Zimbabwe to push for innovation during SADC chairmanship

Wallace Ruzvidzo in Gaborone, Botswana
ZIMBABWE will be spearheading SADC’s modernisation and innovation efforts as these form the bedrock on which the region can boost its industrialisation agenda, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Botswana, Henry Mukonoweshuro, has said.

Speaking in an interview ahead of President Mnangagwa’s working visit to Botswana on Friday, Ambassador Mukonoweshuro said Zimbabwe was committed to serving regional interests during its tenure as SADC Chair.
In the next year, President Mnangagwa will oversee the governance structure of SADC at the highest level.
As Chair, the President has the overall mandate of providing policy direction and controlling the functions of the regional bloc.

“What is going to happen during the first programme is the familiarisation tour, where he will meet with the SADC Secretariat staff and get an appraisal of what SADC does on a day-to-day basis in driving the regional agenda of integration,” Ambassador Mukonoweshuro said.
He said following Zimbabwe’s assumption of the SADC Chairmanship in August, the country will push the theme of innovation.
“Because that is key to the implementation of industrialisation, agro-processing, and mineral beneficiation,” Ambassador Mukonoweshuro said.

The continued engagements within the regional body, he said, were indicative of cordial relations among member states.
Additionally, the Ambassador said relations between Harare and Gaborone were on an upward trajectory as evidenced by the frequent interactions between President Mnangagwa and his counterpart President Duma Boko over the last two months.
“This shows us that the relations within SADC are quite sisterly and it also shows that it is customary for the chairperson of SADC to visit the headquarters of SADC during their tenure.

“The Second Republic has managed to merge relationships, if you recall, the first visit by the President of Botswana was in Victoria Falls and then the Extraordinary SADC Summit and now this is the third meeting in a space of two months,” he said.
Ambassador Mukonoweshuro outlined President Mnangagwa’s programme here, which will see him, apart from meeting the SADC Secretariat staff, being handed over the building which the bloc purchased.
Thereafter, he will attend the ground-breaking ceremony for the commencement of the construction of the SADC Standby Force Regional Logistics Depot (RLD) at Rasesa village.

“There will be a second programme (after the familiarisation tour) where the building is now being handed over by Bongwe Investments Proprietary Limited, who were the proprietors who assisted SADC in purchasing that building.
“They (SADC) have now paid up, and the building is going to be handed over to His Excellency the President as Chair and also President Duma Boko as the sitting President of Botswana where the headquarters are.

“After that, we then have a third programme where the two Presidents are going into Rasesa, about 30 kilometres from Gaborone where they are going to have a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the construction of the SADC logistical depot”.
During President Mnangagwa’s tenure, he will push for the realisation of the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP 2020-2030) and SADC Vision 2050 plan, Ambassador Mukonoweshuro said.

The two strategic plans seek to further deepen southern Africa’s regional integration and foster development.
The two strategic plans were approved by the 40th Ordinary SADC Summit in Maputo, Mozambique in 2020.

They are premised on three interrelated pillars; Industrial Development and Market Integration; Infrastructure Development in support of Regional Integration; and Social and Human Capital Development.
RISDP 2020-2030 operationalises the SADC Vision 2050 which is a long-term ambition by SADC that sets out the aspirations of the Region until 2050.

RISDP 2020-2030 is a successor to the previous RISDP which was a comprehensive 15-year strategic roadmap which provided the strategic direction for achieving SADC’s long-term social and economic goals.