The leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Julius Malema and four other South African Members of Parliament were sworn in on Monday at the opening ceremony of the sixth ordinary session of the Pan African Parliament (PAP).

The others include National Council of Provinces (NCOP) chairperson Thandi Modise, Thoko Didiza the National Assembly house chairperson for internal arrangements, Mandlesizwe Zwelivelile Mandela, and Santosh Vinita Kalyan. 

They are replacing Hunadi Mateme, Thandi Memela, Charles Nqakula, and Floyd Shivambu, while Kalyan will serve another two-year term, parliament said in a statement.

The five MPs were nominated for membership of the PAP on behalf of the South African Parliament by the NA and the NCOP on October 24 and 23 respectively.

After the swearing Malema said the PAP need to have "teeth" to be able to tackle errant governments on the continent in order to ensure that they follow democratic principles and tackle corruption.

The theme for the session – from May 7 to 18 - was “Winning the fight against corruption: A sustainable path to Africa’s transformation”. 

Among others, the session would discuss, recommend, and take resolutions on matters including the Europe-Africa Forum on the challenges and opportunities of migration flows; the report on the African Union (AU) year of combating corruption; the report on action on albinism in Africa; the terminal report of the committee on audit and public accounts; and the report on repealing defamation laws to promote press freedom.

The PAP has 255 members representing 55 AU member states that had ratified the protocol establishing it. In terms of article 4 (2) of the protocol to the treaty establishing the African Economic Community relating to the PAP, each state would be represented by five members. 

The five members from each country should include at least one woman and reflect the diversity of political representation in the national parliament or deliberative organ, parliament said.