Southern African Development Community (SADC)

SADC Profile

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been in existence since 1980, when it was formed as a loose alliance of nine majority-ruled States in Southern Africa known as the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC), with the main aim of coordinating development projects in order to lessen economic dependence on the then apartheid South Africa. The founding Member States are: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

SADCC was formed in Lusaka, Zambia on April 1, 1980, following the adoption of the Lusaka Declaration - Southern Africa: Towards Economic Liberation.

The transformation of the organization from a Coordinating Conference into a Development Community (SADC) took place on August 17, 1992 in Windhoek, Namibia when the Declaration and Treaty was signed at the Summit of Heads of State and Government thereby giving the organization a legal character.

The Member States are Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

SADC headquarters are located in Gaborone, Botswana.

REC Activities

AUC Chairperson arrived in Nairobi to attend Joint Summit of Co-Chairs EAC/SADC

July 31, 2025

The Chairperson of the AU Commission, H.E.

AUC Chairperson convened RECs, RMs & AUDA-NEPAD

May 14, 2025

H.E.

SADC Member States Trained on the AMHEWAS Programme on Disaster Risk Reduction

October 17, 2022

AU-SARO Presentation of Credentials to the SADC Executive Secretary

April 01, 2022

On 1^st April 2022, The AU Permanent Representative to Southern Africa and COMESA, H.E Ambassador David Claude Pierre paid a Courtesy visit to the Southern Africa Development Community(SADC) in Gaborone Botswana.