Page 30 - 41st Summit Brochure

SADC HISTORY

The Journey Toward Economic Integration and Development

40 years of SADC
Enhancing Regional Cooperation and Integration

The journey toward economic integration and development in establishing a firm foundation for regional integration,
Africa began much more than 40 years ago in the long-term generating a spirit of solidarity and a sense of regional belonging
vision of African leaders and people, and their passionate that goes beyond governments to the broader community to
commitment to freedom, unity and prosperity. demonstrate a vision of unity through the tangible benefits of
The vision was consolidated by the leaders of independent working together.
African countries meeting in 1963 in the Ethiopian capital, SADC began as an idea, a dream that seemed impossible
Addis Ababa, to form the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in the situation of the time, and yet there could be no solution
and a Coordinating Committee known as the OAU Liberation without it. In the courage of the first steps was found the impetus
Committee. to proceed with implementation, no matter how difficult were
Freedom and political independence was the goal the hurdles. And they were difficult.
eventually achieved in 1990 and 1994 when, first Namibia and SADC’s emergent years are not easy to imagine now or
then South Africa joined after shedding the formal apartheid explain to generations who were not present, but the region and
system and holding majority elections. its institutions emerged in freedom on the boundaries of racism
Independent African countries were already working and apartheid, on the frontline. SADC emerged not so much in
toward the next goal of economic integration, by starting to resistance but in the will of a people and the determination of
form the eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs) on the their visionary founders to chart their own destiny, together.
continent that are the building blocks of the African Economic Before SADCC, Southern Africa was fragmented, and it
Community (AEC). was transformed again in 1992 when independent Namibia
SADC is one of these RECs and in mid-2019, SADC took hosted the signing of the SADC Treaty by 10 Member States,
its place at the inaugural meeting for African Union - RECs and in 1994 when South Africa emerged from the dungeons of
Coordination, in line with the AU reform agenda that requires apartheid into freedom to join the Community as its 11th
regular engagement with RECs to assess progress in achieving Member State. Five more countries have seen the benefits of
continental integration. joining SADC since that time, bringing their unique diversity
28 SADC has come a long way since 1980, starting with the to make a total of 16 Member States in 2020, in mainland
Southern African Development Coordination Conference Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean –
(SADCC) and determined to deliver peace, dignity and Angola, Botswana, Union of Comoros, Democratic Republic
development to the people of the region. Much was achieved of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius,
by SADCC in the various cooperation areas, but its greatest Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United
achievements were in completing political independence and Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“Among the good, but generally unreported things of Africa, is the Southern African
Development Community, SADC”
“During its twelve years of existence, the coordination conference gave greatest priority to the “Our Community, dear Readers,
building up of a subregional infrastructure, so that all its members become linked together by is more than a political
road, railways, telecommunications, civil aviation, and a shared electricity grid. Much remains to grouping, it has a past and a
be done, but it is now possible to drive from Tanzania to Angola or Namibia, as well as to South future whose roots can be found
Africa. I am not saying it will always be comfortable, or quick, but t it can be done, whereas in the liberation movements and
previously, it was virtually impossible. Also, despite the destructions of war in the two countries, it in the Frontline States. But, more
is now, or soon will be, possible to telephone from Maputo in Mozambique to Luanda in Angola fundamentally they are revealed
without passing through Portugal. There were no such links before SADC.” Julius Nyerere, 1996 in the hearts and souls of our
proud sons and daughters of the
soil who have stood together in
their insistence that the region
be transformed into something
new and different...”
President Festus Mogae of Botswana,
Chairperson of SADC in 2005@25

“Summit launched the SADC at 40th
Publication, and urged SADC citizens to
use the Publication to appreciate the
history of SADC.” From Communiqué of
the Extraordinary Summit of SADC Heads of
State and Government held on 23 June,
2021 in Maputo, Mozambique