It’s time for concrete and real actions

THE Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states are unanimous that the sub-region is fabulously rich in mineral and natural resources, as well as skilled human resources, which can be leveraged on to drive success.

For example, the region contributes to the world about 18 percent of cobalt, 21 percent of zinc, 26 percent of gold, 55 percent of diamonds and 72 percent of platinum group of metals.

It also has some of the biggest wildlife conservation areas in the world, which are alluring to tourists from across the globe.

All these are ingredients for success.

This is the point that was emphasised by President Mnangagwa, who assumed chairmanship of the regional bloc yesterday, when he delivered the 7th Public Lecture at the University of Zimbabwe on Thursday.

“Leveraging on our combined resource endowments and human capacities the region must emerge as a competitive economic bloc with the requisite capabilities to produce a wide array of goods and services.

“As SADC member states, we have all it takes to succeed,” he noted.

“This underscores the weighty responsibility we all carry to drive development in our countries from both an individual and collective standpoint.

“Gone are the days where we depended on people from elsewhere to develop our economies, provide services for our communities and avail goods for our industries and commerce.”

Worryingly, the region continues to export most of its products in raw form.

It also accounts for a negligible share in global trade.

In particular, Africa’s share of global trade, including SADC, is about 3 percent.

This ultimately affects the size of our economies, leading to funding gaps that militate against bankrolling critical infrastructure projects, as well as the welfare and sustenance of citizens.

For instance, in 2017, the SADC region, with a population of 327 million people, and blessed with abundant and diverse natural resources, only exported goods worth US$143 billion.

However, in the same period, Mexico and Vietnam, countries with a population of 132,5 million people and 97,5 million people, exported goods worth US$403 billion and US$214 billion, respectively.

This demonstrates the pitfalls of relying on exporting raw materials and the efficacy of trading in finished products.

So, something has to give.

While the region agrees that the answer to all this is industrialisation, the progress that has been made thus far has been less than satisfactory.

As President Mnangagwa said in his acceptance speech yesterday, it was now time for the region to match “aspirations set in the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Road Map (2015-2063) with concrete and real actions”.

Just as Zimbabwe played a pivotal role in the conceptualisation of this critical industrialisation strategy and road map, as the new chair, it is now charged with the mandate to drive this agenda forward for the next 12 months.

And the new chairman is clear-eyed on priority programmes that need to be embraced and implemented by the region in order to drive industrialisation.

Innovation, science and technology, he counsels, are key in adding value to raw materials and oiling the manufacturing industry in regional countries.

This naturally puts our youthful populations at the centre of ideating, conceptualising and creating solutions for the peculiar needs of our industries and communities.

Zimbabwe has already led the way, as it has established innovation hubs at all State universities.

But the private sector has a role to play as well through partnering with tertiary institutions in trying to develop industrial solutions.

SADC member countries need not work in silos but collaborate through people-to-people and business-to-business cooperation towards common goals, as exhorted by President Mnangagwa.

There is no doubt that as the new SADC chairman, the President, armed with a wealth of experience that has seen him steering one of the fastest-growing economies in the region, particularly against extraordinary odds, will make a difference in the next 12 months.

The same formula that has worked in Zimbabwe will surely work in other regional countries.

We share a common past, our struggles and challenges are the same, and we will surely share a common, but brighter, future.

Long live SADC!