by Munetsi Madakufamba – SANF 05 no 74
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has celebrated its silver jubilee summit with landmark decisions that will see the organisation expanding, its secretariat under a new leadership and ordinary citizens enjoying easier movement across borders.
The 25th SADC summit, which met in Gaborone, Botswana, on 17-18 August, has admitted Madagascar as a new member, having assessed the merits of this decision over the last 12 months. Madagascar submitted its application at the summit in Mauritius last year and was immediately granted a candidate membership status for a year.
With a population of 16.4 million, Madagascar’s entry into SADC brings the total number of consumers in the region to more than 216 million.
President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, thanked the summit for accepting his country’s membership. He pledged his full supoort to SADC’s vision and objectives.
“We fully agree with the content of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP), said Ravalomanana in reference to SADC’s 15-year blueprint.
In a show of commitment to extending the benefits of the organisation to ordinary citizens, the leaders adopted a Protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons in SADC.
The objectives of the protocol are to facilitate:
- entry into member states without the need for a visa for a maximum period of 90 days per year for bona fide visit and in accordance with the laws of the member state;
- permanent and temporary residence in the territory of another member state; and
- establishment of oneself and working in the territory of another member state.
- The protocol was signed by 7 of the 14 member states. The countries that did not sign are Angola, Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Tanzania and Zambia.
Joao Ndlovu, SADC’s Director of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security, explained that the countries that did not sign have different constitutional processes of dealing with protocols. Some require parliamentary endorsement for all international agreements before the head of state or government can append his signature.
The new protocol will now need to be ratified by at least nine member states before implementation can begin. The process of ratification involves member states depositing legal papers with the SADC Secretariat, indicating their readiness to implement the agreement.
Although the procedures vary from country to country, ratification is usually done after some form of national consultation, a process that can take anything up to several years. However, SADC regulations are such that once two-thirds of the member states have ratified, the protocol becomes a legally binding document.
However, the heads of state and government did not adopt the proposed protocol on gender. Gender movements in the region had wanted the 1997 Gender and Development Declaration to be upgraded into a protocol, a move that would have given SADC’s gender commitments a legal status.
Nonetheless, the summit endorsed the African Union position which provides for 50 percent target of women in all political and decision-making positions.
A new leadership for the Botswana-based SADC Secretariat has been appointed. Former Mozambican Minister, Tomas Augusto Salomao, an economist, was sworn in as the new executive secretary. He will be deputised by Angolan engineer, Joao Samuel Caholo. The two executives replace Mauritian Prega Ramsamy and Albert Muchanga of Zambia, respectively.
Botswana President Festus Mogae has taken over the rotating SADC chair for the next 12 months. His deputy becomes Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, who will host the 2006 summit.
The chair for the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, which is also rotational, now goes to Namibia’s President Hifikepunye Pohamba. He will be deputised by Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa.
The summit also announced 10 members of its dispute settlement organ, the SADC Tribunal. The summit designated the initial five regular members of the Tribunal who are from Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius and Mozambique. (SARDC)
