Page 15 - 41st Summit Brochure

INTERVIEW
with the SADC Executive Secretary, Dr. Stergomena Lawrence Tax
…as she ends her 8-year tenure at the SADC Secretariat

What are some of the major achievements and challenges that SADC has
experienced during your tenure as the Executive Secretary?

The achievements realized during my tenure are many and varied. Some are quantifiable and others
are not, while some are visible and others are not visible. It is also important to note that the
achievements recorded during the eight years of my tenure in office are a result of collective efforts
and teamwork involving the SADC Member States and the Secretariat Staff, with support from the
private sector and regional and international partners. Highlights of the key achievements during my
tenure include the following:
g Consolidation of Democracy, and Sustaining of Peace and Security. The SADC region remains stable
and peaceful, notwithstanding isolated challenges. This is attributed to solid systems and measures in place, such as
our regional early warning, preventive and mediation mechanisms which facilitate timely detection and redress of
threats and challenges, and effective deployment of SADC electoral observation missions. Examples during my tenure
include the SADC preventive mission to the Kingdom of Lesotho, SADC peace and political support to the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), SADC mediation in Madagascar, and SADC facilitation in Lesotho. These measures
addressed challenges that emerged, and enabled the respective Member States and the region to restore stability, peace
and security. Democracy was consolidated through effective deployment of electoral observation missions to SADC
Member States. To mitigate and address threats posed by cybercrime and terrorism, a cybercrime and anti-terrorism
strategy was adopted in 2016. The strategy is being implemented at regional and national levels.

g Documenting Southern African Liberation Struggle History through the Hashim Mbita Publication.To preserve
the recent history of Southern Africa and generate awareness about African Liberation, SADC published the series
of books resulting from the Hashim Mbita Project on Southern African Liberation Struggles, an extensive
publication of nine volumes that was launched in August 2014. The publication enables the people of the region, 13
and especially the youth, to understand and appreciate the shared history of Southern Africa’s liberation, thus
advancing social cohesion and regional identity. This was first published in its original languages and has now
been fully translated into the SADC official languages. The SADC Council of Ministers has taken the decision that
Southern African Liberation History should be included in the school syllabus and requested Ministers of
Education to operationalize the decision.

g Frontloading of Industrialization to Accelerate Socio-Economic and Technological Transformation. The SADC
Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap 2015-2063 was approved in 2015 by the SADC Summit of Heads of State
and Government meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe. The decision to frontload industrialization was taken because the
previous efforts to increase intra-regional trade were hampered by the limited capacity in Member States to produce
goods that can be traded equitably within the region, and competitively within and outside the region. The
Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap therefore seeks to facilitate a major economic and technological
transformation at national and regional levels, through beneficiation and value addition to the Region’s diverse
resources, within the context of deeper regional integration. Since the adoption of this strategy, industrialization
has remained the major focus of SADC economic integration. By addressing the supply-side constraints as part of
the implementation of the SADC industrialization strategy, cross-border trade continues to grow and the business
environment has been improving, whereby the cost of doing business has been declining steadily and gradually,
through the implementation of both hard and soft infrastructure. Value chains have been profiled, specifically in
three priority sectors of mineral beneficiation, pharmaceuticals and agro-processing, and a number of value chains
have been developed and are being implemented.
g Improvement of SADC Intra-Region Trade. While, intra-SADC trade rose from 16.3 percent in 2008 to 21.6
percent in 2016 following the establishment of the Free Trade Area (FTA), it slowed down to 20 percent in 2017
and to 19.3 percent in 2018. With the Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap 2015-2063, it is expected that the
supply-side constraints will be addressed effectively and timeously, and such capacities to produce and trade
equitably, as well as competitiveness will be strengthened to facilitate intra-SADC trade. With all the measures put
in place, and the benefits of the SADC FTA, non-tariff barriers remain a challenge that requires commitment by
Member States.