The 49th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Africa Region Elective Conference themed “The Role of African Parliaments in Fostering National and Regional Security” scheduled to take place from 13-22 August in Gaborone, Botswana is currently underway.

Although the official ceremony will be held on Saturday, between now and then its Executive Committee, Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) and the Society of Clerks at the Table (SoCATT) Steering Committees and its Regional Representatives, as well as Programme, Planning and Finance sub-committees are meeting to take stock: to assess the CPA Africa Region’s challenges, its prospects and to determine a strategic framework to be adopted to make this body an effective and efficient vanguard of the interests and perspectives of African in Commonwealth and beyond.

The deliberations of these respective committees that form the back bone of this body will form part of the retrospective perspective of the opening ceremony of this conference and will be debated further by various member states at its Annual General Meeting on Sunday.

CPA Africa Region is part of the CPA International Organisation comprised of African countries that were formally under the British rule, with limited exceptions. Some of these countries are also members of other regional and international bodies such as the Pan African Parliament (PAP), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Southern African Development Community-Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF), the East Africa Legislative Assembly and the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas). The membership to CPA Africa Region is open to national parliaments and provincial or state or territorial legislatures.

South Africa’s national Parliament has sent a high-powered delegation to this conference that includes the Chairperson of the CPA Africa Region Executive Committee, Ms Lindiwe Maseko, the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP), Ms Thoko Didiza, and the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Lechesa Tsenoli. This delegation will be joined by provincial legislatures to complement the CPA South African Branch.

In line with its theme, it is hoped that this conference will profess a strong commitment to fostering national and regional security in Africa. This amid a growing realisation that the security of its nation states is extricable intertwined.

The theme of this conference will be considered between five cross-sectional topics: Parliamentary Agenda for Combating Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery in Africa and the Promotion of Human Rights; Understanding the Nexus between Climate Change and Incidences of Farmers/Herdsmen Conflicts in Africa; A Legislative Framework for the Resolution of Vigilante Groups, Private Security and Military Companies in Africa; Food Security and Sustainable Growth, which will reflect on the role of agricultural revolution in triggering economic development in Africa. The presentation of the Resolutions of the Fourth CPA Africa Region Youth Parliament will also be considered. The conference will extrapolate country experiences on all the above-mentioned topics and chart a way forward.   

The increasing number of Africans charting the stormy seas on their way to Europe in search of greener pastures has led to an increase in human trafficking. The subjection of these Africans to commercial and sex slavery in Libya, one of the transit countries, has reignited concerns about the emergence of modern-day slavery in Africa, states the conference paper. In this conference countries are expected to present their experiences on this scourge and to determine ways and means of curbing it.  

In the past, various national and international instruments and legislative frameworks have been promulgated to deal with human trafficking. These include, among others, the United Nations (UN) Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime 2000 (UNTOC), which is also known as the Palermo Convention; The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Human Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children; as well as International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour.  

There are also regional frameworks in place that deal with this scourge. These include 10 Year SADC Strategic Plan of Action on Combating Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2009- 2019). At regional level South Africa is working closely with SADC’s Gender Unit to devise a data collection tool to capture statistics related to this phenomenon. Currently, South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho are piloting this project. South Africa’s resolve in this regard emanates from its Bill of Rights enshrined in its Constitution.   

Linked to human rights issues is the need to deal with hostilities brought to bear by climate change on African communities that depend on cattle farming for their livelihood. The conference’s concept paper on this topic states that the migration of nomadic and semi-nomadic herds men has arisen due to climate change. This has often led to conflict between the two over scarce resources, such as water and land for grazing. Climate change has thus emerged as a new threat to food security, as well as national and regional security. The conference will ensure that proposed climate change policies are review, monitored and further fortified to mitigate these conflicts.

To further mitigate the escalating hostility on the continent, the conference will scrutinise the Regulation of Vigilante Groups, Private Security and Military Organisations in Africa because they have been identified as breeding grounds for mercenary activities in Africa. But most significantly, if legislation that regulates them are not properly reviewed and implemented they will continue to be a threat to the political stability of the continent. Stern steps are expected to be adopted at this conference to regulate their operations.

South Africa’s resolve in this regard emanate from its Constitution, Section 198 which “precludes any South African from participating in armed conflicts.” Out of which, various Acts such as the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act 15 0f 1998, the Prohibition of Mercenary Activities and regulation of Certain Activities in Country of Armed Conflict Act 27 of 2006 and Private Security Industry Regulation Act 56 of 2001 were signed into law to regulate the activities of these entities.

Another perceived threat to the well-being of the continent is Food Security and Sustainable Growth. The conference discussion on this topic will look at the role of agriculture in stimulating economic growth on the continent. According to the conference paper, the 1960s agricultural revolution on the continent brought an increase in economic growth and development of nation states. The CPA Africa Region will look at what lessons could be learnt from the agricultural revolution of the 1960s and how can that be emulated in the current climate of a more modernised agricultural sector to stimulate food security and the Sustainable Development Goals. This discussion is critical because agriculture is, by its nature, a pro-poor economic activity and can help to create jobs to alleviate the plight of many Africans, especially women who are trapped in poverty-stricken conditions.

The presentation of the Resolutions of the Fourth CPA Africa Region’s Youth Parliament has been included for discussion because African youth is critical to the future prospects of the continent. According to the World Bank, youths account for 60% of all of Africa’s jobless. And with 200 million people aged between 15 and 24, Africa has the largest population of young people in the world, who are currently casting a shadow on Africa’s economic potential.   

As such, this presentation would help in the conceptualisation of perspectives on African parliaments’ role in enacting legislation that would unlock one of Africa’s untapped human currency that can revolutionise its economies in the future. A youth-inclusive economy can be the building block of the Africa We Want, a blue print of African Agenda 2063.

There is prestige and great political mileage that can be derived from hosting the conference of such international stature. One of which is that the new office bearers of CPA Africa Region who will emerge after this elective conference will have to implement a declaration taken in Bangladesh in November 2017 that CPA must cease to be merely a consultative body, but rather become one that has the necessary authority to oversee and enforce the implementation of its resolutions by its member states.

Abel Mputing
14 August 2018