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CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION

SADC began as an idea, a
dream that seemed impossible
in the situation of the time,
and yet there could be no sol-
ution without it. In the courage
of the first steps was found the
impetus to proceed with imple-
mentation, no matter how dif-
ficult were the hurdles. And
they were difficult.
SADC was fired in the
continental kiln that was
fuelled by the vision of free-
dom and unity, and emerged
at its core through the philos-
ophy of the independent
countries that stood together Crossing Limpopo River at Beitbridge
to support the liberation of
142 those who were not, to build unity from fragmentation, democracy from holocaust, and
peace from the ashes of the racist system of apartheid.
SADC’s emergent years are difficult to imagine now or explain to generations who
were not present, but the region and its institutions emerged in freedom on the boundaries
of racism and apartheid, on the frontline. SADC emerged not so much in resistance but
in the will of a people and the determination of their visionary founders to chart their
own destiny, together.
After the independence of Namibia in 1990 and when South Africa was moving
purposefully toward the establishment of majority governance, the SADCC was trans-
formed in 1992 into SADC as a Regional Economic Community (REC), one of the build-
ing blocks of continental unity through the African Union.
In the formative first decade, much was achieved by SADCC in the various cooperation
areas, but its greatest achievement was in establishing a firm foundation for regional integra-
tion. SADCC generated a spirit of solidarity among a wider group of Member States, and a
sense of regional belonging that went beyond governments to the broader community.
Before SADCC, Southern Africa was fragmented, locked in colonial boundaries,
and it transformed again in 1992 when independent Namibia hosted the signing of the
SADC Treaty by 10 Member States to become a regional community, and in 1994 when
South Africa emerged from the dungeons of apartheid into freedom to join the Commu-
nity as its 11th Member State.
Five more countries have seen the benefits of joining this regional economic com-
munity since that time, bringing their unique diversity to make a total of 16 Member States
in 2020, in mainland Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean -- Angola, Botswana, Union
of Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi,
Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania,
Zambia and Zimbabwe.
SADC’s constant membership enlargement experience is by itself living proof of
the regional economic community’s growing influence in international relations. Dismant-
ling fragmentation is a process that takes time, especially amidst the onslaught from neo-
colonial forces who continue to overtly and covertly manipulate political and economic
systems in the region and the continent in general.