adminJohn Sigauke
As the curtains were brought down on the SADC Summit held in Victoria Falls on Tuesday, it is time to take stock on the benefits that the regional bloc is set to derive from the chairmanship of President Robert Mugabe. President Mugabe was handed a 12-month mandate to lead the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The veteran President will provide quality leadership experience accrued over a period of time. He has seen it all, having been with the regional grouping since the inception of its predecessor, the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC), in 1980.
He is the only founding father who is still in the regional bloc. Thus, he knows all its corners and it will pay dividends if member states took this opportunity as a learning phase.
With President Mugabe at the helm, SADC will hopefully revert to its founding principles and objectives.
Some of the chief objectives behind the formation of the group are to promote self-sustaining development on the basis of collective self-reliance and interdependence of member states as well as to promote and defend peace and security.
While SADC’s vision was to reduce dependence on Western countries, some of the member states are 100 percent dependent on them. Some have national budgets that are largely donor funded.
This gravely compromises the sovereignty of these member states, as he who pays the piper calls the tune.
President Mugabe is a firm critic of dependence syndrome.
During the recent 34th SADC Heads of State and Government Summit held in Victoria Falls, President Mugabe revealed that 60 percent of SADC programmes are donor funded.
SADC’s theme for this year echoes the President’s conviction on collective self-reliance of the region.
This year’s theme is ‘‘SADC Strategy for Economic Transformation Leveraging the Region’s diverse Resources for Sustainable Economic and Social Development through Beneficiation and Value Addition.’’
President Mugabe is alive to the fact that Africa is a rich continent with poor inhabitants. If the rich resources in the region were value added and beneficiated, SADC programmes could be internally funded.
President Mugabe has taken the lead in making sure that Zimbabwean resources benefit Zimbabweans.
The land reform programme is a prime example of President Mugabe’s thrust to empower indigenous people.
He has also extended this empowering thrust to the mining and manufacturing sectors where foreign investors have to cede 51 percent to the locals. This visionary policy will bear fruit in the near future.
The Government of Zimbabwe is also placing special attention on the beneficiation and value addition of its resources like minerals.
SADC has to learn from Zimbabwe and it must pluck a leaf from the country’s five-year economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset). The objectives of the blueprint are in tandem with SADC’s theme for this year.
President Mugabe will take advantage of his all-weather friendship with China to lure investment into the region.
He has already intimated that SADC will discuss with China to increase investment on infrastructural development.
President Mugabe is a principled leader who cannot be shoved by the West and the latter are conscious of that fact.
We hope that will translate into reduction of Western interference in regional affairs.
This does not mean that SADC is not in need of international co-operation. The co-operation must just be symbiotic. It’s refreshing that countries like Britain that imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe have recognised SADC under the able leadership of President Mugabe.
The British ambassador to Zimbabwe, Deborah Bronnert, said: “I am sure that our relationship with SADC will continue. We have always worked with SADC and nothing will change.” Some thought the international community will not recognise SADC under the leadership of President Mugabe.
This is the same reason why the MDC-T staged provocative demonstrations that were aimed at inviting a President Mugabe backlash and subsequently discredit his chairmanship.
SADC member states must support the veteran leader whose vision seeks to steer Southern Africa towards sustainable socio-economic development. The region is set to derive great benefits from his visionary leadership.
Online Reporter