African Union Agenda 2063

Meeting report

Briefing by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO)

Mr Kenneth Pedro, Director: African Union, DIRCO, stated that in September 2015, the African Union Member States adopted Agenda 2063 as an overarching framework for addressing past injustices and realization of the Pan-African vision of an “integrated and prosperous Africa”. The founding policy framework for the AU Agenda 2063 is the Abuja Treaty of 1991. In 1980, the OAU (predecessor to the AU) Extraordinary Summit adopted the Lagos Plan of Action, as a major step towards the goal of regional integration. The commitments in this Plan and the Final Act of Lagos were translated into concrete form in Abuja, Nigeria in June 1991, when the OAU Heads of State and Government signed the Treaty establishing the African Economic Community (AEC).

Agenda 2063 is the Continent’s strategic framework for its socio-economic transformation over the next 50 years. It is about the Africa we want to build in the future based on the seven aspirations.

It seeks to place the continent on a developmental path towards the realisation of the African Union (AU)’s vision of: “An integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in international arena”.

Mr Pedro highlighted the Agenda 2063 Flagship Projects:

• Annual African Forum- has been renamed the African Economic Platform (AEP) and is a platform for the private sector, government and civil society to discuss the developments, constraints as well as measures to be taken to realise Agenda 2063. The first AEP took place in Mauritius in 2017.
• African Passport and free movement of people - adopted in January 2018. Summit adopted the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to Free Movement of Persons, Rights of Residence and Right of Establishment (the Free Movement Protocol) and its Implementation Roadmap.
• Single African Air Transport Market- (SAATM). This was launched at the January 2018 Summit. The purpose of SAATM is to harmonise and liberalise African air transport markets

The advancement of all Agenda 2063 projects is steered by the Ministerial Follow-Up Committee. Its mandate is centred on strategic orientation, efficiency, financing and accountability in the delivery of Agenda 2063 and its First Ten-Year Implementation Plan and successive plans. The last substantive meeting of the Ministerial Follow-Up Committee took place in Nouakchott, Mauritania.

South Africa continues to support regional and continental processes to effectively respond to crises, promote peace and security, strengthen regional integration, significantly increase intra-African trade and champion sustainable development in the continent. South Africa supports the development objectives and aims of Agenda 2063 in the context of strengthening African cooperation, integration and for promoting inclusive development, peace and security. The support for the Agenda is informed by the understanding that South Africa’s destiny is intricately linked to that of the Continent.

South Africa believes that regional and continental integration are the foundation for Africa’s socio-economic development and political unity and are essential for the Continent’s prosperity and security. Due to the alignment of Agenda 2063 and the National Development Plan, one can safely say the implementation of. Agenda 2063 is already integrated in South African Government Plans and Programmes. Some government departments and some state organs have already started to integrate Agenda 2063 into their programmes. 

Discussion

The Chairperson referred to the presentation, which stated that Agenda 2063 wanted to place Africa on a developmental path towards the realisation of the African Union’s vision of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens (Slide5). Having participated in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) he felt that the phrase “driven by citizens” to be a problem. There was no one size fits all. Development was different in Africa. What was SA doing on the discussion? He also asked whether there was participation of South African Civil Society Organisations in Mauritius (Slide 7).

Mr Pedro conceded that whilst “driven by citizens” was part of the African Union’s vision; admittedly there were many shortcomings on the integration of citizens into the projects of the African Union. It was also about the functioning of the African Union itself. At the last summit meeting the matter had been raised. The AU Chairperson said that not enough was being done to involve citizens in the African Union. The AU Chairperson felt more African Union to people contact was needed to promote the African Union on what it did. SA had the same challenges on involving citizens. The Department of Arts and Culture was promoting the celebration of Africa Month and to enlighten people about the African Union. SA celebrated civil servants day with the African Union with the aim of promoting the African Union. Enough was not being done. More should be done to involve citizens. Small efforts had been made. The African Union intended to organise promotional visits to various African countries. On the matter of civil society participation practical problems had been experienced. There was civil society organisations from SA attached to the African Union. A meeting between civil society organisations with the African Union was planned but it did not happen.  The meeting to date had not taken place. Perhaps the meeting would still take place in 2018.

Mr M Rayi (ANC, Eastern Cape), on the role of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) on monitoring the accountability of the African Union, said that it was important for the Committee to be represented on the PAP. Perhaps it could be recommended that the Chairperson be considered as a member of the PAP. The challenge was that most of the members of the PAP from Parliament were presiding officers. Hence due to their schedules they were not participating on committees monitoring the African Union. Not monitoring the implementation of decisions taken by the African Union was a shortfall on the part of the PAP. The PAP needed to monitor and hold the African Union accountable. It was an anomaly that the Committee dealt with international relations but was not represented on the PAP. On the establishment of African financial institutions (Slide 10) and member states being slow to ratify the instruments for African Investment Bank and African Monetary Fund, he asked whether SA had ratified. How many countries had ratified? On the Grand Inga Dam Project it had come to light that the World Bank had withdrawn support. What kind of support had the World Bank withdrawn? He further asked what other institutions had replaced the role that the World Bank had played.

The Chairperson asked what the relationship between the African Union and the PAP was.  

Mr Pedro responded that the PAP had come under a great deal of criticism at the recent African Union Summit in Mauritania. The present representative committee had done an audit on the PAP. The outcome of the audit was negative on governance issues. The Assembly of the African Union had instructed the African Union Commission to do an independent audit of the PAP. The audit was to be finalised by October 2018 and would be on governance and finances of the PAP. The Executive Committee of the African Union which consisted of Ministers of Foreign Affairs agreed that the budget of the PAP for 2019 should not be released pending the outcome of the audit. PAP salaries and operational costs would be ring-fenced. Staff issues were also placed on hold until the audit was finalised. The President of the PAP had claimed he was under attack and that there was a smear campaign against him. This was perhaps because he had been elected for another 4-year term. He had also claimed that there was a campaign of hatred against him and one of the guilty parties was the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). He feared for his life and the matter was being taken seriously. The matter would be investigated.

On financial institutions and ratification by SA, Mr Pedro acceded that he did not have the information. He was not aware of SA ratifying financial protocols. He explained that the World Bank was to finance the feasibility study on the Grand Inga Dam Project. It had however withdrawn its support. There had been various feasibility studies done on the Grand Inga Dam Project in the past. The present feasibility was for the final phase. He was not aware of other major financial institutions having been approached. The Grand Inga Dam Project was dealt with by the Presidency. 

Mr Rayi said that the DIRCO needed to provide the Committee with information on whether SA had ratified or not. The information should also speak to which countries had ratified and which had not. Names of countries should be provided. Details were also needed on the Annual African Forum and what progress had been made. What was the status around the African Passport? He further asked for detail on the current status of implementation on projects.

The Chairperson, on the civil society question, pointed out that the approach in Africa was that Africans worked regionally and consolidated continentally. There was a Southern African Development Community (SADC) Civil Society Forum in place. Under NEPAD there had been a civil society forum in SA. The forum had collapsed and had never been resuscitated. He noted that civil society was strong in the religious sector. His advice to the African Union was to look towards the religious sector. The difficulty was that if everyone thought that heads of state was to resolve things it was not going to happen. The SADC could also look at traditional leader forums. He added that SA, the SADC and the African Union needed to find ways to engage better with the youth. He asked DIRCO to provide members with booklets on Agenda 2063.

Discussion on Fourth Term (9 October 2018 - 30 November 2018) Committee Programme

The Chairperson said that Members need only comment on the Programme and that it was not being considered for approval. When members returned in the Fourth Term the Committee would be dealing with the National Credit Amendment Bill. The Committee would also be dealing with Annual Reports from the Departments of Tourism and Trade and Industry. He pointed out that now that provincial week was no longer happening it was perhaps an opportunity for the Committee to visit a province.

Mr B Nthebe (ANC, North West) stated that the DTI had spoken a great deal about the revitalisation of industrial parks. Perhaps the Committee could visit industrial parks in a particular province. He suggested that Mpumalanga Province as a possible option.

The Chairperson responded that the Committee had visited the Mpumalanga Province before. Besides he had been updated that not much was happening on the Ekandustria Industrial Park in Mpumalanga Province. He added that Evras Highveld Steel in Mpumalanga Province was open for business again. He was leaning towards Limpopo Province but its industrial park was still in its infancy. He pointed out that skills development was taking place at Ekurhluleni. There was also the OR Tambo Industrial Park to consider. The Gauteng Province also had development taking place in the agricultural sector.

Mr Rayi suggested that the Committee consider the Programme of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) as a whole. He was not considering his own Province the Eastern Cape even though the Committee had not gone to the Province. The Eastern Cape was however receiving attention as there were programmes on Taking Parliament to the People happening. Both Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces had been visited. The Committee needed to visit a province that it had not been to. He suggested that the Committee visit KwaZulu-Natal.

Mr Nthebe agreed that KwaZulu-Natal and Northern Cape Provinces were good options.   

The Chairperson agreed that KwaZulu-Natal was a good option for the Committee to consider. It had the Dube Industrial Port which Members could visit.

Mr Rayi asked that the Committee agree that the oversight visit start on the 15 October 2018 on a Monday. Travelling should be done over the weekend.

Mr Nthebe proposed that the Committee come up with a programme for the oversight visit itself.

The Chairperson said that dates had been set, the province was KwaZulu-Natal and the target of the visit was Dube Industrial Park.  There was also a Volkswagen Plant and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) furniture manufacturing projects that the Committee could visit.

Mr Nthebe conceded that he was persuaded, KwaZulu-Natal Province it was.  

The meeting was adjourned.