SADC Summit Highlights Regional Challenges, Leadership Transition, and Tensions with the US

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) convened its 45th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government in Antananarivo, Madagascar over the weekend. This year’s theme was “Advancing Industrialisation, Agricultural Transformation, and Energy Transition for a Resilient SADC.”

At the summit, Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina took over the rotating chairmanship from Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who had led the bloc since August 2025.

Mnangagwa’s term was marked by controversy and criticism, particularly over SADC’s handling of post-election violence in Mozambique and the ongoing crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After Mozambique’s October 2024 general elections, security forces reportedly killed around 300 protesters, with hundreds more injured. Despite this, a November 2024 extraordinary summit praised the elections as peaceful, failing to question President Felipe Nyusi or include opposition voices—an omission seen as undermining SADC’s own electoral standards.

Similarly, the withdrawal of the SADC Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC) in May 2025, less than six months after its extension, exposed operational and logistical weaknesses in the organisation’s peacekeeping capabilities. The mission had already suffered casualties, with 19 soldiers from Malawi, Tanzania, and South Africa killed in action against M23 rebels. Since the withdrawal, diplomatic efforts by SADC have lost traction, as Qatar and the US have taken the lead in brokering peace talks.

SADC also faces growing tensions with the United States. In August, the US government placed all SADC member states (except Seychelles) under new tariff restrictions, with rates as high as 30% for South African exports. This poses a threat to regional economies—particularly for countries like South Africa, Madagascar, and Lesotho—that are heavily reliant on the US market, which accounted for $17.2 billion in SADC exports in 2023.

Additionally, travel restrictions and punitive visa measures have been imposed. Zimbabwe has seen visa services suspended, while Malawi and Zambia face visa bonds of up to $15,000, effectively restricting travel to the US for many of their citizens. In a controversial move, Eswatini has accepted deported US prisoners, some labeled as highly dangerous, raising security concerns across the region’s porous borders.

Further straining relations, the US is moving forward with a resettlement programme for white South African Afrikaners, based on unfounded genocide claims—an action many see as racially biased and politically inflammatory. Observers have called for a unified and assertive SADC response to push back against these narratives and policies.

— Dr. Sizo Nkala is a Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Africa-China Studies.