HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa says the just-ended 42nd SADC Summit Of Heads Of State And Government in the DRC was a victorious moment as regional leaders spoke with one voice on the need to ensure foreign powers do not interfere in African internal politics.
The President, who returned back home this Thursday, also noted that industrialisation was a key issue that came up for discussion.
As leaders from the 16 SADC member states met in Kinshasa, they pondered on numerous issues including interference in African politics by foreign powers, with President Emmerson Mnangagwa saying the binding agreement is that Africans should be left to run their own affairs.
“What is happening in Europe should not divide Africa. We should not be supported by foreign powers. We should be solid and remain ourselves and uphold the principles of the founding fathers,” he said.
Attention was also drawn to the burning issue of industrialization, with President Mnangagwa highlighting that they discussed the need to ensure the region is food secure.
“The second issue which was of importance was industrialisation of the SADC. We developed a strategy for industrialisation as SADC three years back, but we were now interrogating how each member state was moving on industrialisation. We felt there are two key areas and the priority issues was to ensure food security and for that we must use our agriculture to make sure the region is good secure. The impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict has made it important that as a region we must address food security in the region and that member states have the requisite infrastructure for agriculture,” said President Mnangagwa.
The region also agreed that it is high time that they value added minerals before export.
“We said time has come that Africa and our region should address the question of exporting raw materials. We must deal with that.”
President Mnangagwa also said the summit looked at security issues with the consensus among SADC member states being that peace must be maintained in the region.
