The march towards regional integration in southern Africa has remained painstakingly slow and commitment by member countries has been identified as one of the main fetters to the creation of a common vision.
The outgoing chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), President Festus Mogae of Botswana, noted that the region’s integration agenda could remain a pipe dream unless member states take charge of their own destiny and show greater commitment to see off regional programmes.
Out of a budget of US$46 million proposed for 2007/08, member countries were prepared to contribute a mere 39 percent, with the remainder expected to come from international cooperating partners.
“Certainly the implementation of our development agenda cannot depend on funding from international cooperating partners to the extent it does. We need to show commitment by contributing significantly more from our own resources towards programmes and projects,” said Mogae.
Mogae handed over the leadership of SADC to Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili of Lesotho during the Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government held in Maseru on 17-18 August.
The past 12 months, according to Mogae, have not been “as fruitful a period as I had hoped.”
Little progress has been made in the implementation of various SADC programmes and projects due to lack of commitment by member states.
Implementation of the key SADC Trade Protocol is lagging behind, posing serious challenges for a region with a target to establish a Free Trade Area in two years time and a customs union by 2010.
“The implementation of our programmes do not show that we remain committed to the achievement of the milestones towards the attainment of SADC’s full integration, namely the Free Trade Area, Customs Union and Common Market as outlined in the RISDP (Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan),” said Mogae.
Incoming chairperson of the SADC Council of Ministers, Timothy Thahane, who is Lesotho’s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, said despite successes scored in the area of intra-regional trade, the roll-out of the trade protocol has not lived up to expectations.
“This notwithstanding, the implementation of the Trade Protocol is lagging behind, necessitating acceleration towards starting preparations for the Customs Union, a deeper stage in regional integration to be attained by 2010,” said Thahane after a meeting of the Council of Ministers which preceded the Summit.
Concerns around the issue of overlapping membership of regional bodies have also stalled progress in the implementation of the trade protocol.
Several SADC member states also belong to other Regional Economic Communities (RECs) such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the East African Community. This has created problems of conflict of interests among member countries.
The World Trade Organisation requires that no country can belong to more than one REC.
Construction of the new SADC headquarters in Gaborone, Botswana, is five years behind schedule. Work is expected to start on the new offices around March 2007.
“In Mauritius in 2004 I explained then that I was an old man in a hurry. I am now an older man in a greater hurry than was the case in 2004. You will appreciate why I am perturbed by the slow rate of implementation of our programmes,” noted Mogae.
Little progress has also been made in implementing the Protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons in SADC as well as in meeting key targets such as the requirement to increase the percentage of women in political and other decision-making positions.
Full implementation of the Protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons in SADC is expected to take time as it involves a lot of decisions to be undertaken in relation to infrastructure, services and procedural policies.
Only Mozambique, South Africa and the United Republic of Tanzania had met the 30 percent target of female participation in political decision-making by the December 2005 deadline. The target has now been increased to 50 percent in line with the African Union position.
Mosisili also lamented the lack of seriousness in implementing SADC programmes, citing the programme on fighting HIV and AIDS where only South Africa and Lesotho have so far contributed towards a regional AIDS fund.
King Letsie III announced at the summit that Lesotho had made a contribution of US$100,000 towards the fund.
