Moses Magadza
LUANDA, Angola – Zambia has become the 11th SADC Member State to sign the Agreement to amend the SADC Treaty establishing the SADC PF, drawing the region closer to a SADC Parliament.
The signing took place in Luanda, in Angola on Monday shortly after the official opening of 55th Plenary Assembly Session of the SADC Parliamentary Forum.
Zambia’s Minister of Justice, Honourable Princes Kasune, signed the Agreement on behalf of the President of Zambia, His Excellency Hakainde Hichilema.
The SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF), which was established in 1997 as an institution of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in accordance with Article 9 (2) of the SADC Treaty, is working towards transforming into a SADC regional parliament.
For that to happen, 12 SADC Member States are required to sign the Agreement to amend the Treaty establishing the SADC PF. With Zambia now on board, only one signature is required.
Speaking shortly before the signing, the Speaker of the National Assembly of Zambia, the Right Honourable Nelly Mutti, Senior Counsel, reiterated Zambia’s commitment to the establishment of the SADC Parliament.
“The Forum is now at the verge of actualising the dream of many years of it being transformed into a regional Parliament as is the case in other regional blocks,” she said to applause.
She added: “One of the tangible outcomes of this transformation is the strengthening of the implementation of resolutions by the Forum and action by member Parliaments. We need to collectively change the narrative of being policy giants but implementation dwarfs.”
The Speaker of the Parliament of Zimbabwe, Advocate Jacob Francis Nzwidamilimo Mudenda chairs a SADC PF Committee spearheading lobbying for the establishment of a SADC Parliament. He also welcomed the signing by Zambia but encouraged all SADC Member States to come on board.
He said: “We want to encourage the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mauritius, Madagascar and Botswana to please sign the Agreement before the 15th of July so that when the Heads of State and Government meet, they will discuss the nature of the Protocol that will transform the SADC PF into a regional parliament. That would complete the five siblings of the Pan Africa Parliament. We were the only missing link in southern Africa.”
Speaker Mudenda thanked the SADC region’s female Speakers of the Parliaments of SADC Member States and the President of SADC PF, Honourable Roger Mancienne, who is also the Speaker of the National Assembly of Seychelles for ensuring that Zambia signed the Agreement during the SADC PF Plenary.
He applauded the “the soft skills” of the Speaker of the National Assembly of Angola, Honourable Carolina Cerqueira, the Speaker of Zambia, Honourable Mutti and Minister Kasune in facilitating the signing by Zambia. He also thanked the President of the SADC PF as well as members of the lobby team for their commitment to the SADC PF transformation agenda.
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In an interview, Advocate Mudenda revealed that there was political will to transform the SADC PF into a SADC Parliament and said he had enjoyed the support of the Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe through the Parliament as he led lobbying efforts in this regard.
“As chairperson of the lobby team, I wish to place it on record that I have been supported by the Government of Zimbabwe in ensuring that I have the necessary travel arrangements and in terms of funding. Without the funding from my government through the parliament of Zimbabwe, these taxing lobby missions would not have happened,” he said.
He thanked the Executive Secretary of SADC, His Excellency Elias Mpedi Magosi, for sending an official from his office to the 55th Plenary Assembly of SADC PF to facilitate signing of the Agreement by Zambia.
He said the lobby team would continue urging the few SADC Member States that are yet to sign to do so, although only one more signature is required to amend the SADC Treaty and set up the SADC Parliament.
“It has taken us 10 years of intense lobbying. Each time a Head of State was to assume chair of SADC, we visited them and asked them to convince others in the executive to support the transformation,” he said.
Minister Kasune expressed optimism that all SADC Member States would sign the Agreement and said a regional parliament would unite the SADC region towards responding to coming challenges.
She said there was “a yearning for participatory democracy among our citizens” which had prompted some parliaments to conduct public hearings and use radio and television to bring parliament closer to the people.
Noting that the SADC PF had developed several SADC Model Laws, Minister Kasune said a SADC Parliament would not only develop more normative frameworks but work towards promoting their domestication and implementation.
