Analysis: SADC Embarks on Structural Reform

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is embarking on steps to reform the regional group's structure so as to give it more teeth to deal with regional issues.

At an extraordinary summit in Windhoek, capital of Namibia, over the weekend, leaders of the SADC member states agreed that the group's organ on politics, defense and security should be integrated and should report to the regional body's chairman.

The structural reform was also believed to be a step by the SADC to curtail Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's influence in the region, observers said.

Until now the organ on politics, defense and security has functioned independently of the SADC, under Mugabe's chairmanship. In future the chairmanship will be rotated annually.

According to a communique which was available here on Sunday, the leaders agreed "that the structure, operations and functions of the organ shall be regulated by the protocol on politics, defense and security cooperation" and coordinated at summit level.

This means that the organ will no longer be able to act unilaterally and its decisions would have to be endorsed by regional leaders before being implemented.

"An individual will no longer be able to take a decision on behalf of the region," an observer said, requesting anonymity.

The control of the organ by Mugabe has been a source of concern among some leaders in the region. Former South African President and SADC chairman Nelson Mandela reportedly clashed with Mugabe over the issue.

In 1998, Mugabe angered some leaders when he persuaded Angola and Namibia to send troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to help the DRC government in its war against rebel forces supported by Rwanda and Uganda.

However, Zimbabwe is also for the restructuring move, as its High Commissioner to South Africa, Simon Khaya Moyo, said the decision is "in the interests of all of us in the region".

He said Zimbabwe supports the restructuring of the SADC and does not see the changes as having an effect on Mugabe's regional influence.

"We want to strengthen the SADC and we are not going to allow our leaders to be divided," he said.

Mugabe will continue to chair the organ until the next summit scheduled for August in Malawi, where a decision will be made on who should be his successor as chairman.

To boost its drive for further structural reform, the Windhoek summit also agreed to phase out the regional group's 21 commissions and sectors, which will be replaced by four core directorates within two years.

At the summit, the leaders also signed a declaration on firearms aimed at eradicating the illicit manufacturing, stockpiling and trafficking of weapons in the region, as they believed that illegal arms have been contributing to the high level of instability, prolonged conflict and social dislocation in the region and the continent as a whole.

The summit has brought the jockeying for the position of executive secretary to an end when acting incumbent Prga Ramsamy was appointed for four years. Five countries had forwarded candidates for the position, which had been vacant since 1999 when Kaire Mbuende, a Namibian national, was sacked.






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