SADC 2021 PRESS RELEASE

 

 

 

Council for Non-Governmental Organisation in Malawi

P.O. Box 2264, Lilongwe, Malawi; Tel: (265) 1 759 881 / 882

Email: congoma@gmail.com               Website: www.congoma.mw

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Press Release

 SADC SUMMIT 2021

I. PREAMBLE

The Council for NGOs in Malawi – CONGOMA, as an NGO coordinating body, and mandated by its membership to represent their collective interests and concerns, and to amplify the voice of NGOs; is

  1. Excited with the news that Malawi and its President, His Excellency Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, will assume the Chairpersonship of SADC at this year’s Summit.
  2. Pleased with a befitting theme for this Summit, premised on bolstering productive capacities for sustainable industrialization for inclusive national transformation in the face of Covid-19.
  3. Cognisant of the ravaging effects of Covid-19 on economies and the lives of people in the SADC member States.
  4. Concerned with the spiralling poverty situation in the SADC Region.
  5. Concerned with the insurgency attacks in Mozambique; the destructive unrests in South Africa; the instabilities in eSwatini; and, the unsettled Democratic Republic of the Congo, among other disturbances.

We would, therefore, like to encourage our member NGOs to be a part of the various available SADC Summit platforms and processes (virtual or physical) and to provide our contribution towards the SADC collective quest, among others, as follows:

II. COMMENDATION

CONGOMA commends;

  1. His Excellency the State President, Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera and the Government of Malawi for allowing the SADC Summit to take place on the Malawi soil and having already aligned the Malawi 2063 (MW2063) Agenda with SADC and African Union Agenda.
  2. The State President for the establishment of the SADC National Committee in Malawi, of which CONGOMA is a member representing the NGO sector.
  3. The Summit of 2015 for the insightful approval, on 29th April 2015, of the SADC Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap as a blue-print for championing technology, innovation, competitiveness, Regional integration, among many elements in the transformation of the Regional economies.
  4. SADC for taking steps and actions to address the various concerns in the region, including those around the armed insurgency in Calbo Delgado in Mozambique; the unrest in eSwatini; to mention but a few.
  5. SADC Heads of State and Government for individually and severally speaking against Covid-19 vaccines nationalism against Africa and the Region.

 

III. APPEAL TO THE SADC HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT

 

CONGOMA calls upon the SADC Heads of State and Government to the following”:

  1. Continue to strongly lobby as a block for an end to Covid-19 vaccine nationalism by rich countries, get more vaccines to SADC to achieve a herd immunity against the raging Covid-19 pandemic and make lives, livelihoods and economies of the Region to start to pick up and grow again.
  2. Set up an urgent SADC Vaccine Fund (SADC-VF) to spearhead and expedite resource mobilisation for the setting up of a Regional early-warning system and a Vaccine production plant for SADC citizens.
  3. Finalize and operationalise the SADC engagement mechanism between SADC and Civil Society in SADC following up on all agreed commitments and mechanisms. This will strengthen inclusivity and partnership between the people of SADC Region and SADC itself.
  4. SADC member States to ensure that NGOs are given meaningful space and support at the national level for the NGOs to help aggregate citizen concerns and make a meaningful contribution towards SADC’s inclusive and progressive development, as per the Article 23 of the SADC Treaty.
  5. Institutionalize and make visible, the poverty observatories in SADC member States. This will provide a yard stick of the transformation agenda on the lives of people of SADC.
  6. Strengthen the mining and minerals sector in SADC by stopping exploitation and externalization of SADC minerals and have the minerals processed within SADC but also strengthen intra-SADC trade.  These are at the heart of industrialization.
  7. Set up a SADC Industrialization Task Team to spearhead technology transfer and innovation at SADC level.
  8. Set up a SADC award (SADC Challenge) for industrialization and innovation excellence to lead the industrialization agenda, in which best innovator and technology uptake States will be awarded.

 

IV. CALL TO NGOs

 

CONGOMA is calling upon its member NGOs to:

  1. Continue being an alternative voice for the marginalised citizens at national and Regional (SADC) levels with objectivity and without fear.
  2. Continue to be the centre of innovation and efficiency and be counted as potent movers of industrialization and transformation but also as partners to SADC in the realization of SADC Vision 2050 and the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030.
  3. Follow laid down protocols and modalities when the need arises to engage structures of the SADC Summit with our Communiqués, Petitions and Papers for mutuality, cooperation and order.

 

 

V. APPEAL TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC

 

CONGOMA is calling upon members of the general public to:

  1. Take a step to know more about their SADC and to influence it and its agenda, as it endeavours to responsively serve its people.
  2. Continue to take precautionary measures against Covid-19 including getting vaccinated as they engage the Summit on topical issues. This is not the time for myth mongering bout Covid-19. It is real and amidst us.
  3. Put up their best smiles as the Warm Heart of Africa to welcome the SADC Heads of State and Government and all Delegates, as Malawi welcomes His Excellency Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, President of the Republic of Malawi as the in-coming SADC Chairperson.

 

VI. CONCLUSION

 

CONGOMA is very pleased to be hosting delegates from the SADC Civil Society at various levels, as they engage virtually or on the Malawi soil on issues of Regional industrialization and Transformation.

 

We wish the SADC Heads of State and Government Summit every success, but would greatly love for the Summit to focus on few doable, practical but also a bit more prescriptive resolutions that can leave a visible trail of progress in our collective quest for an industrialized, transformed and people-centred and responsive SADC.

 

Signed

 

 

Kossamu Jommo Munthali

CHAIRPERSON

 

13 August 2021, Lilongwe, Malawi

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