SADC: Recent Developments and Achievements

SADC: Recent Developments and Achievements

Introduction

Regional groupings such as SADC aims to bring neighbouring countries into a league or association or union where they will be able to work together in terms of matters concerning politics, economics and development, the ultimate being regional integration. The concept of regional integration is nothing new. During biblical times the Canaanites comprising of different countries formed a union to deal with the invading band of Israelites from Egypt.

The intention of regional integration is to form a centre that will promote the interests of all the member countries - as the old adage says ‘there is strength in numbers’.

In Africa, regional integration is necessary considering that the majority of African countries are small, weak and poor. Integrating the countries of Africa will help them in dealing with the issues of globalisation that poses a serious threat poor nations. In international stages such as the United Nations, World Trade Organisation, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank the voices of smaller countries such as Lesotho, Swaziland, Seychelles, Benin, etc are not heard.

With regional integration we are assuming that smaller countries such as Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana can come together and form one community like the SADC. Doing this they can form a collective powerful force that will enable them to deal with such burning issues like eradication of poverty, globalisation and social epidemics like HIV/AIDS.

Looking at the cases of Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Angola can highlight the benefits of regional integration. Tanzanian economy has stagnated since the eighties and failed to develop. It is only now that it is active member of the SADC that its economy is beginning to grow. DRC and Angola that have been ravaged by political shenanigans where warlords and rebels were the order of the day are learning from the other member countries like South Africa, Botswana that are politically stable. Communities such as the SADC have organs of politics and economic developments – organs that deal with the promotion and creation of democratic cultures while on the other hand facilitating economic developments to member countries.

SADC’s Decentralised Approach

Before 2001 the countries forming the SADC have identified many common challenges. These challenges are divided into sectors and are illustrated in the following diagram.

Environment and land managementInland fisheries, forestry and wildlife Tourism Culture, information and sport Marine fisheries and resources Finance and investment Human resources development Industry and trade Employment and labour Food, agriculture and natural resources Water conservation and distribution Transport and communication