22 Nov 2020

Southern African Development Community (SADC) on November 20 joined the rest of Africa and the world to commemorate Africa Industrialisation Day.

In a message to mark the commemoration, SADC Executive Secretary, Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax, said over the years, SADC had been at the forefront in driving the industrialisation agenda, by putting in place policies and strategies to boost and catalyse industrialisation and transformation of the region. 

She said the transformation of SADC economies was aimed at creating decent jobs, promote value adding development approaches, and improve the welfare of citizens, and ultimately eradicate poverty in the region.

“SADC understands that industrialisation, with strong linkages to domestic economies, will help SADC member states and African countries, to enhance productivity, diversify their economies, achieve high growth rates, and thus, reduce exposure to external shocks. 

This will substantially contribute to poverty eradication through employment and wealth creation,” she said.

She said the theme: Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialisation in the era of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), underscored the importance of policy harmonisation and alignment across national borders, as a pre-requisite for cross border investment and for the movement of goods, capital and people.

She said the commemoration  came at a time when the region and the world at large, were confronted with an unprecedented public health crisis of COVID-19, with far-reaching social and economic consequences.

As a major driver of the planned transformation for the region, she said the industrial sector was one of those significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Dr Tax said the coronavirus had exposed the deep inequalities in the SADC region and across the African continent, adding ‘it has clearly shown how far we are from realising the developmental goals and responsibilities to the SADC citizens’.

She said it was important for SADC member states to understand and appreciate the extent of the damage that the pandemic has on their economies, and respond with appropriate measures to ensure that the disruption does not seriously negate key developments in the industrialisation drive of the region.

On a positive note, she said the COVID-19 pandemic had demonstrated how the region is able to successfully work together to overcome its challenges, even during times of unprecedented crises.

In the last nine months, since the outbreak of COVID-19, Dr Tax said the region had witnessed a remarkable act of unity that had been its strength in saving lives and supporting the vulnerable population.

In addition, Dr Tax said through the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap (2015-2063), the region valued the private sector as the driver of industrialisation, and in particular, the need to strengthen the role of Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs). 

She said SMMEs constituted a crucial economic and social factor in terms of employment creation, growth, incomes and development.

“SADC also appreciates the contribution of informal cross-border trade (ICBT), as a significant feature of regional trade in the region, which must be supported as it generates substantial income and employment, food security and household livelihoods,” said Dr Tax.

She said according to the SADC Financial Inclusion Strategy, small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) constituted between 75 per cent and 95 per cent of total firms and accounted for 48 per cent of the region’s employment, with women and youth constituting a bigger proportion of cross-border trade in the SADC region

Dr Tax said SADC commended both the public and private sectors, including SMMEs, for remaining vigilant and adapting their responses to the changing methods of doing business, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Therefore, she said SADC implored all players to scale up responses to COVID-19, in order to minimise the effects of the pandemic on business operations and create more employment opportunities for the people. 

“In the same vein, we call on member states to continue improving the business environment to enable the private sector to recover from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and more importantly, to partake of the opportunities created by SADC integration programmes,” she said. 

“With the same measure of unity, the region will come out of this pandemic stronger and ready to counter the challenges that lie ahead, especially as the SADC region seeks a peaceful, inclusive, middle to high income industrialised region as envisioned in the SADC Vision 2050,” said Dr Tax. 

Africa Industrialisation Day was proclaimed by the 25^th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in July 1989, and the UN General Assembly, on December 22, 1989. ends