New SADC chairman says leaders will ultimately be judged by success of implementation of key plans
16:44 / 18 AUG 2015
GABORONE, August 18 (ANA) – Some were caught unawares when the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit here ended half a day early, with its new chairperson, Botswana President Ian Khama - a punctual ex-military man - explaining the organisation should be more than a talkshop.
A dance and music group that was supposed to provide background entertainment for the signing of regional agreements on Tuesday afternoon, arrived about 30 minutes late for the event, which was moved up from the afternoon to mid-morning.
In his brief closing remarks, Khama told delegates from the 15 SADC member states at the summit: “The people of southern Africa would not judge us by the adoption of key strategic documents, but rather by the outcomes achieved, following implementation.”
He called on those present to “implement agreed priorities in these strategic plans in order to improve the wellbeing of our peoples. It goes without saying that we need each other if we are to prosper as a region”.
SADC has been criticised for signing agreements but never actually making deadlines. A Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan adopted in 2003 envisaged that southern Africa would have a single currency by 2018, but many of the targets in the roadmap were never met and this idea has been postponed indefinitely.
The new plan focuses on the industrialisation of countries in the region.
Khama told jounalists that during his tenure as chairperson, he would be closely monitoring the progress officials were making in implementing SADC decisions.
“I will be visiting (SADC) officials, I have already informed the executive secretary (Stergomena Tax), I would like to sit down with them and go through all these areas of how to interact with them to ensure we move our agenda along,” he said.
During the summit, the implementation of SADC’s industrialisation strategy, adopted in April, and the commission of inquiry into Lesotho’s security situation were two big agenda points.
But the summit failed to heed the calls of human rights organisations to return the SADC Tribunal’s mandate so that individuals and legal persons could have access to it.
The tribunal was discontinued in 2011 and reinstated last year but with a reduced mandate which only allows it to adjudicate disputes between SADC member states.
This came after the tribunal passed a judgment in favour of white farmers who had their land seized in 2000. Zimbabwe felt the tribunal was undermining its sovereignty.
Khama, who is one of the only African presidents to speak out publicly in favour of the International Criminal Court, in his position as SADC chair told journalists there was a good reason for the tribunal’s limited mandate.
“Before, anything and everything would be brought to the tribunal, and we found many of our member states did not put in place any legal or constitutional amendments in their own countries.”
He said the farmers in Zimbabwe did not exhaust all the legal remedies in that country, such as going to the appeal court, and went to the tribunal instead.
“So what we found is that even if the tribunal ruled – and they did rule in favour that time of the farmers – there is nothing in Zimbabwe’s law or the constitution that recognises the tribunal as a higher body than their own court.
“So we brought it back into line to concentrate purely on the treaties and laws of SADC,” he said.
Former Malagasy president Marc Ravalomanana is also likely to be somewhat disappointed by the outcome of the summit, as his individual case was not discussed. He had written to some SADC leaders to re-instate his privileges and restore his businesses in Madagascar which he lost after he was toppled in a military coup in 2009.
He returned home last year without the permission of the current government, which arrested him and only released him after diplomatic intervention from South Africa and other countries.
He said he was denied privileges such as permanent security guards, diplomatic passports and luxury cars – which were amongst the things agreed to under a SADC roadmap.
Khama, however, said Ravalomanana’s case was not discussed, but in its communiqué the summit did call on Madagascar “to safeguard achievements made in nation-building and reconciliation by fully implementing the SADC roadmap for Madagascar”.
New SADC deputy chair, King Mswati III, also gave a closing address. He said he was looking forward to welcoming delegates at Swaziland’s new King Mswati III airport when the summit was held in the Swazi Kingdom next year. The airport is already considered to be a white elephant by some.
It only does flights to Johannesburg, and total travel time by driving to the airport and flying is more than four hours, while a drive from Mbabane to Johannesburg takes about three hours.
ANA