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Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe says SADC must limit cooperation with Western countries, claiming foreign funding compromises its independence.
Zimbabwe held elections last year that were condemned by the European Union, US and other western organisations despite being approved by SADC, the African Union and most observer missions.
While Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe received the SADC chairperson’s badge on Sunday, indications were that the regional bloc would limit cooperation with Western countries after he claimed foreign funding was compromising the independence of the body.
Mugabe, whose relationship with the West deteriorated after Zimbabwe embarked on a controversial land reform programme in 2000, told leaders that the region should not depend on cooperation partners for funding and should rather mobilise its own resources.
He suggested that SADC cut some of its programmes and only pursue programmes it could fund.
In his acceptance speech, Mugabe said SADC could not claim to be independent when the majority of its programmes were funded by foreign aid. About 60% of SADC’s programmes are externally funded.
“Our continued over-reliance on the generosity and goodwill of our cooperating partners tend to compromise our ownership and sustainability of SADC programmes. How can we proudly claim SADC to be our own organisation when close to 60% of our programmes are externally funded,” Mugabe asked.
“As SADC we should not lose sight of our regional integration agenda, our focus and priorities. We should not be tempted to introduce or embrace, too many programmes which, in the end, we fail to fund from our own resources.”
One of the agendas of the SADC summit is to review the Regional Integrated Strategic Development Programme to ensure development programmes in the region are more practical.
Mugabe said SADC should take advantage of the review to come up with fewer and more focused programmes.
“The review … should therefore result in a SADC with fewer and focused programmes that are core to our vision of regional integration, which is aimed at strengthening our economies and the improvement of the lives of the people of our region,” he said.
Mugabe said the theme of the conference “Strategy for Economic Transformation: Leveraging the Region’s Diverse Resource” – which echoes Zimbabwe’s five-year economic blueprint, Zimasset – had the potential to drive both short and long term regional objectives.
He said the beneficiation of SADC’s abundant resources would speed up the industrialisation of the region and create employment.
Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique will hold elections under Mugabe’s chairmanship. He said he hoped the elections would be done according to SADC principles and guidelines on democratic elections “as they have always done”.
He called for SADC, African and friendly countries to observe regional elections instead of interfering, calling these biased.
Zimbabwe held elections last year that were condemned by the European Union, US and other western organisations despite being approved by SADC, the African Union and most observer missions.
“As we saw in Zimbabwe, we of Africa know what the truth is, but there are others who think the truth can become untruth. And these are the people we don’t want. Why do they come if they are not objective?” he asked.
Mugabe also took the opportunity to take a swipe at Western countries for their inaction in the Middle East conflict.
“The Western world, which claims high moral ground on issues of human rights and the sanctity of life, have looked with moral and academic indifference while the Israeli army continues to butcher innocent women and children, all under the false guise of fighting terrorists,” he said.
“We have seen children being butchered, even attacks on schools, hospitals and even attacks on United Nations units. It never happens anywhere. Is Israel that so precious that it can’t be stopped or is it on the assumption that these children will be terrorists tomorrow or that these women will give birth for future terrorists?
“This is the most brutal demonstration of man’s humanity to man and it is criminal for the world to keep silent in the wake of such crimes against humanity,” he claimed.
Critics have castigated President Robert Mugabe and the Zimbabwean government for imprinting Zanu-PF values on the theme of the SADC summit.
Zimbabwe is hosting the 34th SADC heads of state summit in Victoria Falls, with President Robert Mugabe as incoming chairperson. (Reuters)
Zimbabwe has influenced the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to adopt a development agenda that is in line with the government’s economic development blueprint, Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-economic Transformation (Zim Asset), developed from Zanu-PF’s 2013 election manifesto, it was confirmed yesterday.
Zimbabwe is hosting the 34th SADC heads of state summit in Victoria Falls, which begins on Sunday. The theme for this year’s summit is SADC Strategy for Economic Transformation: Leveraging the Region’s Diverse Resources for Sustainable Economic and Social Development through Beneficiation and Value Addition.
Value addition and beneficiation is the fourth cluster of Zim Asset, an ambitious five-year development plan that requires $27-billion (R286-billion) to implement. The programme seeks to achieve sustainable development and social equity anchored on indigenisation, empowerment and employment creation propelled by the exploitation of human and natural resources.
Although Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, who is the chairperson of the SADC council of ministers, said the theme was developed collectively by the region, SADC executive secretary Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax confirmed that Zimbabwe had come up with the theme. She thanked Zimbabwe for coming up with a relevant theme.
Secretary for Foreign Affairs Ambassador Joey Bimha also confirmed that Zimbabwe had developed the theme, which he said was in line with the SADC development goals.
“You choose an element of the SADC development agenda and that is what Zimbabwe did,” he told local newspaper The Standard.
Regional relevance
Mumbengegwi justified the theme at a press conference on the outcome of the SADC council of ministers meeting held on Saturday, saying it was carefully selected and relevant to the entire region.
“The theme was carefully selected in close consultations with the secretariat in line with their expertise and expectations,” said Mumbengegwi.
“We all know that industrialisation is the bedrock of economic development. We can’t improve the quality of life of our people and our nations without paying attention to the whole process of industrialisation, which also means adding value to our raw materials … At the moment, 92% of our resources are being exported raw.”
He cited the example of Zimbabwean tobacco, which he said is getting only 10% of its value whereas Zimbabwe would benefit tenfold if value was added.
Criticism
Some critics, including former SADC executive secretary Dr Simba Makoni, have castigated Mugabe and the Zimbabwean government for imprinting Zanu-PF values on the theme of the summit. Makoni headed the SADC secretariat between 1984 and 1994.
He said that during his tenure, SADC themes were not determined by the incoming chairperson and their year in office, but were drawn from a broad strategy of the organisation.
“I don’t even believe this theme we are giving to this summit is the consensual theme of the collective; this is a unilateral decision, because we have a particular message we want to convey particularly to the international community and our regional peers that the battlefront is on natural resources, is on resource sovereignty, is on resource nationalism,” said Makoni.
“I would challenge, I have not been in there, that there was a resolution of the council of ministers or the heads of states which said SADC is now going to drive resource nationalism as its main platform.”
Mumbengegwi said that as a way to ensure local beneficiation and value addition in the mining sector, Zimbabwe had come up with a law that stipulates 51% of shares should be in the hands of indigenous persons. But he said Zimbabwe did not want to impose the policy in the region, hence the issue would be discussed at the summit to find a regional response.
‘The Zimbabwe approach’
“All I can give is the Zimbabwe approach. I am not imposing it on SADC. After discovering this [that foreign companies were not keen to add value], we have legislated an arrangement where in the mining industry at least 51% of shareholding must be held by Zimbabweans, so that Zimbabwe has a final say in the running of mining companies in order to address these contradictions,” he said.
“In the absence of such a law, we have to ask the companies involved to invest in the beneficiation of the mineral. It is a challenge and cannot be solved overnight, but it is what we must address. With determination and concerted effort it can be done, that is why it is on the agenda of the summit.”
Tax said the fact that 15 countries and 13 heads of state were participating in the summit was testimony that regional leaders were keen to ensure the region develops.
The summit will, among other things, discuss the peace and security situation in the country and review the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan. A study chronicling the liberation struggle in the region will launch at the summit and the draft Protocol on the SADC Tribunal will be up for discussion.
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