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PREFACE

The Southern African Region has grown and transformed over the past 40
years, and the people of the region have grown and transformed with it. It
has moved from being a modest organisation known as the Southern African
Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) that was established in
April 1980, made up of nine independent founding Member States of
Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, United
Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, to the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) that was established in 1992. It has
expanded to become one of the main building blocks of the proposed African
Economic Community, under the African Union. SADC now comprises 16
of the continent’s rapidly growing economies – Angola, Botswana, Union of
the Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi,
Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa,
Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax
Since its inception in 1992, SADC has adopted numerous programmes SADC Executive Secretary
to advance regional integration and generate wealth and prosperity for the
people of Southern Africa. In this regard, Industrialisation, Trade and Market
Integration, Infrastructure Development, Food Security, Social and Human Development, Peace
and Security have driven the SADC Programme of Action.
The main objectives of SADC are to achieve development, peace and security, and
economic growth, to alleviate poverty, enhance the standard and quality of life of the peoples of
Southern Africa, and support the socially disadvantaged through regional integration, built on
democratic principles and equitable and sustainable development. v
A total of 33 regional protocols covering various areas of cooperation have been signed
since the transformation of SADC from a Coordination Conference to a Community in 1992.
Following the signing of the SADC Declaration and Treaty in 1992, the region has shown
commitment to deeper integration through strategic plans such as the Regional Indicative
Strategic Development Plan 2010- 2020; Strategic Indicative Plan for the Organ on Politics,
Defence and Security Cooperation 2010-2020; SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap
2015-2063; SADC Regional Agricultural Policy 2015; and SADC Regional Infrastructure
Development Master Plan 2012. The Treaty establishing SADC, and these Protocols, Policies
and Strategies have laid a strong legal and institutional foundation for promoting regional
cooperation.
SADC’s Common Agenda is driven by well-established institutions that are provided for
in the SADC Treaty, comprising of the Summit, the Organ on Politics Defence and Security
Cooperation, Council of Ministers, Sectoral and Cluster Ministerial Committees, Standing
Committee of Officials, and the SADC Secretariat. Through these institutions, SADC Member
States have championed the SADC regional integration agenda for the common purpose and
benefits of the people of the region.
As SADC celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2020, we thought it necessary to share
reflections on the journey that the region has travelled over the past 40 years. The objective of
this publication is therefore to document the achievements made by SADC since 1980, while also
celebrating the contributions made by the various leaders and officials who have led our regional
family of nations. It seeks to promote awareness and a better understanding of the regional
development community SADC that is our home, and historical milestones toward a shared future
within a regional community.