COMMENT: President Mnangagwa excels during Organ Troika chair tenure

President Mnangagwa’s tenure as chairperson of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation ended at the regional bloc’s 40th Ordinary Heads of State Summit yesterday.

The summit was held virtually as a precaution against Covid-19 and hosted by Mozambique.

The President had been chairing the influential arm of Sadc since the 2019 summit in Tanzania. In terms of the established operational procedures of the regional bloc, the chair rotates among member states on an annual basis. Therefore, the President stepped aside after serving the region for the past 12 months on an organ that was launched in June 1996 as a formal institution of the grouping with the mandate to support the achievement and maintenance of security and the rule of law in the region. His Botswana counterpart, Mokgweetsi Masisi succeeded him and will serve until the next ordinary summit in Malawi in August 2021.

Yesterday’s summit was held under the theme, “40 Years Building Peace and Security, and Promoting Development and Resilience in the Face of Global Challenges” and its key focus was to facilitate the handover of chairmanship of the Sadc Summit from Tanzania to Mozambique.

As the outgoing chair of the Organ, the President tabled a report highlighting the major developments of his tenure. We note a number of successes scored by the Organ over the past 12 months.

President Mnangagwa came in as the insurgency in northern Mozambique province of Cabo Delgado was intensifying having started two years earlier. The insurgency being perpetrated by elements affiliated to the Islamic State which is blamed for some horrific terrorist attacks elsewhere on the continent and parts of the Middle East has resulted in about 1 100 deaths of civilians and displacement of some 100 000 in that province. It has alarmed Mozambique not only because of the deaths and the displacements but also its likely impact on investment expected to pour into northern Mozambique. Three consortiums of international oil companies are looking to invest around US$40 billion developing natural gas in offshore acreages adjoining Cabo Delgado. Encouragingly none of the oil giants has been frustrated by the violence into withdrawing from their gas finds.

The whole of Sadc has been alarmed too given the trans-boundary way Islamists are known to operate. To help curb that threat, President Mnangagwa convened an Organ Summit in May at which a strategy was adopted on how the region can cooperate to tackle that security threat. We look forward to seeing more work to deal with the terrorists so that the people of Mozambique and the rest of Sadc can live in peace and harmony.

Also as chairperson of the Organ, the President had to deal with a border dispute between Zambia and DRC following security incidents which occurred in March along the countries’ common border in the Lakes Tanganyika and Mweru. He directed secretariat to constitute and deploy a team of technical experts to the affected areas. The team went on the ground on July 23 and visited areas including Kibanga, Chibanga, Kalubamba, Musosa, Luchinda and Pweto. It conducted sensitisation campaigns for various target groups in order to secure the cooperation of the local community, facilitate the adoption of a common system for determination of the border coordinates between the two neighbours and a phased approach for the demarcation of the border. They also identified reference beacons along the border and were expected to finish the task six days later. Through the President’s direction, that delicate task was successfully undertaken and we are optimistic that the peace and harmony that Sadc is known for will be restored between Zambia and the DRC.

Across the region to Lesotho, an internal conflict between the leaders of that country was resolved thanks to the efforts of the Organ under President Mnangagwa’s chairpersonship. Mr Thomas Thabane resigned as Prime Minister some two years before the end of his term. Mr Moeketsi Majoro replaced him in a peaceful transition that should usher that country on a path to a peaceful, democratic and prosperous future.

Largely, the work in Mozambique, Lesotho as well as between Zambia and DRC marked the past 12 months of President Mnangagwa’s leadership of the Organ. It is our hope that Sadc will build on that success and other emerging issues so that regional peace, security and development can flourish.