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Box 1.3
Southern Africa Liberation Day March 23

The small town of Cuito Cuanavale in the province of Cuando Cubango in the southern part
of Angola was the epicentre of a fierce conventional battle from November 1987 to March
1988 when thousands of combatants from the People’s Liberation Armed Forces of Angola
(FAPLA) supported by Namibian and Cuban allies fought to defend the country against the
armed forces of the apartheid regime of South Africa. Their victory at Cuito Cuanavale
changed the face of southern Africa and was the last major battle for liberation, soon fol­
lowed by successful negotiations for the independence of Namibia (1990) and the end of
apartheid administration in South Africa (1994), enabling the region to advance toward re­
gional development and integration.
The battles at Cuito Cuanavale eventually forced South Africa to join the negotiations
with the United Nations, Angola, Namibia and Cuba, among others, resulting in a South Afri­
can withdrawal from Namibia, which returned to UN mandate for a transitional period leading
to elections for a Constituent Assembly and Independence two years later, on 21 March 1990.
This was followed by democratic elections in South Africa four years later, on 27 April 1994.

CHRONOLOGY CUITO CUANAVALE

23 March 1988 End of the Cuito Cuanavale Battle
22 December 1988 Signing of the New York Agreement for the implementation of United Nations
Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 435/78 returning Namibia to UN mandate
1 April 1989 Start of implementation of UNSCR 435/78 leading to the withdrawal of South
African administration and independenceof Namibia
11 February 1990 Release of Nelson Mandela from prison in South Africa
21 March 1990 IndependenceofNamibia
27 April 1994 Democratic elections in South Africa to end apartheid system 15

SADC Member States decided therefore to commemorate 23 March as Southern Af­
rica Liberation Day. The first celebration was held on 23 March 2019 at Cuito Cuanavale, where
a museum has been established and military hardware remains. Southern Africa Liberation
Day was established by the 38th SADC Summit hosted by Namibia in 2018, which also ap­
proved a regional working group to determine the requirements for teaching Southern Afri­
can Liberation History and its inclusion in the school syllabus of SADC Member States. SADC
leaders also put in place a mechanism to honour the Founders of SADC.

Source Regional Dimensions of the National Liberation Movements, Module 1, Youth in the Liberation
Struggle, UNESCO, SADC, SARDC

President Sir Seretse Khama of Botswana opened the formative conference of SADCC
in Arusha on 2 July 1979, saying, “The full exploitation of our natural resources and the de-
velopment of our productive sectors are constrained by the small markets in our economies,
but taken as a whole, southern Africa forms a sizeable market. Economic regional cooper-
ation would of necessity lead to coordinated production expansion which would in turn en-
courage the expansion of markets for intra- Southern African trade.”
On 1 April 1980 in Lusaka, Zambia the leaders of nine independent countries in the
region met to launch a formal structure to coordinate their efforts and promote collective
action, with the reality of apartheid’s economic and military power on their southern borders.
The experience and lessons that the Frontline States had acquired in the struggle for
political independence would be influential in the operations of the SADCC.
President Samora Machel noted that, “It is very important that the experience of
unity and cohesion of the Frontline States in the political liberation struggle of the people
should be extended to other majority-ruled States and governments in Southern Africa,
in economic liberation.”