SADC has been rapped by a Member of Parliament for its inability to deal with issues on matters of principle and branded one of the most ineffective organisations in the aftermath of the 36th heads of state summit held in Swaziland recently where Zimbabwe was absent from the agenda.
The Summit which took place under the theme “Resource Mobilisation for Investment in Sustainable Energy Infrastructure for an Inclusive SADC Industrialisation and for Prosperity of the Region” did not include Zimbabwe on its agenda even after the disturbances that have been ongoing.
The country has been experiencing demonstrations against the rule of President Robert Mugabe demanding, amongst some, his resignation from power for destroying the economy and a reform of electoral laws which are currently slanted in the ruling party’s favour.
However the grouping of heads of state assembled in Swaziland last week overlooked the grim issues at an event where Swaziland’s King Mswati III took over the chairmanship from Botswana’s Ian Khama.
Eddie Cross an MDC MP attacked the organisation for its spineless nature which has left it as a mere board of no effective use.
“As a regional grouping it must be one of the most ineffective organisations in the world”.
“When they met as heads of state it was hardly news. When last did we hear of the regional body taking up an issue with a regional state on the basis of principle?’
“It is time we took regional cooperation and collaboration seriously, paid for it ourselves with less reliance on international donors and staff and put the organisation to work on the many problems which face us as a region”, he said.
In the same vein an Amnesty International statement after the summit attacked the Zimbabwe and Swaziland for the poor human rights records.
“In Zimbabwe and Swaziland, a poor human right record is underpinned by a lack of the rule of law. The independence of the judiciary is routinely flouted, and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association is rarely enjoyed”.
“These retrograde moves are threatening the commitment to human rights made by Sadc at its inception, and it will take bold leadership to reverse the downward spiral”.
“A good place to start would be to create new rights-respecting accountability mechanisms within the Sadc region”, Alfredo Hengari AI’s deputy regional director for Southern Africa said.
Reports from Swaziland have also attacked the leader of hosting a lavish ceremony for the heads of states in the midst of mass starvation in the small kingdom.
Cross also called for concerted efforts to fight climate change across the region which is seeing the Kalahari Desert growing at 5 kilometers per year.
“Southern Africa is going to be one of the hardest hit regions of the world and the science behind this is sound though it’s impossible to predict exactly what is actually going to be the effect on the ground over time”.
“This is very bad news for a region of the world that already experiences huge mean variation in rainfall from season to season, periodic droughts that can be severe and where water shortages are already a feature of everyday life”.
“It means we have to learn to work together and to work more effectively within the SADC family. No country, no matter how endowed can deal with these issues by themselves. Climate change is an accelerator. It makes our present problems worse in every respect”, he said.
In the current year, the combined deficit in food grains (maize, wheat and rice) is estimated to be in the order of 20 million tonnes for the SADC region as a whole.
For Zimbabwe the deficit is now at 80% of requirements and grain imports have become a significant drain on local financial resources and on regional logistics.
According to some experts the countries most affected by the anticipated decline in precipitation are South Africa, Namibia and Botswana whilst Zimbabwe expects to see the Southern provinces becoming more prone to drought and a belt across the country in the north, from Manicaland to Karoi to experience higher rainfall.
According to Cross SA has already started to put into place an effective plan to deal with climate induced water shortages in the future.
The SA government is currently studying the possibilities of extracting water from the Zambezi River at Chobe, a system which they have planned for many years.
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