POLITICS-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Regional Parliament Too Costly?

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Rosemary Nalisa

WINDHOEK, Jun 5 2004 (IPS) - The prospect of a regional parliament in Southern Africa appeared less certain Friday (Jun. 4), when a five-day meeting of the Southern African Development Community’s Parliamentary Forum wrapped up in the Namibian capital, Windhoek.

Earlier, speakers at the meeting had simply bemoaned the lack of progress in setting up a regional parliament. Proposals were made last year in the Zambian town of Livingstone to transform the Parliamentary Forum into a Southern African legislature.

The eight-year-old forum, which is open to members of parliament (MPs) from all countries in the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC), currently includes representatives from 12 parliaments.

However, the focus of discussion shifted on Friday evening after a document was circulated to delegates suggesting that the regional legislature should be put on hold until feasibility studies had been done for it.

The document, which originated at the SADC secretariat in Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, was issued just before the closing ceremonies of the meeting got underway.

“It is important for member states to have an idea of the financial burden that the establishment of a parliament entails,” it said, adding that consultations with SADC countries had indicated it was too early for the region to have a parliament, and that SADC should concentrate instead on strengthening the African Union (AU). (The AU was established in 2000 as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity in a bid to promote greater African participation in the international economy, amongst other things.)

The document also stated that no recommendation would be made by the secretariat to the SADC Council of Ministers about the creation of a regional parliament.

Delegates to the Windhoek meeting reacted with anger.

Mose Tjitendero, Speaker of the Namibian Parliament, said the Parliamentary Forum would continue negotiations with SADC leaders to ensure that a regional parliament was established.

He also noted that the various heads of state had already given the parliament their blessing, citing statements by Namibian President Sam Nujoma at the opening of the meeting in which he noted that the creation of a SADC parliament was long overdue. Nujoma also indicated that Namibia was prepared to host the institution.

Tjitendero’s views were echoed by his Zambian counterpart, Amusa Mwanamwambwa. “We believe that this process is unstoppable and lobbying should continue as planned,” he said.

In an earlier address to the meeting, the Speaker of Lesotho’s parliament – Ntlhoi Motsamai – said that a regional legislature would speed up development in Southern Africa.

“Without a parliament at the regional level, our region risks being left behind. SADC is one of the few regions in Africa that does not have a regional parliament,” she noted. Motsamai also serves as Chairwoman of the Parliamentary Forum.

South African Parliamentary Speaker Baleka Mbete had similar sentiments. “The parliament will be in the position to carry out the mandates of the people and further project SADC as an area where things happen,” she told delegates.

The Windhoek gathering also discussed the need to increase the participation of women in the region’s governments, as well as the phasing out of visa requirements to facilitate free movement of people in Southern Africa.

In addition, MPs were urged to step up their involvement in the fight against the AIDS pandemic, which has taken a particularly heavy toll on the region. A joint communiqué stressed the need for MPs to speak out on HIV prevention, treatment for AIDS, discrimination against those who were HIV-postive û and other issues.

The statement expressed concern at the high cost of the anti-retroviral drugs used to treat AIDS – medicines which are beyond the reach of many citizens in the SADC region.

The meeting further called on SADC member states to come up with a common position on the safety of genetically modified (GM) organisms, and recommended that GM grain should not be imported into the region unless it was processed.

Zambia ignited a controversy in 2002 when it refused to accept GM grain that had been donated as food aid to ease the effects of a drought which brought much of Southern Africa to the brink of famine. At the time, President Levy Mwanawasa described the grain as “poison”. Zimbabwe and Mozambique were also said to be concerned about GM maize, notably the fact that it could contaminate their own, non-GM crops.

The Parliamentary Forum agreed to send a high powered delegation to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to assess the situation in that country.

This came as reports of violence were emerging from eastern DRC, where army mutineers were said to have taken control of Bukavu û capital of the Sud Kivu province, and an important town in the region.

The mutineers, led by General Laurent Nkunda, seized Bukavu on Wednesday, and were also reported to have their sights set on other towns. Nkunda previously served in the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), but became part of the DRC’s transitional government when civil war in the country was brought to an end last year.

RCD fighters were further said to have clashed with Mai Mai militias north-east of Bukavu, Friday. The Mai Mai also fought against the RCD during the five-year civil conflict.

The next meeting of the SADC Parliamentary Forum will be held in Tanzania in November this year.