Southern African Development Community

Southern African Development Community (SADC) Communauté de développement d'Afrique australe Comunidade de Desenvolvimento Sul Africano
Flag Logo of Southern African Development Community (SADC) Communauté de développement d'Afrique australe Comunidade de Desenvolvimento Sul Africano Logo
Motto: "Towards a Common Future"
Anthem: SADC Anthem
Map of Africa indicating SADC (light green) and SADC+SACU (dark green) members.
Headquarters	Gaborone, Botswana
Working languages	English French Portuguese
Type	Intergovernmental
Membership	15 states Angola Botswana Democratic Republic of the Congo Lesotho Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Seychelles South Africa Eswatini Tanzania Zambia Zimbabwe
Leaders
• Summit Chairperson	Robert Mugabe
• Council Chairperson	Simbarashe Mumbengegwi
• SADC PF Chairperson	Abdool Ameen
• Tribunal President	Ariranga Pillay
• Executive Secretary	Stergomena Tax
Legislature	SADC Parliamentary Forum
Establishment
• as SADCC	1 April 1980
• as SADC	17 August 1992
Area
• Total	9,882,959 km2 (3,815,832 sq mi)
Population
• Estimate	277 million
GDP (PPP)	2013 estimate
• Total	US$ 1,193 billion
• Per capita	4,309
Time zone	UTC+1 to +4
Website www.sadc.int

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Its goal is to further socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security cooperation among 15 southern African states. It complements the role of the African Union.

Member states

SADC has 15 member states:

• Angola
• Botswana
• Democratic Republic of the Congo – since 8 September 1997
• Lesotho
• Madagascar – membership reinstated on 30 January 2014 after an imposed suspension in 2009
• Malawi
• Mauritius – since 28 August 1995
• Mozambique
• Namibia – since 31 March 1990 (since independence)
• Seychelles – also previously been a member of SADC from 8 September 1997 until 1 July 2004 then joined again in 2008.
• South Africa – since 30 August 1994
• Swaziland
• Tanzania
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

History

The origins of SADC lie in the 1960s and 1970s, when the leaders of majority-ruled countries and national liberation movements coordinated their political, diplomatic and military struggles to bring an end to colonial and white-minority rule in southern Africa. The immediate forerunner of the political and security cooperation leg of today's SADC was the informal Frontline States (FLS) grouping. It was formed in 1980.

The Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) was the forerunner of the socio-economic cooperation leg of today's SADC. The adoption by nine majority-ruled southern African countries of the Lusaka declaration on 1 April 1980 paved the way for the formal establishment of SADCC in April 1980.

Membership of the FLS and SADCC sometimes differed.

SADCC was transformed into SADC on 17 August 1992, with the adoption by the founding members of SADCC and newly independent Namibia of the Windhoek declaration and treaty establishing SADC. The 1992 SADC provided for both socio-economic cooperation and political and security cooperation. In reality, the FLS was dissolved only in 1994, after South Africa's first democratic elections. Subsequent efforts to place political and security cooperation on a firm institutional footing under SADC's umbrella failed.

On 14 August 2001, the 1992 SADC treaty was amended. The amendment heralded the overhaul of the structures, policies and procedures of SADC, a process which is ongoing. One of the changes is that political and security cooperation is institutionalised in the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security (OPDS). One of the principal SADC bodies, it is subject to the oversight of the organisation's supreme body, the Summit, which comprises the heads of state or government.

The organisation holds its own multi-sport event in the form of the SADC Games, which was first held in 2004 in Maputo. Originally planned for an earlier date in Malawi and Lesotho, organisational issues led to abandonment of the plan and the SADC issuing a fine of $100,00 against Malawi. The first event in 2004 in Maputo resulted in over 1000 youths under-20 from 10 countries taking part in a sports programme including athletics, football, netball, boxing and basketball.

SADC Protocols

SADC has 27 legally binding protocols dealing with issues such as Defence, Development, Illicit Drug Trade, Free Trade and Movement of People.

• Protocol on Energy (1996) - Intended to promote harmonious development of national energy policies. These development strategies set out tangible objectives for SADC and its Member States for infrastructure development in energy and its subsectors of woodfuel, petroleum and natural gas, electricity, goal, renewable energy, and energy efficiency and conservation.

• Protocol on Gender and Development - Member states are urged to accelerate implementation efforts towards the achievements of concrete and transformative changes in the lives of women and girls in our region.H.E. President Mutharika also expressed concern on the escalating incidents of gender based violence in the region, especially those perpetrated against women and girls, and used this occasion to sign a commitment to end child marriages, as part of the AU campaign to end Child Marriages in Africa.

SADC FTA

The SADC Free Trade Area was initiated in 2000; its original members were the SACU countries (South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland). Next to join were Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and Madagascar. In 2008 Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia joined, bringing the total number of SADC FTA members to 12. Angola, DR Congo and Seychelles are not yet participating.

On Wednesday 22 October 2008, SADC joined with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the East African Community to form the African Free Trade Zone, including all members of each of the organizations. The leaders of the three trading blocs agreed to create a single free trade zone, the African Free Trade Zone, consisting of 26 countries with a GDP of an estimated $624bn (£382.9bn). It is hoped the African Free Trade Zone agreement would ease access to markets within the zone and end problems arising from the fact that several of the member countries belong to multiple groups.

The African Free Trade Zone effective has been more than a hundred years in the making--a trade zone spanning the whole African continent from Cape to Cairo and envisioned by Cecil Rhodes and other British imperialists in the 1890s. The only difference is that the African Free Trade Zone is the creation of independent African Countries. The idea is a free trade zone spanning the whole continent from the Cape to Cairo (Cape Town in the Republic of South Africa to Cairo in Egypt).

In addition to eliminating duplicative membership and the problem member states also participating in other regional economic cooperation schemes and regional political and security cooperation schemes that may compete with or undermine each other, the African Free Trade Zone further aims to strengthen the bloc's bargaining power when negotiating international deals.

Challenges facing member countries

SADC countries face many social, development, economic, trade, education, health, diplomatic, defence, security and political challenges. Some of these challenges cannot be tackled effectively by individual members. Cattle diseases and organised-crime gangs know no boundaries. War in one country can suck in its neighbours and damage their economies. The sustainable development that trade could bring is threatened by the existence of different product standards and tariff regimes, weak customs infrastructure and bad roads. The socio-economic and political and security cooperation aims of SADC are equally wide-ranging, and intended to address the various common challenges.

One significant challenge is that member states also participate in other regional economic cooperation schemes and regional political and security cooperation schemes that may compete with or undermine SADC's aims. For example, South Africa and Botswana both belong to the Southern Africa Customs Union, Zambia is a part of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, and Tanzania is a member of the East African Community.

Aims

SADC's aims are set out in different sources. The sources include the treaty establishing the organisation (SADC treaty); various protocols (other SADC treaties, such as the corruption protocol, the firearms protocol, the OPDS protocol, the health protocol and the education protocol); development and cooperation plans such as the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) and the Strategic Indicative Plan of the Organ (SIPO); and declarations such as those on HIV and AIDS and food security. Not all of the pre-2001 treaties and plans have been harmonised with the more detailed and recent plans such as the RISDP and SIPO.

In some areas, mere coordination of national activities and policies is the aim of cooperation. In others, the member states aim at more far-reaching forms of cooperation. For example, on foreign policy the main aim is coordination and cooperation, but in terms of trade and economic policy, a tighter coordination is in progress with a view to one day establishing a common market with common regulatory institutions.

SADC has recently received the top position in a global comparison of indicators of Water Cooperation prepared by international think-tank Strategic Foresight Group. SADC has scored 100 in the Water Cooperation Quotient,which examines active cooperation by riparian countries in the management of water resources using 10 parameters, including legal, political, technical, environmental, economic and institutional aspects. High performance in the Water Cooperation Quotient also means low risk of war between countries in the concerned river basin.TO reduce economic dependence of SADC countries on South Africa .

Structure and decision-making procedures

The organisation has eight principal bodies:

• The Summit, comprising heads of state or heads of government
• Organ on Politics, Defence and Security
• Council of Ministers
• SADC Tribunal
• SADC National Committees (SNCs)
• Secretariat

Except for the Tribunal (based in Windhoek, Namibia), SNCs and Secretariat, decision-making is by consensus.

Leaders

File:Southern African Development Community Headquarters 20 oct 2009.jpg

SADC headquarters building in Gaborone, Botswana.

Chairperson

Country	Chairperson	Term
Zambia	Levy Mwanawasa	2007–2008
South Africa	Kgalema Motlanthe	2008–2009
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Joseph Kabila	2009-2010
Namibia	Hifikepunye Pohamba	2010–2011
Angola	Jose Eduardo dos Santos	2011–2012
Mozambique	Armando Guebuza	2012–2013
Malawi	Joyce Banda Peter Mutharika	2013 – 31 May 2014 31 May - 17 August 2014
Zimbabwe	Robert Mugabe	Incumbent
Botswana	Ian Khama	Chairman-elect

Executive Secretaries

Country	Name	Term
Zimbabwe	Simba Makoni	1984–1994
Namibia	Kaire Mbuende	1994–2000
Mauritius	Prega Ramsamy	2000–2001 (Acting) 2001–2005
Mozambique	Thomas Salomao	2005–2013
Tanzania	Stergomena Tax	Incumbent

Comparison with other regional blocs

African Economic Community
Pillar regional blocs (REC)	Area (km²)	Population	GDP (PPP) ($US)		Member states
			(millions)	(per capita)
EAC	4,810,363	312,362,653	833,622	3,286	8
ECOWAS/CEDEAO	5,112,903	349,154,000	1,322,452	3,788	15
IGAD	5,233,604	294,197,387	225,049	1,197	7
AMU/UMA a	6,046,441	106,919,526	1,299,173	12,628	5
ECCAS/CEEAC	6,667,421	218,261,591	175,928	1,451	11
SADC	9,882,959	394,845,175	737,392	3,152	15
COMESA	12,873,957	406,102,471	735,599	1,811	20
CEN-SAD a	14,680,111				29
Total AEC	29,910,442	853,520,010	2,053,706	2,406	54
Other regional blocs	Area (km²)	Population	GDP (PPP) ($US)		Member states
			(millions)	(per capita)
WAMZ 1	1,602,991	264,456,910	1,551,516	5,867	6
SACU 1	2,693,418	51,055,878	541,433	10,605	5
CEMAC 2	3,020,142	34,970,529	85,136	2,435	6
UEMOA 1	3,505,375	80,865,222	101,640	1,257	8
UMA 2 a	5,782,140	84,185,073	491,276	5,836	5
GAFTA 3 a	5,876,960	1,662,596	6,355	3,822	5
During 2004. Sources: The World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database.   Smallest value among the blocs compared.   Largest value among the blocs compared. 1: Economic bloc inside a pillar REC. 2: Proposed for pillar REC, but objecting participation. 3: Non-African members of GAFTA are excluded from figures. a: The area 446,550 km2 used for Morocco excludes all disputed territories, while 710,850 km2 would include the Moroccan-claimed and partially-controlled parts of Western Sahara (claimed as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic by the Polisario Front). Morocco also claims Ceuta and Melilla, making up about 22.8 km2 (8.8 sq mi) more claimed territory.

Timeline

2007

• 2 November – rail link from Chipata to Mpika proposed, providing shorter access to sea at Nacala.

2008

• 12 April "Confusion surrounds Mugabe's appearance at crisis meeting"

See also

• Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)
• East African Community (EAC)
• Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS)
• Southern African Customs Union (SACU)
• Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
• List of trade blocs

Further reading

• Gabriël Oosthuizen, The Southern African Development Community: The organisation, its history, policies and prospects. Institute for Global Dialogue: Midrand, South Africa, 2006.
• John McCormick, The European Union: Politics and Policies. Westview Press: Boulder, Colorado, 2004.
• Ramsamy, Prega 2003 Global partnership for Africa. Presentation at the human rights conference on global partnerships for Africa’s development, Gaborone: SADC

External links

• Official website
• Agritrade website covering trade issues in southern Africa