A ceremonial “ground breaking” in mid-December marked commencement of construction on a regional logistics depot (RLD) for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Standby Force.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, current SADC chair, wielded a pick to break ground at Rasesa in Botswana’s Kgatleng District, officially starting a five-year construction period of what is said to be a $45 million project.
The RLD cost was made public three years ago in October 2021 when then Botswana Defence, Justice and Security Minister Thomas Mmusi signed an agreement by which his country would “host” the RLD.
The RLD will rise on 19 hectares of land 10 km west of Mochudi, on the Gaborone–Mahalapye road, 64 km from Gaborone and is expected to be fully operational by 2030, according to SADC Executive Secretary Elias Magosi. When complete the depot will comprise warehouses, workshops and the necessary infrastructure for materials, equipment and standby stocks allocated to the regional standby force. It will also have offices, a residential component and infrastructure including roads, power, sewage and water and security.
He is quoted in an SADC statement as saying “once completed the depot will provide a central platform for logistics support to the Standby Force and thus eliminate delays in logistical support to enhance the ability of the SADC Standby Force to effectively and successfully conduct peace support missions”.
As a central logistics support platform, the RLD is expected to eliminate logistic delays improving the ability of the Standby Force to “to effectively and successfully conduct peace support missions”.
Zimbabwean president Mnangagwa and newly elected Botswana President Duma Boko, as per the statement, “hailed the commencement of the construction of the RLD as a step forward in strengthening the capability of the SADC Standby Force for rapid deployment of SADC mandated peace support and humanitarian operations”. Mnangagwa reportedly further called the RLD “a significant stride towards promoting and consolidating peace, stability and security in the SADC region in line with the provisions of the SADC Protocol of Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation, the SADC Mutual Defence Pact and other regional, continental and international instruments on peace and security”.
The RLD, when operational, will be an important component in the context of complex and multi-faceted threats’ to peace and security the SADC region has witnessed in the last four years. As examples he named the regional bloc missions to Mozambique – now finished – and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where a further year of operations has been approved. Both, according to Mnangagwa, are examples of SADC “collective regional responses to peace and security”.
