Southern Africa may get a regional parliament: what good would it do – if it’s given enough power?

Plans to establish a regional parliament for southern Africa are gaining momentum. On 11 July 2024, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) signed the agreement to transform the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum into a parliament. The DRC became the 12th Southern African Development Community (SADC) member state to accede, helping meet the quorum for the 16-member bloc to establish the regional parliament.

Gwinyayi A. Dzinesa has researched African regional organisations and regional integration for over two decades. He explains why the parliament could be a game changer for the region.

Why is the absence of an SADC Parliament a problem?

The Southern African Development Community Treaty aims to promote regional integration

through institutions which are democratic, legitimate and effective.

Not having a regional parliament has impeded the democratic, participatory decision making, policymaking and implementation processes of the country grouping. Citizens’ interests and needs have arguably been overlooked.

How would a regional parliament be a game changer?

There are no details yet on the composition, mandate, powers, functions, procedures and budget of a regional parliament. But the institution would add to the regional governance architecture.

Ideally, an SADC Parliament would be able to carry out key legislative, representational and oversight functions. That would enable it to:

• ensure speedy ratification of regional protocols by national parliaments
• monitor the implementation of regional protocols
• oversee other SADC institutions
• complement efforts to promote regional integration and development.

Members of the parliament should ideally be directly elected by all adult voters. Citizens would have a direct say in who represented them in the regional parliament.

The East African Legislative Assembly is an example of a regional parliament with the authority to perform legislative functions. The East African Community Treaty empowers it to make laws that bind member states. The assembly approves the budget of the East African Community. It also exercises political oversight over the Community’s institutions. Its members are elected by their respective national parliaments. They do not need to be parliamentarians in their countries.

An SADC Parliament with real powers would boost regional integration. It would promote the quality of elections in the region, increase the number of women in law-making roles, ensure the region had good laws, and promote economic development.

Regional integration: The SADC Parliament could encourage debate on regional issues. These include climate change, food security, industrialisation, the fourth industrial revolution and cyber security. It could get regional protocols put into action faster. And it could improve citizen participation in regional affairs, countering the view of the SADC as a “club of regimes”.

Election standards: The parliament would promote member states’ compliance with SADC principles and guidelines for democratic elections. These are aimed at enhancing the transparency, credibility, and acceptance of election results. This helps deepen trust in democratic governance. Members of the regional parliament could join future election observer missions.

Representation of women: The parliament could boost the representation of women. The SADC’s gender and development protocol calls for 50:50 gender parity in national parliaments by 2030. In 2022, only five (31.3%) states – Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe – had women making up more than 40% of their parliament.

Model laws: The regional legislature could help get the SADC’s 26 protocols made into national laws.

What are the hurdles and how can they be overcome?

There is bound to be apprehension that the SADC Parliament could be a charade. That’s mainly because it is expected to respect the sovereignty of member states.

The 41st SADC Summit in 2021 decided to initially establish the parliament as a “consultative and deliberative body” with no law-making or other binding authority.

The Summit of Heads of State is responsible for the overall policy direction and control of functions of the regional body.

Lack of legislative and oversight power will hamstring the parliament’s ability to scrutinise SADC institutions.

Furthermore, all member states support the principle of non-interference in their internal affairs. So there is tension between national sovereignty and the task of promoting peace, human rights and democracy in member states.

The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) has the same weakness.

The SADC Parliament will have a delicate job: to protect national sovereignty and human rights, in pursuit of regional integration and development.

Jacob Mudenda, the speaker of the Zimbabwean parliament, who chairs the SADC parliamentary forum lobby group, expects the SADC Transformation Protocol to be adopted at the 44th SADC Summit in Zimbabwe on 17 August 2024.

The protocol will set out the mandate, powers and functions of the SADC Parliament and the roadmap to establishing it. For the protocol to enter into force, two thirds of the member states must ratify or sign the agreement. The four who haven’t done so yet – Botswana, Comoros, Madagascar and Mauritius – can accede to it later.