Some years ago the Southern African Development Community promised that it would not be long before trade barriers across the sub-continent were brought down.
In fact a lot of money was spent hiring consultants to advice on how to go about it.
The then SADC Executive Secretary said at the time that integration would become the lynchpin of his organization.
Almost fifteen years later, that is still not the case.
Trade barriers are ever more pronounced with new ones popping up on a daily basis.
Many citizens in Southern Africa would be hard pressed to find plausible justifications for the existence SADC as an organization.
To ordinary citizens the organization is a bureau of dollar paid technocrats whose mandate is not clear.
In fact a majority of citizens in the sub-region would not shed a tear was the SADC Secretariat in Gaborone to close down.
Citizens do not associate in any way with this office.
It is viewed as an office that from time to time organizes come together sessions for regional heads of state to talk among themselves especially when one of them is faced with such possibilities like losing power from disaffected citizens.
This should not be so.
We call on SADC to be more proactive in justifying itself to ordinary citizens.
We say this because while SADC Secretariat headquarters is here in Botswana, citizens of this country can hardly understand just what the organization does.
What then would be the situation for citizens in the fourteen other member countries who are physically further away from the secretariat?
Even on such pertinent matters like bringing peace, SADC track record leaves a lot to be desired.
One really has to look hard to see examples where the SADC office has been the one that facilitated trade, cultural ties or even restoration of peace between and within member countries.
The lackluster and silence of this organization on key regional issues is a matter of concern.
Given the amount of money that countries pay annually towards the upkeep of the secretariat it
No wonder in the past some countries chose either to withdraw or to stop making subventions to the secretariat.
The sub-region is faced with many issues that should keep the secretariat busy.
This year alone, no less than four countries of SADC will go to elections.
What is the SADC secretariat doing to help organisations that conduct elections in member countries for example to be more resourced when it comes to this immensely important cornerstone of democracy?
What for example is SADC doing to train and empower the media and political parties in member countries on the conduct of elections?
These are but a few examples that we raise as a way of advising the SADC Secretariat to find ways to be more responsive but also relevant.
A failure to be responsive will push SADC further and further into irrelevance.
