SADC Parliamentary Forum
AGENDA
TIME | ITEM/TOPIC | PRESENTER |
14:00 - 14:10 | Remarks by the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on FANR | Hon Leon Andre Tumba, Chairperson |
14:10 - 14:55 | Session I Presentation on Agroecology as a Sustainable Response to Climate Change: International and Regional Evidence: · ActionAid - [15 min] · ESAFF – agroecology from the perspective of the smallholder farmer [15 min] · CCARDESA - research on agroecology [15 min] |
Presenter One (TBA) Presenter Two (TBA) Presenter Three (TBA) |
14:55 - 15:25 | Committee’s Interactive Dialogue on Presentations | |
15:25 – 15:45 | TEA BREAK |
|
15:45 - 16:15 | Session II Presentation on Agroecology in Southern Africa: Programmes and Investment: · Regional and national investment in agroecology – gaps and opportunities [15 min] · FAO - programming and support agroecology in southern Africa (and good practice from other regions) [15 min] |
Presenter One Mr Martin Muchero
Presenter Two (TBA) |
16:15 - 16:45 | Committee’s Interactive Dialogue on Presentations | |
16:45 - 17:00 | Closing Remarks by the TIFI Chairperson | Hon Anele Ndebele, Chairperson |
END OF MEETING | ||
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- Background
The effects of climate change - persistent drought, flooding and pests – compounded by economic challenges, poverty, conflict, gender disparities, and gaps in social accountability, have all contributed to the SADC region’s food security crisis. The Covid-19 pandemic has reduced incomes and disrupted supply chains, further exacerbating poverty in the region. According to the SADC Synthesis Report on the State of Food and Nutrition Security and Vulnerability in the Southern Region, released in July 2021, up to 47.6 million people (approx. 13% of total population) in the SADC region are food insecure. While many Member States experienced a bumper maize harvest in 2021, the above-average rainfall was coupled with a destructive cyclone season. In the ten SADC Member States that submitted data, an estimated 47.6 million people are food insecure, a 5.5% increase from 2020 and 34.3% above the 5-year average.[1]
Smallholder farmers, who produce most of SADC’s food, have been impacted by the effects of Covid-19, including lower household incomes, limited access to inputs (seeds, fertilisers) and lack of extension services to combat the ongoing threat of pests and diseases. In particular, the pandemic has affected multiple aspects of the lives of women smallholder farmers, who supply about 50% of total agricultural labour in Sub-Saharan Africa, from undermining their food security and eroding their savings, to increasing their unpaid care workload and heightening their risk of gender-based violence.[2]
In 2003, African Union (AU) member states signed the Maputo Declaration, which committed to increasing agricultural budget allocations to 10%, pursuing agricultural growth of 6%, and to setting up the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).[3] Soon after, SADC member states signed the Dar-es-Salaam Declaration in 2004, which established priority areas for achieving food security, including short-term approaches such as ensuring access to quality seeds, fertilisers, and agrochemicals.[4] Additional regional instruments followed, guiding both regional and national actions: Regional Agricultural Policy (RAP) 2013; Regional Agricultural Investment Plan (RAIP) 2017-2022; SADC Food and Nutrition Security Strategy (FNSS) 2015-2025; and SADC Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (CCSAP) and Strategy, 2015 – 2030.
According to the African Centre for Biodiversity, however, practices that emanate from CAADP which have been implemented by African governments, such as input subsidies through farm input subsidy programmes (FISPs), have not always had the desired effect.[5] While international, continental and regional (SADC) commitments promote support for smallholder farmers as a key strategy for achieving household food security, agricultural policy making in the region has failed to adequately respond to the needs of smallholder farmers.
Instead, large portions of national budgets are directed towards FISPs by providing subsidies that reduce the price of fertiliser and seed (usually hybrid maize). Aside from providing a partial economic safety net, the subsidies have been found to not directly benefit the poor and most vulnerable, who are mostly women. Instead, the FISPs have led smallholder farmers to direct scarce resources towards hybrid maize production, effectively reducing the diversity of food available.[6] In a 2021 global report, the FAO acknowledges that current agricultural support “is biased towards measures that are harmful and unsustainable for nature, climate, nutrition and health, while disadvantaging women and other smallholder farmers in the sector.” FAO advocates that by “repurposing agricultural producer support, governments can optimize scarce public resources to support food systems in ways that make them not only more efficient, but also more supportive of healthy lives, nature and climate. This can also be an opportunity to achieve a strong economic recovery in a post-COVID-19 pandemic world.”[7]
With the effects of climate change causing droughts and flooding throughout the SADC region, the need for long-term measures to reduce the impact of climate shocks and build the capacity of communities and countries to withstand them have become even more urgent. Covid-19 has further highlighted the need to support local, sustainably produced food with shorter value chains to ensure countries are resilient, even in the face of disasters.
- The Potential Role of Agroecology
The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) in the United Nations (UN) Committee on World Food Security (CFS) recently defined agroecology as follows:
“Agroecological approaches favour the use of natural processes, limit the use of purchased inputs, promote closed cycles with minimal negative externalities and stress the importance of local knowledge and participatory processes that develop knowledge and practice through experience, as well as more conventional scientific methods, and address social inequalities. Agroecological approaches recognize that agri-food systems are coupled social–ecological systems from food production to consumption and involve science, practice and a social movement, as well as their holistic integration, to address [food and nutritional security].”[8]
Among the key benefits of agroecology, include:
- Year-round access to healthy, fresh, diverse and culturally-appropriate food for local populations;
- Reduced poverty and a key contribution to the realization of the right to adequate food and nutrition;
- Increased climate resilience and reduced greenhouse gasses (GHG) emission;
- Empowerment of women and reduced workload burden;
- Diversified livelihoods and valued local, tribal and indigenous knowledge and culture;
- Improved health through reduced exposure to harmful agrochemicals;
- More resilient ecosystems, healthier soils and improved water management;
- Lower costs, less debt and greater autonomy;
- Enhanced stewardship of seeds, crops, biodiversity, forests and natural resources.[9]
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) have highlighted the key role for agroecology in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).[10] The FAO has recognised it as a “promising option to implement the Paris Agreement,” as it addresses climate change adaptation and mitigation simultaneously.[11] Recent reports by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES),[12] the Inter Governmental Panel on Climate (IPCC),[13] and the HLPE,[14] all urge support for agroecological systems for smallholder farmers, as opposed to high external input industrial systems, and indicate these can be highly productive, highly sustainable, empower women, create jobs, engage youth, provide greater autonomy, climate resilience, and multiple social, cultural and environmental benefits for women and men in rural and urban communities.
Increasingly, evidence is showing that peasant-based agroecological systems have clear advantages over high external input industrial agriculture. While, historically, there has been a gap between the yields of conventional (high-external-input) agriculture and organic farming, this gap has often been overstated, especially when considering: a) the strong performance of highly developed agroecological farming systems; b) that agroecology produces high yields (especially over time) of a variety of crops, while also generating additional social and environmental benefits. A growing body of research indicates that when appropriately supported and in the right economic conditions, agroecology can outperform conventional systems of agricultural production, especially in dryland areas but also in many other contexts, for example[15] A recent meta-analysis found that alternative agriculture increased yields in 61% of the studies when compared to conventional agriculture, with 20 percent showing no difference.[16] Additionally, the diversification practices used in agroecological practices can reduce or eliminate any yield gap between organic and conventional agriculture.[17]
Despite the urgency and clear benefits of adopting agroecological approaches towards the transformation of food systems, the quality and quantity of finance for agricultural research and development, and food security is woefully inadequate. Globally, there is a shortfall in funding for sustainable food systems, and very little of that is allocated to smallholder farmers. Additionally, almost all of that funding is allocated to encouraging farmers to adopt detrimental forms of high-energy, high-input industrial agriculture. Agroecological approaches are clearly marginalised in existing funding streams, and when they are supported it is often done in unhelpful and even damaging ways.[18]
In its policy brief Agroecology: Scaling Up, Scaling Out,[19] ActionAid identifies key barriers that need to be challenged and seven key steps required to achieve agroecology at scale: ideological barriers, international trade and export orientation, marginalisation of women, monopoly seed laws, lack of agricultural research and development on agroecology and concentration of power amongst agribusiness trans-national coroporations (TNCs).
3.0 What SADC PF and National Parliaments can do
National parliaments play an important oversight role in informing and interrogating the use of national budgetary allocations and foreign contributions towards agricultural development and climate change adaptation.
Already between 2018 and 2021, SADC PF FANR Standing Committee members have considered and acted on issues related to the impact of climate change on agriculture and food security. Among the actions were:
- Successfully proposing a motion at the SADC PF Plenary Assembly in December 2018 urging SADC Member States to accelerate the implementation of the Malabo Declaration, with a focus on improving social accountability in agricultural services for smallholder farmers.
- Passing resolutions in 2020 and 2021 calling on governments and donors to strengthen resilience to buffer ever-increasing climatic shocks, and to challenge the current intensive industrial model of agriculture being supported across the region.
Outside SADC, the Caribbean to the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (PARLATINO) is in the process of developing a Model Law on Agroecology, informed by newly developed FAO guidelines on the development of legal frameworks to promote agroecology in the Latin American and Caribbean region.[20]
- Objectives of the FANR/TIFI Standing Committee Joint Meeting
The FANR/TIFI Standing Committee meeting will specifically seek to achieve the following objectives:
- Review evidence on the potential of agroecological approaches to ensure sustainable and productive agricultural development in the southern African region.
- Assess the level of national and regional investment in SADC on agroecological approaches, and potential opportunities to increase this investment.
- Reflect on national parliament and SADC PF interventions that could contribute towards expanding investment in agroecology in the SADC region.
- Participants and resource persons
The session will draw upon the expertise of resource people from ActionAid, Eastern and Southern Africa Small-Scale Farmers’ Forum, the UN Food and FAO, and the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA). A panel of experienced resource persons will make presentations, followed by an interactive session focusing on possible policy interventions that could be made by SADC PF and national parliaments.
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Concept Note for FANR and TIFI Meeting
[1] SADC Synthesis report on the state of food and nutrition security and vulnerability in Southern Africa: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Synthesis-Report-2021_English.pdf
[2] FAO SOFA Team & Cheryl Doss, (2011). The Role of Women in Agriculture’ ESA Working Paper No. 11-02, FAO. http://www.fao.org/sustainable-food-value-chains/library/details/en/c/265584/; FAO, (2011), 2010-2011 The State of Food and Agriculture. Women in Agriculture: Closing the gender gap for development. http://www.fao.org/publications/sofa/2010-11/en/; ActionAid, (2020), Covid-19 Food Crisis: Monitoring research. https://actionaid.org/publications/2020/covid-19-food-crisis-monitoring-research
[3] For the Maputo Declaration, see: https://bit.ly/2PQ4EhX
[4] For Dar-es-Salaam Declaration, see: https://bit.ly/2EzVRPc
[5] African Centre for Biodiversity (2016). Farm Input Subsidy Programmes (FISPs): A Benefit for, or the Betrayal of, SADC’s Small-Scale Farmers? https://www.acbio.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Input-Subsidies-Report-ACBio.pdf
[6] African Centre for Biodiversity (2016). Ibid; PSA Alliance (2019) PSA Policy Brief on Social Accountability
of FISPs in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. http://www.copsam.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/SAfAIDS_PSA_PolicyBrief_FISPs_FINAL.pdf
[7] FAO, UNDP and UNEP (2021), =;l https://doi.org/10.4060/cb6562en
[8] HLPE (2019), Agroecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition. A report by the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security, Rome. http://www.fao.org/3/ca5602en/ca5602en.pdf
[9] ActionAid International (2018), Agroecology: Scaling up, scaling out. https://actionaid.org/publications/2018/agroecology-scaling-scaling-out.
[10] IFAD (December 2019), How agroecology can respond to a changing climate and benefit farmers. https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/story/asset/41485825 ; FAO (2018), FAO’s work on agroecology: a pathway to the SDGs. http://www.fao.org/3/I9021EN/i9021en.pdf.
[11] FAO (2018). Ibid.
[12] IPBES (2019), Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. https://www.ipbes.net/system/tdf/ipbes_7_10_add.1_en_1.pdf?file=1&type=node&id=35329.
[13] IPCC (2019), IPCC Special Report on Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse gas fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2019/08/Fullreport-1.pdf.
[14] HLPE (2019).
[15] ActionAid (2021 – to be published), Shifting Funding to Agroecology for People, Climate and Nature. Written by Colin Anderson and Janneke Bruil; Pretty, J.N., Morison, J.I.L., Hine, R.E. (2003), Reducing food poverty by increasing agricultural sustainability in developing countries. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 95, 217-234. 10.1016/s0167-8809(02)00087-7; Ponisio, L.C., M'Gonigle, L.K., Mace, K.C., Palomino, J., de Valpine, P., Kremen, C. (2015). Diversification practices reduce organic to conventional yield gap. Proc Biol Sci 282, 20141396. 10.1098/rspb.2014.1396.
[16] Alonso-Fradejas, A., Forero, L.F., Ortega-Espès, D., Drago, M.n., Chandrasekaran, K. (2020), Junk Agroecology. TNI, Friends of the Earth International, Crovevia. https://www.tni.org/files/publication-downloads/38_foei_junk_agroecology_full_report_eng_lr_0.pdf
[17] Ponisio (2015).
[18] CIDSE (2021) Policy Briefing – Making Money Move for Agroecology: Transforming Development Aid to Support Agroecology. https://www.cidse.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/EN-Making-money-move-for-agroecology.pdf
[19] ActionAid (2018).
[20] FAO (2021), Legislation to promote agroecology in the Latin American and Caribbean region. https://www.fao.org/agroecology/database/detail/en/c/1438599/
CLOSING REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SADC PF STANDING COMMITTEE ON TRADE, INDUSTRY, FINANCE AND INVESTMENT,
HON. ANELE NDEBELE, MP AT THE JOINT MEETING OF THE FANR/TIFI STANDING COMMITTEES HELD UNDER THE THEME ‘EXPANDING INVESTMENT IN AGROECOLOGY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND CLIMATE ADAPTATION’
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
SUNDAY, 1ST MAY, 2022
Hon Members, distinguished participants,
Good afternoon
I am honoured to address you this afternoon as we come to the close of our session on ‘Expanding Investment in Agroecology in Southern Africa for Sustainable Development and Climate Adaptation. Let me take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to you, Honourable Members, for sparing time to attend this meeting. I also thank you for applying yourselves fully and actively engaging with the resource persons on the important subject of investment in agriculture. This shows your desire and commitment to acquiring the requisite knowledge and skills to enable you contribute positively towards national and regional food security as well as climate adaptation.
To the Secretary General of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, I commend you for convening this meeting.
Let me also offer special appreciation to our resource persons who were willing to share with us their vast knowledge and experience on the subject under consideration.
Honourable Members,
Having concluded all items on our agenda, I am happy to note that we have now gained a deeper understanding of what agroecology is and some of its advantages as compared to the conventional high input and industrialised agricultural system. I am also pleased that the presenters have not only highlighted the many regional and continental commitments towards the agriculture sector, but also the fact that funding to this sector should be adequate and sustainable. This was especially important for us as it will enable us, going forward, to work in our respective jurisdictions and in the context of our legislative mandate towards addressing the food security concerns in the region and our respective countries.
In view of the above, it is gratifying that this session has also reminded us of the important role that we should play to not only ensure increased budgetary allocation towards agroecology, but also promote private sector investment.
Further, I am particularly happy that during this meeting, we had an opportunity to explore how the draft SADC Model Law on Public Financial Management can be used to promote agroecology in our region. It now remains for each one of us to champion the case as advocates within our domestic jurisdictions for the domestication of the SADC Model Law on Public Financial Management once adopted by the Plenary Assembly. In this regard, I must pay tribute to the Forum for the initiative of developing the Model Law. Let us work hard so that the SADC Member States can develop domestic legislation that will enable us promote agroecology, especially through the enhancement of the relevant budgetary allocations.
Having said the above, it is now my singular honour to declare the
joint meeting of the SADC Standing Committee on Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources and Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment officially closed.
I thank you
OPENING REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SADC PF STANDING COMMITTEE ON FOOD AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES, HON. ANDREA LEON TUMBA AT THE JOINT MEETING OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES ON FOOD, AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES; AND TRADE, INDUSTRY, FINANCE AND INVESTMENT HELD UNDER THE THEME ‘EXPANDING INVESTMENT IN AGROECOLOGY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND CLIMATE ADAPTATION.’
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
SUNDAY, 1ST MAY, 2022
SALUTATIONS
- Honourable Members of the SADC PF Standing Committee on Food Agriculture and Natural Resources;
- The Secretary General of the SADC PF, Ms Boemo Sekgoma;
- Ms Julie Middleton, Project Manager, Consortium for Partnership for Social Accountability;
- Staff from the SADC PF Secretariat;
- Our Distinguished Resource Persons;
- Our Distinguished Participants; and
- Ladies and Gentlemen.
Good afternoon Hon Members and Distinguished guests,
I am pleased to welcome you Honourable Members to this Joint Meeting of the SADC PF Standing Committees on Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR) and Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment (FANR), which is being held under the theme, “Expanding Investment in Agroecology in Southern Africa for Sustainable Development and Climate Adaptation.”
Honourable Members, distinguished participants
Let me begin by stating that agriculture is the cornerstone of human society that provides not only food and nourishment but also employment for millions of people in the SADC region. However, due to the rapidly evolving threats to food and farming systems as a result of climate shocks, it is becoming extremely difficult to be food secure as a region unless we adopt resilient agriculture processes. I am sure that Hon Members can agree with me that the field of agroecology has not been given the primacy it deserves in the SADC region despite it being key in building sustainable food systems. While most SADC Member States do appropriate from their national budgets specific funds towards the agriculture sector, this is not adequate. Therefore, there is a need in our quest to promote agroecology in our region to make deliberate efforts to promote investments in agriculture in general and in particular in agroecology.
Arising from the foregoing, it is important to engage in discussions that encompass both themes of agriculture and investment. Hence this meeting today that is bringing together two committees which are both critical to the subject under discussion.
Honourable Members, distinguished participants
You will agree with me that achieving food security in Southern Africa has remained an elusive goal to date. The SADC Synthesis Report on the State of Food and Nutrition Security and Vulnerability in the Southern Region, reports that up to 47.6 million people, approximately 13 percent of the total population, in SADC region are food insecure.
Even without the effects of climate change, our agricultural systems are not meeting the demands of large numbers of people. Climate change and its effects such as persistent droughts, flooding and pests, coupled with economic challenges, poverty and conflict, have exerted more pressure on already stressed food systems, thereby contributing to the food security crisis in the region.
Further, the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity directly and indirectly. The direct impact is linked to farms and food businesses that had to close down due to the pandemic. On the other hand, indirect impacts are linked to lockdowns, border closures and restricted transportation and movement imposed by Governments to curb the spread of the pandemic. Small-scale farmers, who produce most of the SADC region’s food, have been negatively impacted by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking from a gender perspective, it is also worth noting that with the emergence of the COVID-19, the burden of unpaid care work increased for women and girls. In instances were family members were affected by the virus, women had to refocus their attention to look after the children and provide care for the sick. The time spent on care could have been used on farming activities such as food production or selling of farm produce.
Honourable Members, distinguished participants
Given the foregoing, there is a need to adopt innovative approaches that are climate smart and more resilient to severe shocks such as pandemics.
As you may be aware, as a region, several commitments have been made both at continental and regional levels to enhance agriculture. However, failure to implement these commitments remains a huge hindrance to actualising our agriculture vision. In many countries, agroecology is being proposed as a method of not only promoting food security but also significantly contributing to achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals as well as the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Honourable Members, distinguished participants
While agroecological systems draw on natural synergies and use locally-available resources, transitioning to this model entails some costs at the outset, and requires support. Meanwhile, smallholders, and particularly women, struggle to access the credit they would need to move beyond subsistence farming. It is, therefore, imperative that investments that are channelled towards agriculture are accompanied by robust mechanisms to prevent any misuse of public resources and reach the intended beneficiaries, especially small-scale farmers.
In this regard, Honourable Members, we have a responsibility, both at national and regional level to ensure that we promote agroecological agricultural systems for sustainable food supply. Through our oversight function, we must interrogate our national budgets and foreign contributions to ensure that they are channeled towards agricultural development and climate change adaption. Further, we should provide effective checks and balances to the executive so that investment towards the sector yields the desired results.
Therefore, I am happy that this Joint meeting has been organised today so that we can interrogate these critical issues.
Honourable Members, distinguished participants
As I conclude, let me take this opportunity to thank our esteemed resource persons who have accepted to engage with us on this subject during our Committee session. I am positive that at the end of the meeting, we will all have a better understanding of agroecology and what we, as parliamentarians, need to do, both at national and regional level to promote agroecology for sustainable food systems. I, therefore, encourage Honourable Members to actively participate and engage our resource persons on these and any related issues in order for this session to be of maximum benefit to us and the SADC region as a whole.
With those few remarks, it is now my honour and privilege to declare this Joint meeting of the Standing Committees on FANR and TIFI officially opened.
I thank you
- Gamal Ibrahim - Chief of Economic Governance and Public Finance Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
- Distinguished Prosecutors from SADC Member States Who are involved in Prosecution of Financial Crimes and Related Offences;
- Mr Daniel Greenberg, Legal Drafter for the SADC Model Law on Public Financial Management;
- Members of the Technical Working Group on the Model Law on Public Financial Management;
- Ms Caroline Kwamboka, Trustee and Founding Director of African Renaissance; and Member of the Technical Working Group on the PFM Model Law;
- SADC Citizens following proceedings on various social media platforms;
- Members of the Media;
- Staff of National Parliaments and SADC Parliamentary Forum
- Distinguished
- Introduction
Dear Colleagues and Distinguished Participants,
It is indeed a great privilege and honor for me to address a distinguished gathering of fearless advocates, comrades, experts and practitioners working in the area of Public Financial Management. I welcome you today to this consultative meeting on the Model Law on Public Financial Management (PFM) hosted under the auspices of the SADC Parliamentary Forum.
As you may be aware, the Forum is accustomed to holding widespread consultations for its Model Laws under development in view of ensuring that the Model Laws are responsive to the current needs and demands of the SADC citizenry.
The Consultation today takes, place after a series of successful consultations have occurred with SADC Line Ministries, Auditors General, AML/CFT agencies, revenue authorities, police representatives and prosecutors, to cite but a few. However, it was also necessary to engage with private stakeholders which are essentially Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that are not publicly funded and hence have their own perspective on the state of the PFM framework of SADC Member States.
At this juncture, I wish to thank you for finding the time to attend today. The Forum has always held Civil Society Organisations in high regard, and furthermore valued their immense knowledge base, as well as their abundant contributions to State processes. In fact, many of you today already form part of the Forum's Partnership Framework, and we equally invite all CSOs today to collaborate with the Forum beyond the ambit of this august meeting.
- Why engage Civil Society Organisations?
I wish to underscore that the ongoing engagement with Civil Society Organisations is necessary since you are in touch with grassroot realities and constantly evaluate national and regional policy on good governance and PFM. You relentlessly work to promote good governance and thus ensure that PFM is kept under the radar.
The Forum also recognises that you are smart players in the realm of PFM and denounce corruption, fraud and bribery on a routinely basis. You follow up on Governmental measures and actions which affect PFM. Your celerity in uncovering PFM issues which are relevant to the public is also well known. In this regard, you are known to be guardians of truth and justice. Moreover, you engage with the press and ensure that PFM is constantly kept under scrutiny of the media. You are also enablers of parliamentary democracy since you interact with Parliamentarians and feed them information for parliamentary questions, for debates in the House, or for public hearings and campaigns. The PFM landscape is thus incomplete without your diligent work and input. Your contributions as CSOs to furnish reports for country evaluations relating to democracy and governance indices for Africa are notable contributions which have ensured that the information garnered is balanced, and show the progress made as well as challenges in an unbiased and fair manner.
I would also like to salute the commendable work performed by CSOs who are involved in sensitisation campaigns on PFM. Some CSOs have conducted tremendously effective work in ensuring that communities in Africa understand the budgeting process,the basics of corruption, and the PFM processes of the State, a knowledge which would otherwise remain completely unknown and far from reach for the layman. It is trite that sensitisation campaigns on aspects of PFM which pertain to the bribery of public officials and fraud are of paramount importance if we are one day to rid the region of such malpractices that are abhorrent to good governance.
- Expectations from the audience today
Today, we expect that as prominent CSOs of the region, you engage openly and frankly with the legal drafter and Rapporteurs on the provisions of the PFM Model law which are of interest to you. For instance, you may consider Part V on parliamentary control which provides for avenues and possibilities for MPs to engage with a number of stakeholders during Committee sittings, including CSOs. In addition, you may wish to consider the Offences section under Part 11 which deal with particular PFM offences such as maladministration and financial irregularities and discuss their appropriateness. In addition, you will equally be interested in Part IV which deal with the Appropriation of funds by Government through the budgeting process.
Section 60 relating to the SDG Budget statement and section 61 on the International Commitment statement will also assist you in holding the Government accountable on commitments taken and treaties ratified. Indeed, for the first time, the Budget document will need to be explicit about how budget lines are assisting to implement concretely the SDGs and other international commitments such as those in gender related treaties and covenants.
- Way forward and domestication
Dear Colleagues and Distinguished Participants,
In terms of the way forward, I wish to mention that CSOs will be directly involved in the domestication process of the SADC Model Law on PFM since CSOs as private stakeholders will be entrusted with the crucial role of providing shadow reports to the Regional Parliamentary Model Laws Oversight Committee (RPMLOC), which is the dedicated Forum organ to monitor domestication.
In this respect, CSOs may be called upon to work together with other stakeholders such as prosecutors, AML/CFT agencies to provide shadow reports on the observance of PFM provisions contained in the Model Law. For CSOs who are interfacing for the first time with the Forum, you are kindly requested to share your coordinates and your country of origin within SADC so that we may get in touch with domestication initiatives when same are operationalised through the Oversight Committee.
- Conclusion
Without doubt, PFM issues in Southern Africa will not be resolved in a fortnight. Consistent sensitisation and advocacy will be required by CSOs to make the SADC region become a financial hub that is effervescent with robust PFM systems in each Member State.
CSOs will surely concur that without a strong PFM framework, the prospect of good governance remains dismal. Absence of good governance will in turn lead to corruption, fraud and abusive practices. There is thus a need to elevate PFM as a stepping stone with the aim to attain a true and functioning democracy where citizens live in freedom and reap the resources of the State with fairness and merit. We have no doubt that CSOs will assist the Forum in that noble and promising endeavour for a better and more equitable Southern Africa.
On this note, I wish you a pleasant session.
Ms Boemo Sekgoma, Secretary General,
SADC Parliamentary Forum 10th March 2022
**
- Introduction
Dear Colleagues and Distinguished Participants,
It is with singular pleasure that I welcome you, prosecutors of the SADC region, to this consultative meeting on the Model law on Public Financial Management (PFM) hosted under the auspices of the SADC Parliamentary Forum. As you may be aware, the Forum is the parliamentary arm of the SADC institutional framework, and it is bestowed with the crucial mandate to formulate Model Laws that may serve as guiding yardsticks for national Parliaments.
In this respect, you may recall that prosecutors of the SADC region were equally involved in consultative meetings last year in 2021 prior to the adoption of GBV Model law by the 50th Plenary Assembly of the Forum.
Indeed, elaborate consultations are the cornerstone of the methodology of Model law-making espoused by the Forum. Furthermore, the Membership of the Forum considers that engaging in consultations with key stakeholders is a testament to participatory democracy that is pivotal in ensuring that legislative instruments reflect the actual demands and needs of the SADC citizenry.
- Why engage with prosecutors of the SADC region?
Prosecutors of the SADC region have always been considered as eminent stakeholders who are directly involved in the fight against crime. For the purposes of the SADC Model law on PFM, the crimes involved include financial crime, corruption, money laundering, financial misappropriations, to cite but a few. The list goes long and I am sure you will concur that with new technologies such as cryptocurrencies, and other recent developments in the financial sector, the prosecution of financial crime requires the requisite knowledge, skills and competence. No doubt, prosecutors of the SADC region have conducted a tremendous job so far in ensuring the prosecution of financial crime and it is indeed due to your unique expertise that the Forum has deemed it appropriate to engage in consultations with you in view of informing the finalisation process of the Model Law.
At this juncture, I would like to add that we have already consulted with different organisations involved in the State's institutional framework including Line Ministries and departments, AML/CFT agencies, as well as police representatives. The engagement today with prosecutors will thus mark the pinnacle of the consultative meetings held with the Executive concerning the investigation and prosecution of financial crime and related offences.
We firmly believe that Prosecutors are highly relevant to the PFM framework. Prosecutors receive files from the Police and need to make the momentous decision of whether to go ahead with prosecution or not. They evaluate the evidence available and advise the
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who is entrusted with the discretion to prosecute or not prosecute, depending on the tenor of the evidence and the circumstances.
The Office of the DPP also guards against abusive police arrests, detention and investigation, since prosecutors check and verify all collected evidence and take a decision thereon accordingly in all independence and fairness. Prosecutors also appear in bail cases to object to bail of offenders involved in financial crime when there are serious grounds to do so, such as the risk of tampering with evidence or witnesses.
In most SADC Member States, the Office of the DPP is a constitutional function, which means that the position of the DDP is enshrined in the Constitution, and therefore it is entitled to act without the interference of any other person or authority. This also constitutes one of the reasons why we have deemed it appropriate to hold a separate consultative session only for prosecutors so that you may have the leverage to speak among yourselves and engage openly and frankly with the legal drafter.
- Expectations from the audience
Today, as lawyers, you are invited to consider the provisions of the Model Law in their entirety, and as prosecutors your attention is kindly drawn to Part 11 dealing with Offences, Maladministration and Enforcement. In addition, you will find that there is also a separate provision governing Offences under Part 16. You may further wish to advise on penalty and sentencing provisions by benchmarking with offences of similar gravity in your national jurisdictions.
You will further note that the PFM Model Law does not cover all the different forms of financial crimes but only the part that deals with PFM. It was deemed appropriate to consider the wide spectrum of financial crimes and offences relating to AML/CFT in a separate instrument to be developed later since at this stage, it was important to keep the legislative focus on PFM. In addition, you will note that provisions relating to prosecution powers have not been included since it is understood that these will already be covered under your respective Constitutions or prosecution laws. Your comments will thus be welcome from the prosecution perspective on the existing provisions of the Model Law, and on whether in your view these can work in tandem with your existing laws and regulations.
- Way forward
Dear Colleagues and Distinguished Participants,
I wish to highlight that once the Model Law will be adopted by the Plenary Assembly of the SADC-PF, it will be subject to a progressive domestication process. While we fully recognise that prosecutors are not involved in policy processes concerning PFM, it is expected that prosecutors across SADC will kindly lend their support to push for the domestication of prosecution policy regarding PFM related offences. The rationale is that no PFM framework will stand in a sustainable way unless there are offences that can be enforced as a major deterrent to ensure future compliance.
You will thus be called upon through your national Parliaments to participate in domestication initiatives of the dedicated organ of the SADC-PF, notably the Regional Parliamentary Model Laws Oversight Committee (RPMLOC) in view of furnishing reports or shadow reports on prosecution policy. Your ongoing cooperation in that regard will be highly appreciated in view of ensuring that PFM frameworks are domesticated with the appropriate prosecution policy and sentences that can be realistically enforced.
- Conclusion
To conclude, I wish to thank you for attending this august event under the auspices of the SADC-PF. The Forum recognises that democracy depends heavily on the rule of law, which is itself reliant on the respect for law and regulations that is enforced by Offices of the Directors of Public Prosecution across SADC. Prosecuting agencies are catalysts to the respect and observance of the PFM framework, and they are the noble guardians of good governance and accountability. I wish to end by applauding the independent work carried out by prosecuting agencies so far which have made the SADC region a promising land where democracy can dare to make leaping advances, without hindrance or fear of reprisals.
With these hopeful words, I wish you a constructive session in engaging openly and frankly with the legal drafter and other interveners.
Thank you.
Ms B.Sekgoma, Secretary General,
SADC Parliamentary Forum 9TH March 2022
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Prezados Colegas e Parceiros,
Trata-se de indiviso regosijo meu, este, o de fazer noticiar esta declaração aos augustos Parlamentos*-Membros do Fórum Parlamentar da SADC e Parceiros tendo em vista a celebração do Dia Internacional da Mulher neste 8 deMarço de 2022, sob o lema da “Igualdade do Género, hoje, em prol de um amanhã sustentável”.
Neste dia de hoje, por conseguinte, desejo relembrar os esforços envidados pelo Fórum Parlamentar da SADC, ao longo de muito tempo, no sentido da Promoção da Igualdade do Género, da Capacitação da Mulher e dos Direitos à Saúde Sexual e Reprodutiva, vitais para o desenvolvimento socio-económico e integração da Mulher na sociedade, assim como para à Mulher se emprestar voz activa na defesa de medidas relativas a Alterações Climáticas e ao Desenvolvimento Sustentável. Há também a considerar que a Integração do Género, a formulação de Orçamentos sensíveis ao Género, a Lei Modelo sobre a Violência Baseada no Género e o Modelo de Fiscalização Sensível ao Género (GROM) são iniciativas do Fórum fulcrais para a promoção da Igualdade do Género sob uma perspectiva holística que integre a oferta de oportunidades iguais a Homens e Mulheres, a fim de que ambos participem em processos de tomada de decisões-chave respeitantes a respostas às alterações climáticas. Mais ainda, o Fórum tem sido consistente na forma como tem realçado que só se possa chegar a uma resposta eficaz às alterações climáticas num mundo onde Homens e Mulheres usufruam de Direitos Iguais e sejam tratados de igual forma perante a Lei.
O Fórum deseja aproveitar o ensejo desta celebração para salientar a importância da Igualdade do Género na Região da África Austral que ainda fica sujeita à influência de desigualdades de profundas raízes que afectam a Mulher, particularmente quando confrontada pelo patricarcado, pelo chauvinismo masculino e por crenças tradicionais a empurrarem-na para a repressão, inculcando preconceitos contra a Mulher e Jovens do Sexo Feminino. O FP da SADC, em linha com o seu Plano Estratégico (2019-2030), compromete-se a assegurar a Igualdade do Género e a Capacitação da Mulher, conceitos e práticas consistentes com iniciativas parlamentares respeitantes à promoção do Objectivo 5.o sobre o Género, do Desenvolvimento Sustentável, e consistentes com Instrumentos Regionais e Internacionais como o Protocolo de Maputo, todos eles relevantes para a promoção da Mulher. A Capacitação da Mulher trará um efeito directo aos preparativos do Mundo para uma pronta abordagem às Alterações Climáticas e à Redução do Risco de Desastres Naturais.
No contexto da África Austral, é ainda desejo do Fórum prestar especial homenagem às Ilustres Presidentes dos seus Parlamentos*-Membros, cujas funções servem de orgulhoso exemplo das aspirações da Mulher ao desempenho de cargos da mais elevada responsabilidade no seio de organizações situadas no epicentro dos desígnios do Estado, ao demonstrarem que a Mulher pode presidir eficazmente a Parlamentos*, os quais por sua vez respondem a múltiplas questões do foro governamental, como aquelas respeitantes às alterações climáticas. Por muitos anos vindouros assumirá o Fóum o compromisso de continuar a agir para que os seus Parlamentos*-Membros sejam vistos como monumentos simbólicos à Liderança, à Capacitação da Mulher e Medidas sobre Alterações Climáticas.
Desejando-vos um Feliz Dia Internacional da Mulher 2022,
(Senhora) Boemo Sekgoma, Secretária-Geral
Dear Colleagues and partners, it is with undivided pleasure that I release this statement to the Forum’s august Member Parliaments and partners in view of celebrating International Women’s Day this 8th March 2022 under the theme of “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”.
Today, I wish to reminisce the longstanding efforts of the Forum to promote gender equality, women empowerment, and sexual and reproductive health rights, which are vital for women’s socio-economic development and integration in society, as well as for giving them a voice to defend climate action and sustainable development. In addition, gender mainstreaming, gender-based budgeting and the Model Law on GBV, and Gender Responsive Oversight Model (GROM) are pivotal initiatives of the Forum which aim to advance gender equality from a holistic perspective that includes giving both men and women equal chances to participate in key decision-making regarding climate change responses. Furthermore, the Forum has consistently underscored that an effective response to climate change can only exist in a world where men and women have equal rights and are treated equally under the law.
In addition, the Forum wishes to seize the opportunity of this celebration to reiterate the importance of gender equality in the Southern African region which is still influenced by the deep-seated inequalities that affect women, especially when faced with patriarchy, male chauvinism or traditional beliefs that promote women repression and inculcate bias towards women and young girls. In line with its Strategic Plan (2019-2023), the SADC-PF is committed to ensuring gender equality and women empowerment through consistent parliamentary initiatives which advance Sustainable Development Goal 5 relating to gender as well as international and regional instruments such as the Maputo Protocol which are relevant to women advancement. The empowerment of women through parliamentary action will have a direct effect in readying the world to promptly address climate change and disaster risk reduction.
In the context of Southern Africa, the Forum also wishes to pay special tribute to Hon Speakers/Presiding Officers of its Member Parliaments who are women as they stand as proud examples that women can aspire to the highest positions of responsibility within organisations that are at the helm of the State. They demonstrate that women can efficiently lead Parliaments which respond to multiple governance issues, including climate change. For the years to come, the Forum pledges to continue to act for Parliaments to be monuments of female leadership, empowerment and climate action.
Happy International Women’s Day 2022 !
Ms B. Sekgoma, Secretary General
Dear Colleagues and distinguished participants,
Welcome to this meeting. In my capacity as Secretary General of the SADC-PF, it is with immense pleasure that I welcome you to this regional event under the SRHR Project after nearly 2 years of successive virtual meetings. It is nice to finally see you face to face, and I hope this meeting will herald other physical meetings to take place in 2022 and 2023.
First, I would like to start by emphasising that you should not let your guard down regarding Covid-19 sanitary measures. During these few days, while we will be together, it is crucial that we observe social distancing and hygiene precautions in view of
ensuring that everybody goes back home safe and sound. Remember that we are not safe until everybody is safe.
Getting to topic, I would like to highlight the vital importance of this capacity building exercise under the SRHR Project. As you are aware, this exercise is earmarked to occur every year, especially due to the importance of the budgetary mandate of MPs across SADC. You will recall that the last exercise was held virtually in September 2020 in Year 2 of the Project. It was thus imperative that we meet again in Year 3 to revive the activity and take stock of the SRHR developments relating to your national Budgets. It is also expected that this session will be repeated in Year 4 of the Project to enable the gains with regards to budget analysis to be fully reaped.
Colleagues, it is trite that without the budget, nothing can be achieved. No school or hospital can be built and no SRHR service procured. All promises and commitments made concerning SRHR require funding in one way or the other. The state Budget thus remains the most reliable single source of funds for the State to conduct its SRHR activities including
promoting gender equality, preventing early and unintended pregnancy, helping children to remain in school, to mention but a few areas of intervention.In addition, the implementation of regional and international commitments under treaties, and the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) all have budgetary implications. The budgetary mandate of MPs thus forms part of one of the key outcomes under the SRHR Project.
At the same time, this session was quintessential to introduce you to the new democracy component under the SRHR Project. Most of you would have been aware of this welcome development through my Internal Memo issued last January. Yet, the introductory activity was urgently needed as your reporting on Outcomes 8 and 9 under the new amended Project has already started last year. SRHR and Democracy are now intertwined, with robust democracy being a powerful driver to advance SRHR. As Project implementers, it was thus necessary to ensure that you are updated on how to approach the Project in the months to come.
This session is equally to understand how the budget process across SADC can be improved from a governance perspective, and who better than Experts from the Technical Working Group of the Forum to demonstrate this deficit. This would undeniably assist you in your thinking process as you engage MPs regarding your own national budget and propose avenues to improve budget governance.
This aspect is thus befitting to this session in particular as the Forum is as we speak developing the SADC Model Law on Public Financial Management which has a dedicated chapter of provisions on Budgeting. It may interest you to know that under the Model Law, the Budget document presented to Parliament would need to have a separate description of budget lines which enable the advancement of the SDGs, UHC, and other international commitments such that monitoring of same becomes a straightforward task. The SADC region must move on from this situation where treaties are ratified without any mechanism for regular accountability with regards to domestication, and the yearly Budget must thus become an instrument for follow up. I am confident that once adopted, you will know how to utilise the Model Law and weave it with the budget initiatives under the SRHR Project.
Finally, I would like to add that this session is also a peer learning one where you will have the opportunity to present about your respective state budgets for the last financial year and demonstrate how has SRHR been promoted or advanced through different budget lines. As you are aware, the final years in every Project are dedicated to peer and cross-learning, and hence from now on we expect SRHR Researchers to be leading at national level as well as at the regional level. In addition, it would be appreciated if you could find time in the margins of this session to sort out your pending reports with Ms Pamela Nyika, the Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant of the Forum.
With these words, I wish you a pleasant session. Thank you
Ms B.Sekgoma, Secretary General,
SADC Parliamentary Forum 26th February 2022
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