The Sunday Mail
Lovemore Ranga Mataire
Widely touted as the most organised regional bloc in Africa, Sadc this week holds its 36th Heads of State and Government Ordinary Summit in the mountain Kingdom of Swaziland where the recurring issue of economic integration is likely to take centre stage amid calls for members to drastically remodel domestic policies to be in sync with regional treaties and protocols. Themed “Resource Mobilisation for Investment in Sustainable Energy Infrastructure for an Inclusive Sadc Industrialisation for Prosperity”, the Summit is expected to tackle pertinent regional issues hampering effective economic transformation and integration.
This is the first time Sadc leaders are meeting in Swaziland, which has over the years excused itself from hosting summits citing budgetary concerns. King Mswati III is expected to assume the bloc’s Chairmanship, taking over from Botswana’s President Seretse Khama Ian Khama.
It has been reported that King Mswati III will take advantage of the presence of more than 350 delegates to showcase his kingdom’s rich historical heritage, including the Umhlanga /Reed Dance.
Away from the cultural showcase, questions still linger on why it has taken long for the region’s parliamentarians to be actively involved in Sadc activities or in the implementation of its protocols or agreements.
Despite being reputed as the most organised bloc in Africa, Sadc still lags behind in establishing a regional parliament where crucial issues can be deliberated. Twenty-five years is enough time to have transformed the Sadc Parliamentary Forum into a regional parliament, fulfilling an objective envisaged 20 years ago.
The HIV/Aids pandemic is another issue that requires attention. It is, indeed, worrisome that the region still bears the infamous tag of being the epicenter of the epidemic.
Although commendable strides have been made in halting and containing the epidemic, what remains of concern is that the disease seems to be locally owned, but externally funded.
No one really doubts the sincerity of regional leadership in tackling the myriad of problems confronting the region, but as highlighted by President Mugabe during his Chairmanship of the bloc, there is urgent need to maximise mineral resources in the region to expedite economic development.
But a closer look at the myriad of challenges confronting the region calls for more introspection if economic integration is to become a reality.
Since its transformation from the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (Sadcc) in 1993, Sadc has failed to effectively translate its approved protocols into workable and achievable springboards for economic development mainly because of Member States’ low Gross Domestic Product.
Regional integration has always been the wish of many, with early manifestations in Europe and America which as countries responded to the needs for political unification and expansion called forth by capitalism.
In the case of Africa, regional integration’s main premise was and has remained as a means to encourage trade and secure economies of scale in light of the global economic onslaught.
Regional integration is thus a desirable imperative with potential to promote economic growth and reduce poverty through increased exports of domestic goods. Historically, Sadc was mooted as a way of circumventing apartheid South Africa, and also to deal with economic stagnation and backwardness.
South Africa’s independence meant the original principles of the regional body had to be tied to the dynamics of its status as the economic powerhouse of the region. Realising the importance of political stability as a catalyst to economic development, the group sought not just to strengthen and create genuine and equitable economic links, but also to align policies on various governance issues.
Naturally, member states envisaged regional integration as a panacea to economic development within and to bolster the bloc’s negotiating influence on the global stage.
In short, Sadc’s vision is that of a common future within the regional community that will ensure the economic being, improvement of standards of living and quality of life of its citizens, freedom and social justice, peace and security.
This vision is realisable as long as individual states adhere to agreed protocols and treaties. The grouping’s agenda is informed by the need to achieve economic growth, self-reliance and sustainable utilisation of natural resources.
So, as Heads of State and Government gather in Zimbabwe in two months’ time, it is critical that delegates review the challenges faced by the region in implementing some of its noble policies and agreements, and to find ways of remedying those challenges.
One of the challenges faced by Sadc is to review the setting up of over-ambitious targets which the body has failed to meet. A good example is the Sadc Trade Protocol signed by 11 out of 15 members in 2000, which sought to liberalise 85 percent of intra-regional trade by 2012 and form a customs union for the region by 2010, all of which have been missed.
Other targets that are yet to become a reality include the establishment of a common market by 2012 and a monetary union by 2016, both of which are unlikely to be achieved. The other challenge that has hindered the effective cohesion of Sadc is the issue of multiple memberships of regional economic communities by Member States.
The holding of multiple memberships dates back to colonial times and seems to have been influenced by the first wave of regional integration based on the model of the European Economic Community.
Overlapping membership has not just created confusion, conflict of interest and duplication, but also poses a serious burden on the taxpayer.
South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland are members of the Southern African Customs Union, while Namibia and Swaziland hold memberships of three regional integration agreements and are part of the Common Monetary Area which includes South Africa and Lesotho, and also participate in the Regional Integration Facilitation Forum.
The issue is further compounded by the fact that the majority of Member States of Sadc are also members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, and this creates problems in the event that the region decides to form a customs union, taking into account that no country can concurrently belong to two regional economic communities.
Given this multiple membership, confusion and policy incoherence becomes inevitable. But not everything is gloomy. Sadc has been able to inculcate a sense of regional belonging and a tradition of consultation among people and governments of Southern Africa.
The regional body managed to put in place the Sadc Programme of Action that covers co-operation in various economic sectors. Under this programme, several infrastructural projects have been undertaken to rehabilitate roads, rail and harbours as a way of improving communication, transportation and carriageways across the region.
The achievements have provided a foundation upon which the region can make progress towards effective economic integration.
