Victoria Falls was more than a backdrop to Southern Africa’s parliamentary deliberations this past week, it became a symbol of transformation itself. As the mist danced above the mighty falls, delegates from thirteen SADC member parliaments gathered for the 57th Plenary Assembly, while their conversations rippled across the region.
Themed around harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) for effective and efficient parliamentary processes, the gathering was anything but a dry procedural affair. Instead, it unfolded as a tapestry of ambition, reflection, and recalibration, a space where technology met the hard realities of governance, and where age-old challenges collided with new opportunities.
The AI Symposium, a key highlight of the Plenary week, brought this tension to the fore. It wasn’t just about technology’s promise to modernize record-keeping or digitize legislative drafts. It was about rethinking how parliaments function, and who they serve. Delegates confronted a stark reality, while AI offers efficiencies, it also risks reinforcing divides, particularly in a region where digital literacy and access remain uneven.
Yet the mood in Victoria Falls was not one of caution alone. It was also marked by a quiet defiance, a sense that Southern Africa could shape its own AI future. Presentations from local universities, Bindura, Chinhoyi, Midlands State, University of Zimbabwe, and Harare Institute of Technology, showcased homegrown AI solutions. Their message was clear, AI should not be imported wholesale; it should be nurtured here, grounded in local realities and values.
Beyond the symposium, the Plenary Assembly itself carried the weight of transformation. Speaker Jacob Mudenda’s optimism for a fully-fledged SADC Parliament reflected a region striving for deeper integration. Thirteen countries have already signed the treaty amendment, with eyes now on the August Summit in Madagascar to solidify this historic shift. It’s an evolution that could reconfigure regional governance, from a loose forum to an institution with real legislative clout.
But transformation didn’t stop at institutions. Gender, youth, and human rights were woven through every session. The Regional Women Parliamentary Caucus called for gender-responsive budgeting and data systems to move beyond tokenism. The Southern Africa Youth Parliament, too, pressed for real investment in education and health, linking the region’s digital ambitions to the needs of its largest demographic: the youth.
This convergence, of AI, gender, youth, and governance, created a sense of urgency. The Plenary’s resolutions spoke to this: from strengthening cybersecurity and electoral oversight to addressing prison conditions and human rights. The AI conversation itself extended beyond buzzwords. It included calls for a Model Law on AI, frameworks to protect data and privacy, and investments to bridge the digital divide between urban centres and rural communities.
Yet, perhaps the most profound insight from Victoria Falls was that transformation is messy, and that’s okay. AI won’t fix governance overnight. A new SADC Parliament won’t erase long-standing inequalities or underfunded institutions. But what the 57th Plenary Assembly and the AI Symposium demonstrated was a region willing to ask hard questions: Who benefits from technology? Who gets left behind? And how can the region chart its own course in a world often driven by foreign tech giants and donor agendas?
Victoria Falls may have provided the scenery, but it was the people, the parliamentarians, the youth delegates, the university researchers, who made the week transformative. Their conversations, layered and complex, signalled a region ready to grapple with the future, not as passive recipients of change, but as active architects of a democratic, inclusive, and digitally connected Southern Africa.
And as the last delegates drifted away, one thing remained: the sense that from the mist and the noise emerged a roadmap, not yet complete, but taking shape. A roadmap where AI isn’t just an acronym but a catalyst, where regional unity isn’t just a dream but an unfolding reality. A roadmap that begins in places like Victoria Falls, where the water meets the land and the region’s ambitions meet their future.
