by Munetsi Madakufamba
The recent SADC summit held in Blantyre, the sprawling commercial capital of Malawi, endorsed many decisions that properly received wide media attention, ranging from the leadership of the organization to the signing of a number of legal documents. But the approval by summit of the current restructuring exercise, key in shaping regional policy, largely skipped the attention of both regional and international media.
Although some who followed the events in Blantyre saw an organization undergoing political transformation at the top as various leadership positions swapped hands, in reality, changes on the ground are an organization intent on taking an economic, rather than political, route to regional integration.
With little controversy, the Blantyre summit unanimously elected Mozambican President Joachim Chissano to chair a “troika” that will lead the important SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security. His term will be for one year during which he will be deputized by Tanzania’s President Benjamin Mkapa, with Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, immediate past chairperson, completing the troika.
According to the current chairperson of SADC, President Bakili Muluzi of Malawi, the matter did not take much time when the leaders met behind closed doors, as many would have thought. Muluzi took over the chair from Namibian President Sam Nujoma.
But away from this perceived political controversy, the summit quietly endorsed the restructuring of the 14-member organization, allowing it to rediscover its identity as an economic, rather than a political body.
The exercise, which kicked off after it was formally adopted by an extra-ordinary summit in Windhoek in March 2001, has seen the appointment of senior staff at SADC’s headquarters in Gaborone, Botswana, from which all operations will now be directed.
The summit appointed Albert Muchanga, a former senior civil servant in the Zambian government, as deputy to Executive Secretary Prega Ramsamy.
Both men are economists, as is the number three men in the hierarchy at SADC House, the chief director who is a South African technocrat.
Under the new structure, at least one of the four directorates that are being established at the Secretariat to replace the sectors previously coordinated by member states, is sure to be headed by an economist- the industry, trade, finance and investment directorate. The other directorates are food, agriculture and natural resources; infrastructure and services; and social and human development, along with special programmes.
The economic directorate was launched on 2 August 2001, meaning that should now be fully operating from Botswana. However, the actual winding down of activities in all of its cluster of sectors may take up to 12 or more months.
Although the director is yet to be appointed, nine techn1cal people have already been seconded from member states to develop the mandate and strategy of the directorate.
“We are aware of the possible problems (associated with restructuring), but we are willing to proceed and correct our mistakes along the way,” said Hidipo Hamutenya, outgoing chairperson of the SADC Council ofMinisters and Namibian Minister of Trade and Industry.
The other three directorates will be established using a similar approach, and this exercise should be complete by end of next year.
These latest developments are clearly an attempt to free SADC of the political burden that bad hitherto undermined the effectiveness of the organization as its control and agenda was increasingly determined by politicians.
The sector were previously co-ordinated by people answerable to national ministries, rendering the executive secretary of SADC powerless in supervising their work.
As the organization continues with its restructuring at the regional level, it is cognizant of similar transformation at the continental level.
The Organization of African Unity (OAU), based in Addis Ababa, is being transformed into the African Union.
Like SADC, this metamorphosis seeks to turn the 38-year old organization into one driven by economics.
As African leaders attempt to move the continent into the mainstream of global economics, they adopted as a blueprint the New African Initiative in July at the OAU summit in Zambia.
The initiative is a merger between the southern Africa-backed Millennium Africa Recovery Plan (MAP) and the Senegalese Omega Plan.
The Blantyre summit received a report from South African President Thabo Mbeki who, along with the pres1dents of Botswana and Mozambique, are part of a 15-member task force of African heads who will spearhead the implementation of NAI.
However, as leaders move to revamp economic development both at the regional and continental levels, many challenges such as HIV/AIDS, food security and conflicts remain at the top of the agenda.
Given the negative impact these problems are having on the regional economy, the summit could not possibly relegate the issues to any other business during their discussions, knowing full well that talk without concrete action will not solve the problems.
‘Fbe problem of AIDS in southern Africa has reached crisis proportions, rendering the debate on whether AIDS is caused by HIV or not irrelevant.
What is known is there are drugs, available to SADC nations that can prolong life. What is also known is the fact that there is a vicious cycle of poverty in AIDS-affected communities.
It does not require scientific explanation to show that poverty leads to ill health and lack of proper nutrition. On the other hand, AIDS plunges individuals and communities into further poverty leaving people to spend the little they have on expensive drugs and selective diet.
It remains a paradox why southern African countries, the worst affected in the world, still show little if any enthusiasm for cheaper generic drugs.
After several months down the line, no decisive action has been taken by any of the governments except for Botswana which has committed resources at the national level to ensure the cheap drugs are available to every needy citizen.
Critics point out that often it takes no more than one cabinet meeting for a government to approve the purchase of military hardware, ostensibly to protect its people, yet it can take the entire term of office to decide to import essential drugs to keep the same people alive and healthy.
It was announced at the SADC summit last year in Windhoek that the region is putting in place a multipronged programme to deal with the problem of HIV/AIDS.
Twelve months later, in Blantyre, the final communique of the summit noted “that SADC is working on a programme to ensure that the majority of the people have access to affordable drugs for HIV/AIDS-related diseases.”
It remains everybody’s guess when people will finally get the cheaper drugs.
Regarding food security, the summit noted with “great concern” that the region faces a severe cereal shortage of 3.87 million tonnes.
SADC requires 28.91 tonnes of cereal for a single year. Only South Africa has a surplus this season, while the rest of the countries will have to import to meet requirements.
On the conflict situation in the region, the summit continued its pronouncements on the need to end current wars in Angola and the DRC. It did nothing more than appeal to the international community to provide food assistance to millions of Angolans who have not known peace for the past 26 years.
If the conflict in Angola is to end, perhaps the region needs a more aggressive method than mere condemnation of Jonasi Savimbi who still walks free since the civil strife began in 1975.
The summit hailed the current troop withdrawal in the DRC and appealed to the international community to speed up the deployment of UN military observers. It condemned the “looting of
natural resources and minerals of the DRC” and urged member states to prohibit the importation or transit of such resources through their territories.
Zimbabwe’s economic and political situation requires a speedy resolution of the land dispute which has caused the current impasse with its main donors.
The summit appointed a task force from Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa to help the country resolve its problems.
As SADC continues the search for solutions to its current economic and political challenges, the major Question remains on whether the ongoing restructuring of its institutions, especially at the Gaborone Secretariat. will bring a new impetus to this region of200 million people or not. (SARDC)
