The 46th Ordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has advanced a range of legal instruments aimed at strengthening regional governance, financing development, facilitating tourism and movement, and tackling cross-border crime.
The instruments signed at the conclusion of the Summit in eThekwini on Monday, form part of a broader effort to turn SADC’s regional integration agenda into practical programmes that can improve economic cooperation and the lives of citizens across Southern Africa.
Among the instruments was an Agreement Amending Article 33 of the SADC Treaty, which seeks to strengthen the Community’s sanction regime by providing for the Summit to approve the suspension of a Member State that has been in arrears for four years or more.
The agreement was signed by the Kingdom of Eswatini, represented by King Mswati III; the Republic of Mozambique, represented by President Daniel Chapo; the Republic of Zimbabwe, represented by President Emmerson Mnangagwa; and the Kingdom of Lesotho, represented by Prime Minister Sam Matekane.
The amendment is significant for the functioning of SADC as it seeks to strengthen compliance with obligations arising from membership while providing the regional body with a clearer mechanism for dealing with prolonged arrears.
The Summit also advanced the Agreement on the Operationalisation of the SADC Regional Development Fund (RDF), signed by President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah of Namibia.
The RDF is intended to provide a regional financing mechanism for economic development and sustainable growth, addressing one of the longstanding challenges confronting regional integration: the ability to finance major programmes and projects.
The operationalisation of the Fund has been a recurring priority on the SADC agenda. In March this year, the SADC Council of Ministers identified its operationalisation among the key matters requiring progress, while the SADC 2026/27 Annual Corporate Plan lists it as a priority under efforts to establish sustainable financing for regional integration.
More recently, SADC and the African Development Bank reaffirmed their commitment to development financing, with the two institutions highlighting the importance of the RDF in financing regional programmes and projects. Discussions also emphasised infrastructure development, industrialisation, private-sector participation and innovative financing.
The Fund is therefore expected to become an important instrument as SADC moves from developing regional strategies to financing their implementation.
Tourism and easier movement
Zimbabwe also signed the Draft Agreement Establishing the SADC Tourism UNIVISA, which is intended to establish procedures and conditions for issuing a single regional tourism visa for transit or tourism stays across participating Member States.
The concept is aimed at making it easier for tourists to travel across multiple SADC destinations, supporting multi-destination tourism and increasing the economic benefits of tourism for the region.
The UNIVISA has been under discussion as part of SADC’s efforts to facilitate movement and strengthen regional tourism. Earlier this year, SADC reported that participating countries were being encouraged to accelerate visa harmonisation, finalise revenue-sharing arrangements and complete technical preparations for a pilot phase.
The instrument is particularly relevant to SADC’s wider objective of making borders facilitators of economic activity rather than obstacles to it.
This also complements the region’s work on tourism-friendly border posts. In July, SADC convened a workshop involving border officials from Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe to address challenges experienced by tourists at border posts and improve customer service.
Strengthening the regional response to trafficking
President Duma Boko of Botswana signed the SADC Protocol Against Trafficking in Persons, providing a framework for cooperation among Member States to combat trafficking in persons and other cross-border crimes.
The Protocol recognises that trafficking networks operate across national boundaries and therefore require coordinated regional responses involving law enforcement, immigration and other authorities.
The instrument adds to SADC’s broader work to strengthen border management while facilitating legitimate movement.
Protecting people with albinism
Zimbabwe also reaffirmed its commitment through the SADC Declaration on the Protection of People with Albinism, originally adopted in 2019.
The Declaration calls on Member States to take measures to protect persons with albinism and strengthen their safety and rights.
Zimbabwe further signed the SADC Declaration on Accelerating Action to End AIDS as a Public Health Threat in the SADC Region by 2030, reaffirming the region’s commitment to ending AIDS as a public health threat.
From agreements to implementation
The legal instruments adopted at the Summit come at a time when SADC is placing increasing emphasis on implementation.
In his closing statement, President Cyril Ramaphosa and Chairperson of SADC said the Summit had reviewed progress in implementing the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) and advancing SADC Vision 2050, while making progress on trade, infrastructure, energy, industrialisation and regional value chains.
He cautioned, however, that the success of regional integration would ultimately be judged by its impact on ordinary people.
“But our citizens will ultimately judge us not by the number of resolutions we adopt, but by the difference those resolutions make in their daily lives,” he said.
The President said the next phase of SADC’s development must therefore be defined by implementation, with progress measured in practical outcomes.
“We must measure our progress not only in meetings held and agreements signed, but in kilometres of railway rehabilitated, megawatts of electricity generated and transmitted, border-crossing times reduced, factories established, intra-regional trade expanded and jobs created,” President Ramaphosa said.
This implementation focus places the instruments signed at the Summit within a wider push to make SADC’s longstanding commitments more tangible.
The 46th Summit was held under a theme centred on accelerating industrialisation, reflecting the region’s intention to move beyond cooperation at policy level towards stronger productive capacity, regional value chains, infrastructure connectivity and economic growth.
The SADC Annual Corporate Plan for 2026/27 similarly identifies deeper regional market integration, increased intra-SADC trade, greater investment and sustainable financing of the regional integration agenda as key outcomes.
For South Africa, which has assumed the SADC Chairship, the challenge now is to help translate these agreements and commitments into implementation across the region.
As President Ramaphosa put it, the region has already developed strategies, established institutions and identified the infrastructure required.
“We must now accelerate implementation,” he said.
The Summit’s legal instruments thus provide another building block for a SADC that is seeking to strengthen its institutions, finance its development ambitions, facilitate movement and trade, and ensure that regional integration produces measurable benefits for its people. – SAnews.gov.za
