Botswana’s Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Kitso Mokaila, has emphasized the importance of joint strategic investments in securing water and energy in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, Botswana Daily News reported. 

Mokaila said in an interview at a two-day SADC Joint Ministerial Workshop on Energy and Water that it was fundamental to improve the livelihoods of SADC by co-investing, instead of competing with the resources that each country has.

“We should look at what comparative and competitive advantages we have over the other. And therefore look at developing regional infrastructure to ensure we overcome our shortcomings,” he said according to AllAfrica. 

The minister added that if SADC countries could work collectively, they could build the necessary regional infrastructure by asking individual countries to look at their internal schemes that could be devised. Mokaila stressed that SADC could become one of the most powerful regional blocs, if member states work together, thanks to abundant resources to generate green hydro power that could supply the whole of Africa.