Republic of Mauritius- United Republic of Tanzania to host the 39th ordinary SADC Summit

The SADC Summit is responsible for the overall policy direction and control of functions of the community, ultimately making it the policy-making institution of SADC. The SADC Summit is made up of all SADC Heads of States or Government and is managed on a Troika system that comprises the current SADC Chairperson, the incoming Chairperson and the immediate previous Chairperson.  The ordinary SADC summit usually meets once a year around August or September in the Member State of the incoming SADC Chairperson.

The current SADC troika comprises  H.E President Dr Hage G. Geingob, of Namibia as the Chairperson of SADC; his predecessor H.E.  President Cyril Ramaphosa, of South Africa as the outgoing Chairperson and H.E. President Dr John Joseph Magufuli of the United Republic of Tanzania as the incoming Chairperson.

The troika for the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation comprises  H.E. President Edgar Chagwa Lungu of Zambia as Chairperson of the Organ; his predecessor H.E. President João Lourenço, of Angola and H.E. President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe as the incoming Chairperson of the Organ.

The United Republic of Tanzania last hosted the SADC Summit 16 years ago, in 2003, under the Chairpersonship of former President Benjamin Mkapa. The ordinary SADC Summit will be preceded by a series of meetings and events, namely, the SADC Standing Committee of Senior Officials; the SADC Finance subcommittee; SADC Council of Ministers Meeting; as well as the Double Troika Senior Officials, and Ministerial Council of the Organ and Double Troika Summit. All the meetings will take place at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre in Dar es Salaam , United Republic of Tanzania.

SADC in Brief

SADC is an organisation of 16 Member States established in 1980 as the Southern African Development Coordinating Conference and later in August,1992 transformed into the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The mission of SADC is to promote sustainable and equitable economic growth and socio-economic development through efficient, productive systems, deeper cooperation and integration, good governance and durable peace and security; so that the region emerges as a competitive and effective player in international relations and the world economy. Member States are Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

SADC Secretariat

The SADC Secretariat is one of the main institutions of SADC. It is responsible for strategic planning, co-ordination and management of SADC programmes. It also caters for the implementation of decisions of SADC policy and institutions such as the Summit, the Troikas and Council of Ministers. The Secretariat is headed by the Executive Secretary who is assisted by two deputies; one for Corporate Affairs and the other for Regional Integration.

The Secretariat has the following Directorates: Policy Planning and Resource Mobilisation ; Organ on Politics, Defence and Security; Infrastructure; Industrial Development and Trade; Finance Investment and Customs ; Food Agriculture and Natural Resources ; Social and Human Development ; Finance, Human Resource and Administration; and Internal Audit and Risk Management.