THE ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN RESOURCE GOVERNANCE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA 28TH -29TH JUNE 2013 HARARE, ZIMBABWE We, the representatives of political parties from Angola, Botswana, DRC, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Zambia, gathered here in Harare, Zimbabwe at a conference on the Role of Political Parties in Resource Governance in Southern Africa held from the 28th to 29th June 2013, recognising: That despite the abundance of natural resources in Africa generally and Southern Africa in particular, the continent is faced withwidening levels of poverty and inequality; The potential of natural resources in stimulating and sustaining development at the national and regional level and thecontribution that natural resourcescould make towards poverty alleviation, development of local economies, safeguarding of community rights and environmental protection; That resource governance is a human, social and economic rights issue; The challenges facing the extractive sector in areas of transparency, accountability, public participation and the weakhuman and technical capacity of African states to negotiate with investorson a level playing field; The potential role of political parties in improving the governance of natural resources and ensuring that resources emanating therefrom contribute to equitable and inclusive sustainable development; Concerned with: The secrecy surroundingmining contracts and the continued violation of laws and principles pertaining to access to information; The corruption and lack of information along the entire mining value chain and how revenues are optimised and utilised; The continued violation of national and regional laws as well as international laws and standards by mining companies; The selective application and implementation of existing legislative frameworks within the extractive industries; The limited linkages and opportunities to participate within the mining sector as well as with the rest of the economy; The adverse environmental and social impact of mining operations, if done in an unsustainable and irresponsible manner; Aware of: Continental and regional instruments and policies such as the Africa Mining Vision, the SADC Mining harmonisation framework and the SADC Parliamentary Barometer for monitoring natural resource governance that are radically transformative for empowerment and enhancing development capacities, transformation and redistribution; The existence of global Regimesof Restraint such as Publish What You Pay, Revenue Watch, EITI, the Kimberley Process; The significance of Regimes of Responsibility that are home-grown such as the APRM and the African Charter on Democracy …; The contribution of the mining sector to broad-based industrialisation on the continent; Call upon our Governments to: Play an active developmental and regulatory role and invest returns from natural resources to key social economic rights, health, education,access to water and public services and environmental protection; Put in place mechanisms to enhance the understanding and integration of applicable international legal and policy instruments such as those that promote equity, participation, accountability and transparency; Support the diversification of the economy and reduce the reliance on the mining sector alone; Democratise the process of formulating natural resource and development policies; Align national mining policies to the Africa mining vision and other regional mining policy instruments; Ensure access to information and invest in improving technical knowhow on the different aspects of this sector; Promote active participation and ownership of the principles of the African Mining Vision and the SADC Barometer for Natural Resource Governance; Integrate the extractive sector into rural economies and develop models for community development agreements; Hereby commit to Formulate and popularise policies on equitable natural resource management and include them in party manifestos; Encourage dialogue within our political parties on the importance and institutionalisation of principles of governance of natural resources; Lobby our political parties on the urgency of transformation of the extractive industry and the importance of collaboration across party lines; Lobby our political parties to take a bold approach and critically revisit the existing national mining and development policies and propose alternative policy frameworks that are aligned to the Africa Mining Vision, SADC mining harmonisation policy framework and SADC Resource Barometer; Ensure that our political parties are clear about their responsibilities and thatthey monitor the negotiation for the extraction of natural resources which should be guided by national development interest and needs; Express our profound gratitude to; SAPES TRUST, The Southern Africa Resource Watch and OSISA for their collaboration in organising this workshop and call upon them to support efforts at the continental, regional and national levels. The Government and people of Zimbabwe for their hospitality and welcoming spirit. Done at SAPES TRUST Conference Centre, Harare, Zimbabwe on 29th June 2013
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 15:00:15 +0000
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