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Before SADCC, Southern Africa was fragmented, and it was transformed again in
1992 when independent Namibia hosted the signing of the SADC Treaty by 10 Member
States, and in 1994 when South Africa emerged from the dungeons of apartheid into free-
dom to join the Community as its 11th Member State. Five more countries have seen the
benefits of joining SADC 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.

Box 1.7
“Among the good, but generally unreported things of Africa, is the
Southern African Development Community, SADC” Julius Nyerere, 1996

“During its twelve years of existence, the coordination conference gave greatest priority to the
building up of a sub­regional infrastructure, so that all its members become linked together by road,
railways, telecommunications, civil aviation, and a shared electricity grid. Much remains to be done,
but it is now possible to drive from Tanzania to Angola or Namibia, as well as to South Africa. I am
not saying it will always be comfortable, or quick, but t it can be done, whereas previously, it was
virtually impossible.
26 “Also, despite the destructions of war in the two countries, it is now, or soon will be, possible
to telephone from Maputo in Mozambique to Luanda in Angola without passing through Portugal.
There were no such links before SADC. The railway network leaves many great areas unconnected
by rail but when a secure peace had been established in Angola, so that the Benguela railway can
be repaired along its length, each of eleven mainland countries will be connected by rail to all others,
however devious the route at present.
“The improved communication links facilitate the planned expansion of intra­SADC trade.
There has already been considerable growth in this, although up to now, this growth has taken
place more especially among the several bilateral or trilateral free trade sub­groupings which exist,
and which is intended gradually to link into a Southern Africa community­wide group, and then de­
velop into a common market. Also, cooperation on agricultural research is fast being organized.”
“I am told that some new seeds, suitable for ecological conditions of the community have
been developed and spread in member states, under the auspices of the coordination conference
and, lately, of the community. This scientific cooperation is just a part of the total ongoing movement
towards the organization of food security, on a Southern African basis.”
Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere at Conference on Understanding Contemporary Africa, International Centre, New Delhi,
India, 15 February 1996

“Our Community, dear Readers, is more than a political grouping, it has a past and a future whose
roots can be found in the liberation movements and in the Frontline States. But, more fundamentally
they are revealed 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