Sadc member states to wholly fund organ

Tinashe Farawo – Sunday Mail Reporter

SADC member states should wholly fund the organ instead of relying on outside funding as this compromises its sovereignty.

The regional bloc has since directed secretariat to craft ways of financing its activities.

Addressing journalists at the close of a two-day Sadc Council of Ministers meeting in Harare, the council’s chairman, who is also Foreign Affairs Minister, Cde Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, said efforts were underway to engage stakeholders who can finance the group.

He said it was unhealthy for the organisation to fund 60 percent of its activities from outside development partners. Sadc member states fund 40 percent of its operations.

The minister said: “Ownership is everything because if you don’t fund your programmes, you can’t determine its agenda and basically it’s not yours. Remember whoever pays the piper calls the tune.

“The funding of our activities by development partners impacts on ownership and therefore control of the programmes.”

Finance and Economic Development Minister Cde Patrick Chinamasa told The Sunday Mail on Friday that depending on foreign funding was tantamount to surrendering sovereignty.

Sadc executive secretary Dr Lawrence Tax also told journalists that the Council of Ministers approved a US$79 million budget which will cover peace building, consolidation of democratic practices and good governance, defence and security co-operation, industrial development and market integration.

It will also fund regional infrastructure development, implementation of the regional agricultural policy and gender development.

Dr Tax said industrialisation, competitiveness and regional integration were the three main pillars on which industrialisation policy will be anchored.

“Council noted that work is on-going in the COMESA-EAC-SADC tripartite arrangement under the market integration pillar, industrial development and infrastructure and the three secretariats are in the process of finalising the report for consideration by the tripartite summit later this year,” she said.