nomawethu back and to have Lusanda coming off the bench,” said Koen.

“We are still thin on experience in certain positions, as we saw on our recent tour to Europe, and they will certainly address that for us.

“Aliyah and Samantha have been with us since October last year and have worked extremely hard ever since, so they deserve their starts. Both need game time, so this is a great opportunity to get that and stake a claim.

“The same applies to Nomsa, who has showed in her return to Test rugby against the USA last month that more is to come.”

Koen is adamant that a strong start to the competition is non-negotiable: “We need to win the tournament to qualify for next year’s World Cup, so we cannot afford any mistakes.

“I think the team we’ve selected reflects that and gives acknowledgement to Cameroon, who will come at us physically, as we experienced last year. A strong start will give us the momentum for the rest of the campaign.”

With a tight schedule of three matches in 12 days, it will be challenging to seelct a fresh team in the next two matches, but Koen said they have worked out their selection strategy based on the vast experience in the squad.

“Some players have played three consecutive matches in the Premier Division and we took that into consideration as well,” said Koen.

“The main focus will be to have three sides that are as fresh as possible for each game and I think we will be able to manage that.

Last year, the Bok Women beat Cameroon 87-0 as they went on to claim the African title, but Koen said that result is history.

“Each Test match brings new challenges, and we are ready to embrace those,” he said. “We will focus on our strengths and to impose that on our opponents. We have prepared well and go into the game with a clear-cut understanding on how we want to perform in order to be successful.”

Match detail: South Africa v Cameroon

Date: Saturday, 4 May 2024

Venue: Stade Maki, Antananarivo

Kick-off: 12h00 (SA time)

Referee: Julie Randriarimanana

Springbok Women team to face Cameroon:

15. Chuma Qawe (Sanlam Boland Dames) – 9 Tests, 0 points

14. Nomawethu Mabenge (Sanlam Boland Dames) – 16 Tests, 65 points (13 tries)

13. Veroeshka Grain (Sanlam Boland Dames) – 19 Tests, 35 points (7 tries)

12. Piwokuhle Nyanda (Golden Lions Women) – 10 Tests, 0 points

11. Maceala Samboya (Sanlam Boland Dames) – 3 Tests, 5 points (1 try)

10. Mary Zulu (Sharks Women) – 8 Tests, 4 points (2 conversions)

9. Rumandi Potgieter (Bulls Daisies) – 15 Tests, 0 points

8. Sizophila Solontsi (Bulls Daisies) – 18 Tests, 40 points (8 tries)

7. Samantha Els (unattached) – 1 Test, 0 points

6. Nompumelelo Mathe (Sanlam Boland Dames) – 17 Tests, 25 points (5 tries)

5. Nomsa Mokwai (DHL Western Province) – 5 Tests, 0 points

4. Nolusindiso Booi (captain, DHL Western Province) – 42 Tests, 5 points (1 try)

3. Aliyah Tchogna-Njamen (Golden Lions Women) – 2 Tests, 0 points

2. Lindelwa Gwala (Ealing Trailfinders Women) – 29 Tests, 35 points (7 tries)

1. Sanelisiwe Charlie (Bulls Daisies) – 16 Tests, 5 points (1 try)

Replacements:

16. Roseline Botes (DHL Western Province) – 17 Tests, 40 points (8 tries)

17. Xoliswa Khuzwayo (Golden Lions Women) – 2 Tests, 0 points

18. Azisa Mkiva (DHL Western Province) – 6 Tests, 0 points

19. Vainah Ubisi (Bulls Daisies) – 11 Tests, 0 points

20. Lusanda Dumke (Bulls Daisies) – 28 Tests, 35 points (7 tries)

21. Tayla Kinsey (Sharks Women) – 32 Tests, 48 points (2 tries, 16 conversions, 2 penalty goals)

22. Aphiwe Ngwevu (Border Ladies) – 18 Tests, 35 points (7 tries)

23. Byrhandrè Dolf (Bulls Daisies) – 11 Tests, 15 points (3 tries)

Issued by SA Rugby Communications

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of South African Rugby.

Note to editors:
Audio notes of Louis Koen can be downloaded here: https://apo-opa.co/4aiFZMt.

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The Vice President of the Commission, H. E. Damtien L. Tchintchibidja, led an ECOWAS delegation to Washington, D.C., USA, from April 2nd to 6, 2024, to foster partnerships for enhanced Early Warning and Early Warning Response in the ECOWAS region.

The main objective of the mission was to meet with key partners to foster collaboration towards capacity building, in the context of Early Warning and Early Response and to strengthen human security. To this end, a collaboration with the renowned Georgetown Institute of Women, Peace, and Security (GIWPS), is in the pipelines, based on their expertise and their longstanding experience in pedagogical training, to dispense critical and targeted Train the Trainer-tailored content for the benefit of National Centres and other stakeholders in the Early Warning and Response ecosystem.

As part of the mission’s outreach, the ECOWAS delegation co-hosted a roundtable discussion on “Building Peace and Resilience in West Africa” that brought together students, professors, and key stakeholders across the U.S. Government. The roundtable was attended by representatives of the diplomatic corps, academia, NGO’s, think tanks, research institutions, and US Government agencies, including the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies.

In addition, the ECOWAS delegation held bilateral meetings with key partners in Washington, D.C. Specifically, the ECOWAS Vice President met with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for West Africa of the US Department of State, Mr. Michael Heath, to brief on the progress made with the establishment of the National Early Warning and Response Mechanisms in Member States, which was initially funded by the Department of State through the EWARP project. Vice President Tchintchibidja also met with the Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Africa of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Dr Monde Muyangwa, to discuss potential areas of collaboration, building on the gains of the fruitful past collaboration between the ECOWAS Commission and USAID.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).