On the 16th of March 2008, the Southern Africa Resource Watch (SARW) and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) convened a civil society roundtable to discuss the impact of revenue flows from natural resources on poverty eradication in SADC. This followed the critical observation that the proceeds from exploitation of natural resources in general and extractive industries in particular, are not finding their way into poverty eradication programmes in the region. As a result, most of Southern Africa is trapped in the “resource rich- poor countries” dichotomy.

International Institutions in Africa (November 2007)

This edition of OPENSPACE grapples with the notion of internationalism, how it has played out at various levels of socio-political organisation across the world and the implications this has had for African development and governance structures.

Internationalism is defined as a political movement which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation among nations for the theoretical benefit of all. Even in its most benign forms, the move towards economic and political cooperation often requires careful balancing, including that issues of particiapation, access to resources, good governance, and respect for human dignity and rights are factored into the grand ideals of the internationalists... it is often as a result of (or in response to) such processes that some societies tend to become either more closed or open, as some of the articles in this edition attest to.

Articles are available in pdf format [approximate file sizes in square brackets].

Swaziland (September 2007)

Yet Swaziland is indeed – on many fronts – a country in crisis. This issue of OPENSPACE seeks to highlight the major crisis points in Swaziland, and hopefully to challenge activists in the region and abroad to step up advocacy activities.

Articles are available in pdf format [approximate file sizes in square brackets].

Constitutional Review and Reform: and the Adherence to Democratic Principles in Constitutions in Southern African Countries

(by Louise Olivier, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-620-38911-2)

Constitutionalism requires that a democratic and accountable government has constitutional limits that check its power, and that create the framework for governing a democracy. A country's constitution defines, at least theoretically, its commitment to constitutionalism. Constitutions define the polity, establish the rules and limitations of the relationship between the state and its citizens and they fix and reflect a social contract that underpins the functioning of organised society. Constitution-building has become an essential component of the road maps to peace and democracy in conflict, post-conflict, and transitional settings.

Révision des contrats en RDC: Cinq cas d’études faites par l’ingénieur Kalala Budimbwa.

La République Démocratique du Congo regorge, comme le reconnait tout le monde, d’énormes ressources naturelles qui peuvent, une fois exploitées à bon escient, servir de base à l’amélioration des conditions socio-économiques de sa population.

Ces ressources naturelles sont actuellement soit insuffisamment exploitées ou quand elles le sont, l’incidence dans l’amélioration de conditions de vie des Congolais n’est pas conforme aux performances réalisées par l’exploitation.

Parmi les matières premières exploitées, le cas des matières minérales nous intéresse particulièrement parce que l‘extraction minière a pendant longtemps, depuis l’époque coloniale, contribué avec le plus grand poids au budget de l’Etat; et que les actions futures à mener pour améliorer les conditions de vie des Congolais, tout en s’appuyant sur la valorisation d’autres ressources naturelles du pays, doivent compter avec le secteur minier qui servira encore longtemps de locomotive.

The following statement has been run as an advertisement in newspapers throughout the region. Although the deadline for the initial round of advertisements has now passed, OSISA has decided to keep the list open. To add your support to this statement (either as an individual or as an organisation) you can now sign the petition online. (The first 709 signatures appear at the end of the statement.)

NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT, THE FUTURE OF ZIMBABWE IS AT STAKE

Promoting development through transparency and access to information

OSISA has established a platform of advocacy and action around resource watching, with emphasis on the extractive industry to tackle the bigger challenge of resource abuse and war economies in Southern Africa.

The region straddles a significantly resource-rich geoformation that includes currently exploited and as-yet unexploited deposits of gold, diamonds, oil, uranium and cobalt.

This CD-ROM resource pack includes a collection of documents related to this issue.

The resources are available online, but please note that some files exceed 2MB in size, and may take a long time to dowload.

To order a copy of the CD-ROM from OSISA, email publications@osisa.org or contact us.