Online Reporter
#Obituary
Phyllis Johnson
REMIGIOUS MAKUMBE (Remi) may be a name you have not heard before but his work has had an impact on most people in Southern Africa.
Eng Makumbe, who passed away on September 10 and his funeral held in Harare last week, was for many years the facilitator of regional infrastructure as Director of Infrastructure and Services (I&S) for the 16-member Southern African Development Community
(SADC).
He was responsible for regional linkages in transport (road, rail and air), energy, communications technology, water, meteorology and tourism.
At the time he started, there was little collaboration across borders for infrastructure development, as national infrastructure in the region was still being destroyed by apartheid South Africa during the 1980s.
His unique facilitation of a brainstorming session of SADC Heads of State and Government during their summit in Lusaka, Zambia, in 2007 generated keen interest in its purpose to accelerate priority regional infrastructure.
His purpose was to engage SADC leaders and brief them directly about the need for them to engage in infrastructure support for regional integration and the expected results.
The Heads of State and Government session and outcomes marked a paradigm shift in the way the SADC region undertakes its business, bringing in a new dimension in the development of the region.
His report to SADC leaders was published as Action on Infrastructure.
The key functions of his I&S Directorate were in rebuilding and revisioning the provision of infrastructure support for regional integration and poverty reduction, and the creation of an enabling environment to facilitate investment in infrastructure.
His passion and greatest innovation were in guiding the development of the SADC Regional Infrastructure Master Plan, a 15-year plan (2012-2027) implemented in stages of five years, and still guiding this aspect of regional development at the time of his death, his
legacy to the people of the region.
SADC took a major leap forward in deepening integration in 2012 when Heads of State and Government approved the Regional Infrastructure Master Plan containing the vision for infrastructure development in SADC until 2027.
This is a 15-year implementation horizon for forecasting infrastructure requirements in the region, aligned with the African Union’s Programme for Infrastructure Development of Africa (PIDA).
The plan also constitutes a key input to the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) made up of SADC, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC).
Another significant milestone for Eng Makumbe and SADC was in the tourism sector, especially with the launch of the world’s largest Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA), when the Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) TFCA was launched in March 2012 by five SADC
member states — Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Situated in the Okavango and Zambezi River basins, KAZA is made up of 36 national parks, game reserves, community conservancies and game management areas, and other attractions such as the Victoria Falls, as well as the re-opening traditional wildlife
migration routes.
Eng Makumbe started his career at the National Railways of Zimbabwe in 1981, soon after independence and soon after the formation of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC), both in April 1980.
SADCC was later transformed to a full Regional Economic Community in 1992 after independence in Namibia.
He worked with rail telecommunications and signalling.
He became chief signal engineer in 1988.
His regional career started when he was appointed as the rail technical expert for the Southern African Transport and Communications Commission (SATCC) in 1991, a newly established subsidiary organisation, one of the first in the structures of SADC, to give
priority to transport.
He joined SATCC at its base in Maputo, Mozambique, to coordinate standards and cross-border rail connections for all SADC railways.
This had not been done before, as the railways in the region were still targets for destruction by apartheid South Africa.
He became Executive Director of the Southern African Railway Association (SARA) in 1995 and was transferred to headquarters in Harare to coordinate all issues of SADC infrastructure, operations, integration, training, rail tariff coordination, external relations
and SARA board.
He moved to the SADC Secretariat in Botswana in 1996 as Director of Infrastructure and Services.
He later had responsibility for overseeing all SADC directorates for three years, as SADC established a centralised administrative structure assembled from the sectoral hubs in member states.
Eng Makumbe retired from SADC in 2018 and moved to South Africa as a consultant for several organisations, including the Global Water Partnership, GIZ, the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and others, also focusing on capacity development
for the next generation.
At home, he established a scholarship schemes for underprivileged students in peri-urban areas, at Mbare and Mzilikazi high schools.
He dedicated his life to regional development and integration, establishing the planning for cross-border infrastructure to support regional integration, which is a foundation of SADC in Southern Africa and the continental African Union through Agenda 2063 – The
Africa We Want.
He was a board member of the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC) and a founder/board member of the African Leadership Institute, both based in Harare. –
sardc.net
