Southern African Development Community (SADC)

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organisation that works compliments the works of African Union such as the socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security cooperation among 15 Southern African States.

It was established in early 1970s by the majority ruled-nations and national liberation movements coordinated their political, diplomatic and military struggles to end the minority rule i.e. Colonial Rule. It was transformed into SADC on 17 August 1992, with the adoption by the founding members of SADCC and newly independent Namibia of the Windhoek declaration and treaty establishing SADC.

Objective of Southern African Development Community (SADC)

The prime objective of the organisation is to build a region in which there will be a high degree of harmonisation and rationalisation, to enable the pooling of resources to achieve collective self-reliance in order to improve the living standards of the people of the region. The SADC treaty of 1992 stated eight objectives under article 5 which are given below:

• Achieve development and economic growth, alleviate poverty, enhance the standard and quality of life of the people of Southern Africa and support the socially disadvantaged through Regional Integration;
• Evolve common political values, systems and institutions;
• Promote and defend peace and security;
• Promote self-sustaining development on the basis of collective self-reliance, and the inter-dependence of Member States;
• Achieve complementarily between national and regional strategies and programmes;
• Promote and maximise productive employment and utilisation of resources of the region;
• Achieve sustainable utilisation of natural resources and effective protection of the environment;
• Strengthen and consolidate the long-standing historical, social and cultural affinities and links among the people of the Region.