Self-funding key for bloc

As long as Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) countries are unable to fund the organisation, the future of the regional programmes and activities will remain uncertain, Minister of Foreign Affairs Simbarashe Mumbengegwi has said. The Minister said this last Friday while handing over the Chair of the Sadc Council of Ministers during the official opening of the two-day Council of Ministers meeting in Gaborone, Botswana ahead of the Sadc Summit of Heads of State and Government which begins tomorrow.“While we celebrate Sadc achievements, we remain conscious of the fact that for as long as we are unable to fund our own organisation, Sadc will not be wholly ours,” he said.“While SADC appreciates the support it receives from its cooperating partners, the continued dependency on their generosity and benevolence constitutes one of the most profound weaknesses of the organisation.“This state of affairs compromises ownership and control as well as the sustainability of our programmes, particularly those in the strategic areas that are at the core of the Regional Indicative Development Plan as well as the Strategic Indicative Plan for the Organ.”Minister Mumbegegwi said every year, Sadc was confronted with the twin realities of an ever expanding list of responsibilities against a background of dwindling resources. “We should ask ourselves why we should continue to crowd our organisation with institutions and programmes that member states have no capacity to fund,” he said. He also said programmes that member states can implement on their own should not be heaped on Sadc. The minister urged Sadc member states to concentrate on those programmes that have a direct bearing on regional integration, peace and security.

ln. April this year, Sadc put in place a Regional Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap which was approved by the Sadc Summit in Harare. The COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Trade Area (TFTA) was then launched in June, while the Continental Free Trade Area negotiations were also initiated. Under the chairmanship of President Mugabe, the region finalised the Revised SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2015-2020, which has also main-streamed the industrialisation agenda of the region. The RISDP outlines the region’s priorities for member states and gives the pre-requisite strategic direction to the SADC Secretariat for the coming years. The Council of Ministers meeting which was officially opened by Sadc Executive Secretary, Stergomena Lawrence Tax, ended yesterday. – NAMPA