/ 17 August 2006

SADC summit: Two days, many problems

A call has been made for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to involve civil society in its decision-making process — in deed, as well as in word. This came ahead of the annual SADC summit for heads of state and government that gets under way on Thursday in Lesotho’s capital, Maseru.

The constitution of the 14-member grouping provides for the inclusion of NGOs in the process.

But, “In practice, they don’t consult us,” said Abie Ditlhake, secretary general of the SADC Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (SADC-CNGO). “We don’t have direct input into this summit. This is already a problem.”

SADC-CNGO operates out of Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, where the SADC secretariat is also based.

The question to be asked is whether the host of problems confronting SADC is likely to crowd these concerns off the summit agenda.

“While the region recorded an overall 5% growth in real GDP [gross domestic product] in 2005, which is projected to grow to 6% in 2006, the region still needs to work hard — as it remains below the 7% set target for the developing nations to attain the Millennium Development Goals by 2015,” Timothy Thahane, Lesotho’s Finance Minister and chairperson of the SADC Council of Ministers, told journalists in Maseru on Wednesday.

The Council of Ministers is a body that meets twice a year — in February and August — to approve SADC’s budget, and prepare for the annual summit.

Thahane said foreign investment holds the key to improved growth: “Sub-Saharan Africa attracts between 1% and 2% of global foreign direct investment. If you take away Nigeria, South Africa and Angola, you are left with less than 0,5% of foreign direct investment to the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.”

The minister struck a more positive note on the matter of food production, pointing to improvements in certain states. “This is attributed to improved access to inputs by farmers and also increased rainfall during the 2005/06 season,” he observed.

“Despite the 11% overall decrease in maize production from 20,01-million tonnes in 2005 to 17,76-million tonnes in 2006, at least four SADC member states (Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia) have reported surpluses, while four others (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Tanzania) have recorded increased production.”

Still, a number of countries in the region continue to grapple with food security.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says it needs almost $86-million to assist about three million people in Southern Africa, until December.

“At times over the last five years, WFP food has reached up to 13-million people suffering from widespread food shortages caused by erratic weather, poor government policies, economic stagnation and shortages of seeds and fertilisers,” the agency noted in a June 28 press release, which also highlighted the role of Aids in undermining regional food security.

The pandemic is keeping people out of the fields, resulting in lower production, and deepening poverty and hunger — while the premature death of adults also prevents important agricultural skills from being passed on to the next generation.

The WFP’s June press release further quotes executive director James Morris as saying that “as long as HIV/Aids remains at such epic proportions throughout Southern Africa, a large number of people will face severe hardship unless international assistance is provided. Good harvests do not necessarily mean people have enough to eat. “

According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids, Southern Africa is the epicentre of the pandemic: in a fact sheet issued on May 25, the agency notes that almost a third of all HIV-positive persons live in this region. The Southern African nation of Swaziland has the world’s highest HIV prevalence — on average, 33,4%.

Nonetheless, SADC will have to find a way around these obstacles, says Tomaz Salomao, the new executive secretary of the community.

“For us, as a region, we can’t continue to beg for food. We have water, land and … people. It’s a matter of pride to grow our food,” he told reporters in Maseru.

Other matters to be discussed at the two-day summit include how best to attain the various goals SADC has set itself for economic integration, such as the creation of a free-trade area by 2008, and a single currency by 2018. At present, the region is home both to a country that is expected to achieve double-digit growth this year as a result of oil revenues (Angola) — and one where triple-digit inflation has become the order of the day (Zimbabwe).

The deadlines for integration are viewed with skepticism by Ted Nandolo, chairperson of the Lilongwe-based Malawi NGO Council. “This is an unrealistic timetable,” he said, adding that attention needs to be given to strengthening the SADC secretariat.

“The SADC secretariat doesn’t have power to enforce agreements. It’s not like the EU [European Union], which has power to enforce decisions. We want the heads of states to look at this issue seriously,” Nandolo said. “Nowadays you find that a unit within the SADC is staffed with only an individual. This is not good.”

Some have voiced concern that SADC’s $46-million budget for 2006/07 is insufficient for the needs of the organisation — which serves a population of 230-million. — IPS