10 May 2017

Southern African Development Community (SADC) chairperson, King Mswati III of Swaziland says the region’s progress on achieving its industrialisation road map will lead to sustained economic prosperity.

Speaking at the SADC Secretariat tour on May 9, King Mswati III said the adopted SADC industrialisation strategy and roadmap to transform the region into sustained economic prosperity was well on course and it would enable the region to experience improvement in intra-regional trade which was significantly low.

King Mswati III said his attention was set on issues of energy infrastructure during his tenure as SADC chairperson, which he said had direct impact on achieving industrialisation in the region.

He said there was need to ensure that adequate measures were in place to address development of energy infrastructure as it was critical to production.

Further, he said there was need for member states to think about the future of SADC post 2020 and ensure that people at grassroots level had a say and a stake in its affairs as the organ belonged to the people.

He noted that the regional organ was at a juncture where member states needed to show commitment to its objectives by way of matching the programmes and projects with mobilisation of adequate resources.

In addition, he said there was need to expedite the process of operationalising the regional development fund that would serve as start-up capital for the regional organ’s programmes and projects in the various sectors.

He said SADC had made steady progress over the years in line with the foundation pillars.

“We need to move in a direction where we are able to showcase impactful and tangible progress in poverty eradication, sustainable growth and development through various regional programmes,” he said.

He added that they should be strategically aligned with national policies and strategies, continental and global development processes such as the African Union Agenda 2063 and United Nations Agenda 2030.

The SADC executive secretary, Dr Stergomena Tax said ‘SADC continues to make headway in various areas’.

She noted that plans to develop human capital were thick on the ground as Swaziland would host the SADC University of Transformation whose objective was to promote specific skills especially among the youth and the women in the changing globalised world.

“Once operational, the university will contribute greatly to the SADC technological and socio-economic transformation agenda,” she said.

Furthermore, Dr Lawrence Tax said the secretariat was undergoing a transitional phase to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the organ in order to deliver on the revised Regional Indicative Development Plan 2015-2020 and the industrial strategy.

She said the secretariat would ensure that the transition does not have adverse effects on the delivery of the secretariat and would take into cognisance staff welfare of staff.

During the event, seven members of SADC administrative tribunal judges were sworn in by acting Chief Justice Lakvinder Singh Walia. ENDS