15 Dec 2024

The location of the SADC headquarters in Gaborone, and a plot for the construction of a SADC Standing Army Depot at Rasesa, bear testament to Botswana’s commitment to the regional integration agenda, President Advocate Duma Boko has said.

On the occasion of the official handover of SADC House, the regional body’s headquarters at the Gaborone Central Business District on Friday, President Boko told SADC chairperson, Zimbabwe President Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa and the SADC Secretariat staff that Botswana was honoured to play host to the Southern African collective.

“This reiterates Botswana’s commitment to SADC, regional integration and that of Africa as a whole. We also consider this a gesture of affirmation, of the trust SADC has in us as a member state," President Boko said. 

Noting that the ‘propitious moment’ was a culmination of decades of work, President Boko commended all stakeholders for ensuring SADC House eventually came to be under the ambit of its owners.

“It commenced with a decision by the SADC Council of Ministers meeting in Luanda, Angola to locate the headquarters in Gaborone, then the availing of land by the Botswana government. A public private partnership was birthed to construct and manage the building. Words were crystalised, finance was harnessed to give effect and a spectacular outcome was attained,” President Boko said.

Ms Neo Bogatsu, board member of Bongwe Investments explained that her company was engaged by SADC and the Botswana government from 2006 to construct SADC House and had been managing the building until Friday’s handover for the secretariat to take full control.

“A consortium led by Bongwe, which included Botswana Insurance Fund Management entered into a PPP arrangement with SADC in 2006. The lease continued after construction and this enabled risk transfer, as the burden of construction, design and management was borne by the private sector, while SADC and the Botswana government avoided immediate debt burden,” Ms Bogatsu said.

In the ‘build, lease and transfer’ PPP modality they had pursued, the building was eventually to be handed to SADC, and on Friday, Ms Bogatsu said Bongwe Investments was now proud to cede full control after 18 years of partnership.

For his part, Dr Mnangagwa, speaking on behalf of regional heads of state and government, who on the day were represented by their ambassadors to Botswana and SADC, said Southern Africa was proud to receive the building.

“Botswana is our second home because of our shared values, history and common destiny. We thank the government of Botswana, the SADC Secretariat and Bongwe Investments. We are greatly honoured and extend our gratitude for your support in availing the regional headquarters,” Dr Mnangagwa said.

He added that SADC House stood as a monument to regional freedom, independence and solidarity and an embodiment of the vision of Southern African’s founding fathers.

Dr Mnangagwa called on SADC member states to celebrate the regional founding fathers, revealing that Zimbabwe was in the process of constructing a monument to honour the liberation and independence era leadership.

For his part, SADC executive secretary, Mr Elias Magosi said his organisation would continue to utilise the Secretariat to pursue the regional interaction agenda, underpinned by the pursuit to focus on boosting regional trade and industrial development.

Founded in April 1980 in Lusaka, Zambia as the Southern African Development Coordinating Conference (SADCC), the regional body was chaired and hosted by Botswana from the early 1980s, with the Botswana government having availed a building in the Government Enclave, Gaborone that now hosts the United Nations country office.

SADCC metamorphosed into SADC at its Heads of and Government Summit in Windhoek, Namibia in 1992, and Gaborone remained the host capital, cemented by the later decision by the Council of Ministers in Luanda, Angola for the construction of SADC House, now officially handed over to the regional body. ENDS