adminlocal government as a sub-committee of the regional body.
The forum begins today until July 1.
Other sectors such as agriculture, health and defence have desks at the Sadc headquarters in Gaborone, Botswana.
Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Ministry spokesperson, Ms Erika Jones, confirmed recently that the country was ready to host the forum.
“The forum would be held here in Harare at the Rainbow Towers. We have invited all Sadc local government ministers. We are expecting a full house,” she said.
She said her Minister Ignatius Chombo would assume the chairmanship of the forum until the next forum meeting next year. At its last meeting in Luanda, Angola, the forum agreed that Angola, Botswana and
Namibia should actively lobby to the Sadc executive secretary for the inclusion of the item of institutionalisation on the agendas of the Sadc Council of Ministers Meeting in March 2011 and the Heads of State summit in August 2011. The three member states were also tasked to sensitise and lobby individual member states on the matter.
Having a committed desk at the Sadc headquarters would help in the mobilisation of funding for local government in the sub-region as well as strengthen information flows among and between member states. Officers manning the desk would periodically update information on the state of local government in the region.
Online Reporter