Roundup: Zimbabwe's FM urges southern African body SADC to be financially self-reliant

Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi Friday urged the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to stop being overly dependent on cooperation partners and ensure that the regional organization is self sustainable.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the SADC Council of Ministers meeting, Mumbengegwi, who is the outgoing council chairperson, said so long as the SADC is unable to finance itself, the future of its programs and activities will remain uncertain.

"While we appreciate the support that SADC receives from its cooperating partners, our continued dependency on their generosity and benevolence constitutes one of the most profound weaknesses of our organization. For as long as we are unable to fund our organization, SADC will never be wholly ours," he said.

He added SADC's dependency on international cooperating partners compromises ownership, control and sustainability of its programs, particularly those that are at the core of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP).

He further said the SADC cannot postpone the debate on alternative sources of financing as it has become clear that the organization's cooperating partners also have their own challenges that compromise their ability to fund programs.

"Neither can we afford to continue procrastinating on the operationalization of sustainable financing mechanism such as the SADC Regional Development Fund," he said.

A meeting of SADC Ministers of Trade and Finance, held in Botswana last year July finalized agreements on the setting up of the SADC Regional Development Fund.

The Fund would have seed capital of 1.2 billion U.S dollars, with member states contributing 612 million dollars and holding 51 percent of the shares in the facility. The private sector would hold 37 percent shareholding will take up 444 million dollars of the share capital, while the international cooperating partners (ICPs) would contribute 144 million dollars and hold 12 percent shareholding.

The Council of Ministers of SADC consists of ministers from each member state, usually from the ministries of foreign affairs, economic planning, or finance. It oversees the functioning and development of SADC, and ensures that policies are properly implemented.

The one-day meeting comes before the upcoming 35th Ordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government held in Gaborone from August 17 to 18, under the theme of accelerating industrialization of SADC economic through transformation of natural endowment and improved human capital.

During the meeting, Mumbengegwi handed over chairpersonship to Botswana's Minister of Finance and Development Planning Kenneth Matambo. The latter said there is need for adequate budgetary provisions for financing SADC activities and ensuring assumption of greater financial responsibility by member states.

Both ministers called for prioritization of the region's activities in order to focus on those issues that would deepen regional integration within a short timeframe.

When opening the council meeting, SADC Executive Secretary Stergomena Lawrence Tax said the meeting of Council of Ministers provides an opportunity and platform to take stock of the implementation of council decisions and progress made in pursuit of SADC regional integration agenda.

She said decisions were made by the council meetings held in March and April, including the alternative sources of financing regional integration. This is a very important assignment which requires utmost attention as the reliable sources of funds will help in financing and accelerating SADC regional integration agenda at the needed pace, she said. Enditem