by Barbara Lopi
Ask the ordinary citizens ill Southern .African Development Community (SADC) to name the 12 member states or what the regional body’s aims and objectives are, chances are that more than three quarters will get it all wrong.
Botswana perhaps, might be the only exception with a higher percentage of a population with more knowledge on the regional body because of its status – as SADC headquarters.
For almost 16 years after the regional body Was formed, transforming its idea of community building from a mere concept to a reality has remained SADC’s laborious exercise because basic prerequisites have not been met.
Many citizens of member’s states still lack confidence in the organisation and hold suspicion among themselves, while others do not understand SADC’s goals. These issues together with the lack of strong basic prerequisites for regional integration are among the biggest challenges facing SADC in the pursuit to realise its goals.
SADC itself admits that there is an urgent need to create an atmosphere of confidence and trust among countries of the region. Its executive secretary, Dr Kaire Mbuende, says, the process to transform SADC into a community involves a number of things, and cannot be done overnight.
Among the things involved in the process include such issues as: willingness on the part of the states, which form part of the process, to surrender certain powers to a central body, SADC in this case, and a high degree of economic and political complementarity, which analysts note as basic prerequisites to regional integration and continuity building.
But SADC has not exhibited these basic preconditions thereby dragging its pace toward regional integration. There is need therefore, to put in place mechanisms to reconcile national self-interest with a collective regional interest.
With this in mind, the regional body has embarked on several mechanisms toward realisation of v – community building. Among these mechanisms is the drafting of several protocols such as the Trade, Free Movement of Persons, Energy, Water, and the involvement of people from all walks of life in SADC activities through a series of seminars and workshops.
Regional organs such as the SADC Security organ and Parliamentary Forum have also been formed this year to instil a culture of consultation and cooperative action. Last year, Zimbabwe hosted a SADC music festival under the theme, Building SADC through Music, which brought together 386 musicians from 10 SADC countries. Another similar festival, 00 Art and Culture is scheduled to be hosted in Mozambique later this year.
The draft trade protocol is expected to harmonise trade among countries in the region as well as levelling the trading field, while the draft protocol on Free Movement of Persons seeks to progressively abolish controls on the movement of citizens within SADC states.
Although it has been announced that the draft protocol on free movement of Persons will not be on the agenda, at the SADC summit to held in Lesotho late this month, the draft Trade protocol will certainly be discussed, if not signed.
The Free Movement protocol, if approved, would allow SADC citizens to enter freely and without visas the territory of another member state, and to establish themselves and work in member countries.
If signed, the objectives would be expected to be achieved over a period not exceeding 10years. Under this protocol, SADC passports are to be introduced within five years from the date the protocol comes into force for travel within the community, while SADC desks are to be established at major crossing points, and at least one such post would have to remain open day and night between the countries to ease cross-border movements.
Other measures under this protocol include the establishment of SADC counters at airports within the region. At present only Harare International Airport in Zimbabwe and Sir Seretse Khama Airport in Botswana, have such counters.
Dr Mbuende says the counters will ease the processing of entry requirements for residents in the region thereby creating a sense of oneness among the SADC populations. But not all SADC members states hold a similar view about this protocol.
South Africa, for instance, is opposed to some issues in both the draft protocol on the free movement of people, and the draft trade protocol. A report by South Africa’s Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) on the policies surrounding the issue of free movement of people across international borders _ with specific reference to Southern Africa says: if the country allows aliens from within the region to settle permanently in the country, the existing hatred against foreigners by South Africans will increase.
“If the protocol was signed by South Africa in its present form, the country might as well have to implement some form of amnesty for all illegal aliens in order to get them declare themselves and register as SADC residents,” the HSRC report says.
South Africa has the highest population of illegal immigrants in the region, ranging from two to eight million. Statistics show that by last year, at least one alien entered the country in every ten minutes.
To reduce the influx of illegal immigrants, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa have tightened regulations on entry to their countries. South Africa the most affected, has deployed over 5 000 national defence force troops to beef up border security and introduced the use of airborne camera surveillance on remote-controlled drones.
Recently, cabinet legalised the settlement of illegal immigrants who have lived in the country for five Years or more, who have been economically active, or have a South African spouse. But these measures are not succeeding to stem the tide of illegal immigrants. Analysts say the failure is mostly because the approaches have not taken into consideration the root factors which motivated people to move, in the first place.
Factors forcing people to leave their countries in southern Africa include, unemployment, the lack of political and economic development as well as respect for human rights. Intervention approaches should therefore stress the need for economic development within sending states.
While at the political level. South Africa appears to be committed to realising the concept of community, the situation on the ground is otherwise. The argument advanced by government officials in South Africa is that, as a nation, they have an obligation to save the interest of their nationals first, before committing themselves to regional interests.
But in the founding members’ vision, regional integration is seen as the process ” … whereby nations forego the desire and ability to conduct foreign and domestic policies independently of each other, seeking instead to make joint decisions or to delegate the decision-making process to new central organs.”
Botswana’s President, Ketumile Masire, who is also SADC chairperson says, “The founding g fathers of SADC had a foresight and courage to rise above the pressures of parochial national survival. They chose to stand together and build a regional community which could address our common problems through collective action.”
SADC founder members also believed that the organisation’s success depended in part, on a clear understanding of its aims and objectives (which most people do not know), and the extent to which they participate and benefit from its programmes.
Participants at a media workshop to discuss ways to popularise the regional body’s concept of community building, held in Kadoma, Zimbabwe, last month argued that community building will only be realised if the population of SADC see and treat each other as members of one community, and are actively involved in determining its content and direction.
The workshop said a medium of execution was needed for regional issues to be extended at the national level, and recommended that fully fledged SADC desks be established and implemented at the national level.
The workshop resolved that the existing national contact points be reinforced with officers specifically responsible for SADC to coordinate the implementation of SADC programmes.
The workshop also called for the free movement of journalists in the region to be able to report adequately on activities of SADC.
At last year’s summit which also marked SADC’s 15th anniversary, Masire again, reminded member states that community building will remain elusive until it touches the lives of the academic, policy makers and the ordinary citizens of the regions.
He challenged member states to work toward achieving the goal of regional integration and economic development if SADC was to face the challenges of the 21st Century with dignity and collective strength.
“We have pledged ourselves to cooperate across a wide field of human endeavour through SADC as a means of achieving this goal. It is an achievable goal, but only if our artists, engineers, entrepreneurs, farmers and other people in all walks of life are mobilised and become involved in the process,” Masire said in his address to the 1995 summit.
Analysts in the region feel the public relations wing of SADC has to double its efforts and establish closer links with the media to boost the flow of information and ideas between the regional organisation and other key stakeholders in the implementation process of the concept of community building.
Unless the people of southern African countries appreciate and believe in the aims and objectives of SADC, the goal to transform the region into a community will remain a vision rather than a reality. (SARDC)
