Sadc Parliament a key driver of integration, development

Munetsi Madakufamba

The new SADC Regional Parliament could sit before the end of this year if one more member state ratifies the agreement to amend the SADC Treaty to allow for the transformation process.

This regional parliament can become a key driver of integration and development, bridging the gap between citizens and policymakers.

The transformation of the SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) into a regional parliament was approved by SADC leaders in 2021 and requires ratification by 12 member states.

This was discussed at the 55th Plenary Assembly of the SADC PF held in Angola in early July.

The Speaker of the Parliament of Zimbabwe, Advocate Jacob Mudenda, joined the president of the forum in briefing the current chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), President João Lourenço of Angola.

Heads of State and Government approved the much-awaited SADC Regional Parliament at the 41st SADC summit held in Lilongwe, Malawi, from August 17 to 18, 2021, bringing on board what has long been seen as the missing piece in the regional integration structure.

A SADC regional parliament will ensure broader citizen participation in regional affairs. It will also facilitate more extensive debate on regional issues and, thus, accelerate the implementation of SADC protocols that need to be ratified and domesticated into national legislation.

The summit decision has been to establish the SADC Regional Parliament as a “consultative and deliberative body” with no law-making or other binding authority in the initial instance.

The regional parliament is expected to observe and respect the sovereignty of SADC member states, while, in operational terms, it would consult and liaise with other SADC institutions and structures such as the Council of Ministers, through which its recommendations would be channelled for consideration by the summit.

Regarding the relationship with national parliaments, the new regional parliament is expected to facilitate the drafting of model laws, while the former will continue their legislative role in domesticating regional laws, as well as the oversight role on the effective implementation of executive programmes and projects at the national level.

The Legislature has long been seen as the missing arm of the three arms of SADC — the other two being the Executive, represented by the SADC Secretariat headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana; and the Judiciary, represented by the Tribunal based in Windhoek, Namibia.

The SADC Secretariat was established through a decision of the summit held in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1981 and became operational from July 1, 1982 in Gaborone.

The Tribunal was formally established through a summit decision in 2005 and reconstituted in 2012, with the mandate of interpreting the SADC Treaty and Protocols relating to disputes between member states.

With the Executive and the Judiciary firmly in place, SADC, however, lacked a systematic and coordinated channel for the collective voice of member state parliaments at the continental and global fora; for example, in processes and deliberations at the Pan-African Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

It is widely acknowledged that the establishment of the SADC Regional Parliament is an important milestone in the bloc’s integration agenda.

This is a crucial step that will also ensure that citizens’ views are incorporated into regional policy-making processes.

Even more important, the decision puts SADC in line with other regional economic communities that have their own regional parliamentary assemblies.

Other African regional parliaments include the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), the Inter-Parliamentary Union of Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IPU-IGAD) Member States for the Horn of Africa, and the Network of Parliamentarians of the Economic Community of Central Africa (CEMAC). The first historic steps towards the establishment of a regional parliament were taken at a SADC summit in 1997 in Blantyre, Malawi, when the decision to form the SADC Parliamentary Forum (PF) was made to “constitute a parliamentary consultative assembly, the ultimate goal being the establishment of a regional parliamentary framework for dialogue on issues of regional interest and concern”.

The SADC PF was established as an autonomous institution of the bloc to bring regional experiences to bear at the national level and promote best practices in the role of parliaments in regional cooperation and integration. It currently has a membership of 15 parliaments, representing over 3 500 parliamentarians in the SADC region.

The member parliaments are Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The SADC PF currently functions as an association of parliaments, discharging its mandate mainly through the convening of conferences, workshops and seminars.

It had, until this decision, struggled to have its mandate transformed into a regional parliament.

The initial summit decision followed an extended lobbying mission championed by some speakers of national parliaments, who saw clearly the vision of transforming the SADC PF into a regional parliament.

The lobbying missions were largely aimed at building regional consensus on the need for a SADC regional parliament and to expedite the process.

A similar lobby process has been undertaken to achieve the ratification by 12 member states. “We are delighted to finally witness the fruits of our long toil to have our status upgraded coming to fruition,” SADC PF secretary-general Boemo Sekgoma said, reacting to the historic decision of the Lilongwe summit.

She added: “The SADC PF Secretariat stands ready to work with our colleagues at the SADC Secretariat to implement our proposed roadmap to transform the forum into a regional parliament.”

According to a SADC PF statement, the summit has approved a roadmap that outlines steps to be undertaken to establish the regional legislature, including the amendment of the SADC Treaty and adoption of the protocol establishing the regional parliament.

“To expedite the transformation process, the summit directed the SADC Secretariat, in collaboration with the SADC PF Secretariat, to commence on the amendment of the SADC Treaty with a view to recognise SADC Parliament as one of the SADC institutions under Article 9(1),” says a SADC PF statement.

Further, the summit directed the two secretariats to commence the process of drafting a protocol establishing the SADC Regional Parliament.

The details of the composition, powers, functions, procedures and other related matters of the regional parliament are expected to be prescribed in the protocol.

The SADC PF’s current headquarters in Windhoek are expected to serve as the headquarters of the SADC Regional Parliament.

 Munetsi Madakufamba is the executive director of the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC), a SADC knowledge partner based in Harare.