"SADC PROMISES: ANOTHER DAMP SQUID" Bill Saidi!

Sadc to tackle poverty: another damp squib

By Bill Saidi

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THE Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) may not be the impotent Big Shot Talkshow that some critics have called it, or the Southern Africa Dictators’ Club, the sobriquet preferred by detractors.

But it cannot be faulted for its lofty ambitions. Since 1980, when it was formed, it has scored notable successes, particularly in advancing the prospect of creating a powerful political and economic alliance in the region.

Its political agenda is to forge democracy in all the 14-member states. Critics say this would be acceptable only if the meaning of "democracy" were so liberal as to include countries which pay only lip-service to the concept.

In Greek, demos means "people"; a democracy would be "a government of the people, by the people and for the people".

Among some Sadc leaders, that is so Western a concept, they view it as part of a plot to recolonise the region.

There are monarchies, such as Swaziland, where King Mswati III will not give his people a meaningful role in government.

Lesotho is a kingdom too. Its description as a "modified constitutional monarchy" has not earned it the "democracy" tag so far.

Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have panel-beaten the concept to suit their peculiar, blood-spattered circumstances.

Zimbabwe, ruled by one party and one man for 27 years of political and economic decline, is not the democrat’s ideal model of a "people’s" democracy.

South Africa is still struggling to match its vast material wealth with its equitable redistribution among the population: opulence sits cheek by jowl with abject poverty.

But the heads of state’s next summit in Mauritius next year could be its most ambitious yet. It will focus on poverty eradication.

The venue is highly significant, according to many civil society leaders.

Mauritius has few of the glaring signs of a down-at-the-heel African country. Tourism tops the list of its major economic performers, followed by textiles and food processing. Sugarcane is its chief export crop.

Forty-nine percent of its 700 square miles is arable. Its Gross Domestic Product was once estimated at US$11,7 billion for a population of less than two million.

Yes, there is poverty in Mauritius, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade amd Regional Cooperation, Madan Murlidhar Dullco.

But it is nowhere near the deprivation you would find in the shanties of Zambia, the DRC or Angola - certainly not in present-day Zimbabwe.

The last summit in August in Lusaka received "mixed reviews" in terms of its results, but the Sadc Civil Society Forum, held simultaneously only a few kilometres away was dubious of the leaders’ commitment to the eradication of poverty, or to other problems in the region.

Civil society in general is critical of the heads of state summit concept itself. It is known that the leaders themselves are suspicious of civil society. Not surprisingly, they are said to feel civil society is "too pro-Western" to be taken seriously.

The secretary-general of the Sadc Civil and Non-Government Organisations, Abie Ditlhake, focused on "one important issue" in his "Reflections" at the third Civil Society Forums in Lusaka.

"This is the exclusive nature of the heads of state regional project. Transformation and restructuring is urgently needed at the Heads of State Summit or Government level. We have to ensure that regional integration is a people-driven project, that ordinary citizens of the region are a driving force behind this project.

"This requires that our Presidents are having clear mandates from their countries, and thus are accountable to national institutions such as parliaments in their declarations at the regional level."

The final communique of the forum called on the heads of state to:

refrain from putting in place restrictive civil society legislation that will constrain the operating environment for civil society;

Put in place legislation that promotes and enables civil society participation and existence rather than restrict and hinder them. We specifically call upon the Zambian and Zimbabwean governments to withdraw NGO Bills currently under consideration but held in abeyance; and instead guarantee the involvement of civil society in any processes that seek to put in place regulatory and legislative frameworks;

Guarantee the effective participation of civil society at the SADC national and regional committees;

Take immediate measures to institutionalize civil society involvement in key decision-making processes.

To prepare for the Mauritius summit, civil society debated a graphic display of poverty in the region: poor people representing themselves at the summit, speaking of their poverty in their own languages.

A forum resolution called on the SADC Secretariat and member states to ensure effective participation of civil society in the upcoming SADC Poverty and Development Conference in Mauritius, and a review of existing poverty eradication initiatives.

This may be tantamount to "whistling in the wind", some of the more than 200 delegates at the forum complained. They spoke vociferously of the lack of action on previous resolutions on poverty eradication.

"It’s so hopeless," said one delegate. "They (Heads of state) talk and talk but do nothing."

Statistics on poverty caused alarm among delegates. In one instance, a country independent for 40 years, had 68 percent of its population still classified as poor.

This left many delegates wondering if the Mauritius conference would be different from other summits which had dealt with poverty, or other "bread and butter" issues..

They wondered if it would not be another SADC damp squib, as its initiatives on Zimbabwe have all turned out to be, so far.