The Sunday Mail
The journey has been long but worthwhile.
From a series of consultations in the late 1970s by representative of the Frontline States to forge closer alliance, Southern Africa was finally able to form a vibrant regional organisation, the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (Sadcc) in 1980, which was transformed to the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) in 1992.
Initially made up of nine countries namely Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Sadc has grown to 15 members which now include the DRC, Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and The Seychelles.
Closer co-operation among the 15 member states has seen the region achieve a number of milestones aimed at advancing political freedom into broader socio-economic independence that ensures improved living standards for its people.
For example, the region has broken down colonial barriers by opening up its borders to encourage the smooth movement of goods, services and people within the region.
This development has improved intra-regional trade, and facilitated the movement of skilled personnel, as well as deepened people-to-people exchanges.
Unlike in the past, it is now possible for Sadc citizens to easily move within the region without first obtaining a visa, as most countries have signed bilateral agreements between themselves to remove any stringent measures.
On the economic front, Sadc citizens are now getting better products at lower prices due to increased production as a result of the implementation of the Sadc Protocol on Trade in 2000 and the ultimate launch of the Sadc Free Trade Area in 2008. By attaining the status of FTA, producers and consumers in the region benefit from tariff-free trade for all goods originating within the region.
An estimated 85 percent tariff on all goods was attained by most Sadc countries in 2008, while maximum liberalisation was finally reached in 2012 when tariffs on sensitive products were removed.
All Sadc countries, with the exception of Angola and the DRC, are members of the FTA. The two countries are expected to join soon after requesting time to rebuild their economies following decades of armed conflict.
The next stage for Sadc is to consolidate the gains of the FTA by creating a customs union, common market, monetary union, and eventually adopt a single regional currency.
With regard to energy development, more Sadc citizens now have access to sustainable modern energy services.
This has been made possible through a number of initiatives including the establishment of the Southern African Power Pool — a regional body that co-ordinates the planning, generation, transmission and marketing of electricity on behalf of utilities of member states.
In 2013 alone, Sapp added 1 360 megawatts of new electricity to the regional grid, and the region plans to install more than 6 000MW in 2014 with the hope of ensuring sufficient generation reserves of installed capacity are achieved in the next few years.
The Sadc Regional infrastructure Master Plan identifies a total of 73 power generation projects to increase generation from the current 56 000MW and surpass the projected demand of 96 000MW by 2027.
Another major regional initiative that has improved access to energy for Sadc citizens is the commissioning of the competitive electricity market, commonly known as the Day Ahead Market (Dam) in December 2009.
Dam has allowed Sadc countries to easily sell and buy surplus electricity from each other, thereby helping some member states meet their growing energy demands.
Improving energy access is a top priority for all Sadc countries, which are working together to fully exploit the rich energy resources in the region which include solar, hydro and wind.
On the political scene, Sadc has succeeded in consolidating peace and security. Political stability, peace and security are seen by Sadc as the foundation for socio-economic development.
Except for one or two trouble spots such as the political situation in eastern DRC, Sadc is considered one of the most stable African regions.
In 1998, Sadc-led troops helped DRC defend its sovereignty when some neighbouring countries tried to invade it, and the region continues to support DRC’s road to recovery and the restoration of total peace in the eastern part of that country.
The involvement of Sadc in Madagascar and Zimbabwe is yet another success story, which gives credence to the ability and effectiveness of the bloc to solve its own challenges without unnecessary outside interference.
With respect to gender, Sadc has made significant progress to elevate women to decision-making positions. August 2013 saw the historic appointment of Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax of Tanzania as the first woman to assume the position of Sadc Executive Secretary.
At parliamentary level, Sadc countries are making efforts to attain 50/50 representation in all decision-making positions by 2015.
According to the Sadc Gender Monitor 2013 released at the 33rd Sadc Summit in Lilongwe, Malawi, representation of women in the Lower House of Parliament ranges from more than 40 percent in The Seychelles and South Africa to around 10 percent in Botswana and the DRC. Average Sadc representation by women in parliament was 25,8 percent as of mid-2013, marginally up from 20,6 percent in 2005 and 23 percent in 2011, but still short of the 50 percent target.
Six Sadc countries are significantly close to the target of parity in parliament, having gone above the 30 percent threshold set previously by regional leaders for female representation.
These are The Seychelles (43,8 percent) representation of women as of 2012, South Africa (41,3 percent), Mozambique (39,2 percent), Tanzania (36 percent) and Angola (34,1 percent). Zimbabwe, since the July 2013 elections, has 31,5 percent representation in the National Assembly and 47,5 women representation in the Senate.
As the momentum builds towards the 34th Sadc Summit in Victoria Falls, the regional bloc is expected to consolidate these gains and deepen integration among Member States.
The 34th Sadc Summit, whose theme is “Sadc Strategy for Economic Transformation: Leveraging the Region’s Diverse Resources for Sustainable Economic and Social Development through Beneficiation and Value Addition”, will be held on August 17 and 18.
Sadc has its origins in Lusaka, Zambia, on April 1, 1980 when nine independent states signed a declaration titled “Southern Africa: Towards Economic Liberation,” whose main objectives were to reduce dependence, particularly on apartheid South Africa, as well as secure international understanding and support.
The transformation from Sadcc to Sadc was achieved in August 1992 in Windhoek, Namibia when the leaders signed the Sadc Declaration and Treaty.
The leaders realised that although the co-ordination conference had served them well and had demonstrated the crucial need to co-operate in their development efforts, the time had come to give the organisation a more formal legal status.
There was also need to shift the focus of the organisation from co-ordination of development projects to a more complex task of integrating the economies of member states.
Kizito Sikuka is a senior researcher/writer with the Regional Economic Development Institute (REDI) at the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC)
