The proposed SADC Parliament: Old wine in new bottles or an ideal whose time has come?

This monograph is an analysis of the prospects for a regional legislative assembly for the Southern African Development Community (SADC)

This monograph is an analysis of the prospects for a regional legislative assembly for the Southern African Development Community (SADC). It explores the threats and challenges posed by such an initiative in a sub-region where, for the past 30 years of the regional integration project, policy making has been executive-centric without much involvement of other arms of government and non-state actors. The study further explores the respective mandates, powers and functions of the East African Legislative Assembly, the ECOWAS Parliament, the Pan African Parliament, and the European Parliament to inform the competitive advantage of a sub-regional legislative institution for SADC. Finally, the study makes recommendations on ways and means through which the objective of establishing a SADC Parliament could be realised.

About the author

Takawira Musavengana is the human rights and democracy-building manager at the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa in Johannesburg. He previously served as a senior researcher for the Security Sector Governance Programme at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, and democracy and governance officer at the SADC Parliamentary Forum in Windhoek, Namibia. His interests include parliamentary democracy and elections in Africa, human rights and social justice.