President Robert Mugabe yesterday assumed chairmanship of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and urged the regional block to reduce dependence on foreign aid. Owen Gagare/ Everson MUSHAVA In his acceptance speech after formally taking over from Malawi’s Peter Mutharika in Victoria Falls, Mugabe warned Sadc against embarking on a number of programmes that it cannot sustain with its own resources.
“Our continued over-reliance on the generosity and goodwill of our co-operating partners tends to compromise our ownership and sustainability of Sadc programmes,” he said.
“How can we proudly claim Sadc to be our own organisation when close to 60% of our programmes are externally funded?
“As Sadc we should not lose sight of our regional integration agenda, our focus and priorities.
“We should not be tempted to introduce or embrace too many programmes which in the end we fail to fund from our own resources.
“We therefore feel that the current process to review the regional integrated strategic development programme should not be a mere academic exercise but a reality check which should redirect us.”
Mugabe said the review of the regional indicative strategic development programme, should see Sadc having fewer and focused programmes.
He said the theme of the summit — Sadc strategy for economic transformation: Leveraging the region’s diverse resources for sustainable economic and social development through beneficiation and value addition – which echoes Zimbabwe’s five-year economic blueprint ZimAsset had the potential to drive both short and long term regional objectives.
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Beneficiation of Sadc’s abundant resources, Mugabe said, could help industrialise the region and create employment. He said the summit should lay a foundation for the implementation strategies towards beneficiation of natural resources.
“Our material resources are capable of playing a pivotal role in the development of all Sadc member states,” he said.
Under Mugabe’s chairmanship Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique would hold elections.
The 90-year-old leader said he hoped the polls would be conducted according to the Sadc principles and guidelines on democratic elections.
Mugabe said Sadc should observe its own elections with other African institutions and friendly countries instead of inviting hostile states whom he said tended to be biased.
Zimbabwe held elections last year which were condemned by the West although African observer missions, other than Botswana, approved the polls.
“As we saw in Zimbabwe, we of Africa know what the truth is, but there are others who think the truth can become untruth.
“And these are the people we don’t want. Why do they come if they are not objective?” he asked.
Mugabe blasted the West for imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe saying no one knew why they were imposed. He also attacked the international community for failing to reign in Israel over the conflict in Gaza.
“It will be remiss of me if I conclude my remarks without reference to the recent brutalities that have been meted out against the Palestine people,” he said.
“The Western world which claims high moral ground on issues of human rights and the sanctity of life have looked with moral and academic indifference while the Israeli army continues to butcher innocent women and children, all under the false guise of fighting terrorists.
“We have seen children being butchered, even attacks on schools, hospitals and even on United Nations units. It never happens anywhere.
“Is Israel that so precious that it can’t be stopped or is it on the assumption that these children will be terrorists tomorrow or that these women will give birth for future terrorists?
“This is the most brutal demonstration of man’s humanity to man and it is criminal for the world to keep silent in the wake of such crimes against humanity.”
The two-day summit ends today.
