SADC Tribunal should serve member States better

Walvis Bay - The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Tribunal is under review so that it serves member states better, said Namibian Minister of Justice, Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana.

Of late, the regional court has attracted widespread interest from local and international press. Its future is uncertain amid reports that justice ministers from across SADC have agreed that the court's decisions are null and void in the aftermath of a ruling involving a family whose farm was expropriated by the Zimbabwean government under its land reform programme, NewEra Online reported.

The member states argued that the Tribunal was not properly constituted and therefore had no jurisdiction in Zimbabwe, despite Zimbabwe being a signatory to the SADC Treaty that established the court.

Iivula-Ithana said justice ministers have no intention to do away with the Tribunal but simply wish "through appropriate measures to make adjustments from time to time, to fit our interest".

She said the review seeks to clarify the process by which instruments - be they treaties, protocols or their annexes - come into force, when need arises, to integrate the bifurcated dispute resolution mechanism existing in SADC.

Iivula-Ithana made the remarks at the SADC meeting of ministers of justice and attorney-generals Friday.

She said under the review, consideration is given over the type of jurisdiction that the SADC Tribunal ought to have - "whether it will only entertain matters brought before it by member states or should it allow only member states and international organisations to bring matters before it as well as matters brought by citizens or residents of the member states".

She said member states are entitled to fine-tune regional bodies.

"What is cast in stone is our commitment to work together as a regional body, SADC. How we do so is not cast in stone and should suit our collective interest. The instruments serve us, they are for us, and this is not a reversible position."

Two weeks ago, SWAPO Party MP, Calle Schlettwein, was quoted in a Namibian daily as saying only five SADC member states have signed the protocol on the SADC Tribunal, which is one of the reasons for the suspension of the regional court and the review process now under way.

The protocol, Schlettwein explained, was integrated into the SADC Treaty. "But the protocol itself was not ratified," he said.

He added that a principal problem with the SADC Tribunal is that as an appeal instrument, national constitutions can be undone, which is also what the review process must address.