SADC Parliamentary Forum
By Moses Magadza in Johannesburg, South Africa
Experts this week called for better prison oversight to combat communicable diseases and protect the rights of everyone.
They also welcomed plans to develop a SADC Model Law on Prison Oversight by the SADC Parliamentary Forum with support from Sweden.
Ms Michaela Clayton, the interim Director for AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA) expressed her organisation’s support for the envisaged model law. She noted that stark health inequalities and systemic neglect were fuelling the spread of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis (TB), HIV, hepatitis B and C in prisons.
Honourable Members, dear Colleagues and Distinguished Participants,
It is with immense pleasure that I address this august Session as a prelude to the consideration of the Prison Oversight Model Law framework.
The Joint Session of Standing Committees of the SADC-PF has always been a pivotal platform to advance critical themes in a cross-cutting manner. At the Forum, we strongly believe that Committees should not operate in silos and that ideas must be exchanged and ventilated between MPs as peers, especially on themes which concern all Committees.
By Moses Magadza Johannesburg, South Africa
The Chairperson of the Human and Social Development and Special Programmes Committee of the SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF), Honourable Mope Khati, has urged Members of Parliament to help in transforming the region’s prison systems through the development of a progressive Model Law on Prison Oversight.
Speaking during the official opening of the Standing Committee’s statutory meeting in Johannesburg, Hon Khati paid tribute to the late Clerk of the National Assembly of Zambia, Mr Roy Ngulube.
Windhoek, Namibia – The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) will host a Joint Session of its Standing Committees from 23 to 25 April 2025 under the theme: “Towards Developing a SADC Model Law on Prison Oversight.”
The Secretary General of the SADC PF, Ms Boemo Sekgoma said the meetings, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, mark a milestone in the Forum’s efforts to champion human rights and strengthen parliamentary oversight of prisons across the region.
By Moses Magadza recently in Botswana
The Speaker of the Parliament of Zimbabwe, Hon. Advocate Jacob Francis Nzwidamilimo Mudenda, has said that the establishment of a SADC Regional Parliament would not infringe on the independence of Member States nor require any significant added resources.
Adv. Mudenda gave the assurance shortly after the signing of the Agreement Amending the SADC Treaty to establish a SADC Regional Parliament recently by the President of Botswana, Advocate Duma Boko recently. He said the signing marks the culmination of a 15-year journey toward greater regional legislative cooperation.
By Moses Magadza
Windhoek, Namibia - The SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) has expressed sorrow following the death of Mr. Roy Ngulube, the Clerk of the National Assembly of Zambia, who died on 7 April 2025 while on official duty in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Mr. Ngulube was in Tashkent as part of a Zambian parliamentary delegation attending the 150th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, led by Speaker Nelly Mutti.
By Moses Magadza
Gaborone, Botswana – In Luke 2:25-32, Simeon, a devout man who had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen Christ, said - upon holding the infant Jesus in his hands - “Sovereign Lord, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen salvation.”
Last week, in a similar moment thick with emotion and decades of anticipation, Prof. Peter Katjavivi, the former Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia and a member of the SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) Transformation Lobby Team, delivered a stirring address at the signing of the Agreement to Amend the SADC Treaty to establish the SADC PF as an official institution of the regional bloc.
By Moses Magadza
Gaborone, Botswana - The Executive Secretary of SADC, Mr. Elias Magosi, has hailed the recent signing of the Agreement to amend the SADC Treaty to transform the SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) into a regional parliament by Botswana’s President Advocate Duma Boko.
He, however, called for the active involvement of the region’s parliaments to ensure swift ratification of regional instruments.
By Moses Magadza
Gaborone, Botswana - The Speaker of the National Assembly of Botswana, Honourable Dithapelo Lefoko Keorapetse has said that the transformation of the SADC Parliamentary Forum into a regional parliament will improve SADC citizens’ participation in regional affairs.
The Speaker made the remarks on Wednesday last week when the President of Botswana, Advocate Duma Boko signed the Agreement amending the SADC Treaty to recognize the SADC Parliament as an official institution of the regional bloc.
The 26th March 2025, will go into history as the day Botswana appended her signature to the agreement amending the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Treaty, to establish the SADC Parliament as one of the SADC Institutions. This agreement was signed by the President of the Republic of Botswana, Advocate Duma Gideon Boko, and it makes the total number of the SADC member states who have already signed, thirteen.