Issued by the GCIS
29 June 2000
At an economic Summit that was characterised by the calls stressing the importance of democracy, peace and stability, the Acting Executive Secretary of SADC, Dr. Prega Ramsamy has called for the creation of institutions which will protect citizens from being abused by those in power.
Dr. Ramsamy was summing up presentations to the opening plenary session of the recent Southern Africa Economic Summit 2000 by, among others, Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique.
The summit, whose theme was "The African Economic Renaissance: Making It Happen", brought together 1 000 political and business leaders from some So countries and was held on 21-23 June in Durban, South Africa. There was also a strong participation of academics and representatives from the NGOs from the region and abroad.
Dr. Ramsamy appealed to the summit participants, particularly the SADC region and Africa to "address issues which also affect our life within our nations, within our sub-region and within our continent." He explicitly spelt out these as issues relating to the promotion of democratic rule, good governance, accountability and transparency.
The SADC acting chief also called for the people centred development with due recognition of the important role of women and civil organisations in society. Further, he said there is a need for "clear development priorities, which takes into consideration resource constraints." On peace and stability, Dr. Ramsamy emphasised the need "for warring factions to respect peace accords and fulfil their respective commitments." However, Dr Ramsamy pointed out that despite SADC, and indeed other African countries, having put into place measures aimed at creating a conducive environment to attract both cross border and foreign investment, there is an ever-widening gap between the developed world and Africa.
This, he said is likely to be accentuated by globalisation if not checked, hence the need for "equality of all nations whether rich or poor, big or small, powerful or weak within regional, continental and international organisations." Dr. Ramsamy noted the glaring disparities in terms of expenditure in key sectors such as education, health and other services which have "impacted negatively on the standard of living and quality of the life of the African masses." He pointed out that, for instance, between 1990-1997 the expenditure on health for selected sub-Saharan African countries stood at US$22 per person annually compared to US$2,337 per person annually for the G7 countries and US4, 093 for the United States.
In regard to per capita public spending on education for children in the age group 5-14 in 1995, the G7 countries stood at US$10,844 per child annually while for selected African countries it was US$77.
He also observed that debt servicing has impacted negatively on the development of the continent. He cited the fact that "Zambia spent more than 30 per cent of its national budget on debt repayments each year throughout the 1990s while spending only 10 per cent of its national budget on social services." He concluded that "these are some of the issues that the African Renaissance needs to address with your cooperation in order to level the playing field so that we can effectively participate in the international fora that seek to influence our daily lives."
SADC Secretariat Information Unit Gaborone
For more information contact Anna at Tel:
(267) 351 863 or Fax: (267) 372 848