Southern African Development Community
Regional · SADC
When nine states declared the Southern African Development Coordination Conference at Lusaka on 1 April 1980, the economy they were coordinating away from was South Africa's. South Africa acceded on 30 August 1994. A treaty signed at Windhoek on 17 August 1992 had already made the conference a community, with a secretariat at Gaborone and a reach that now runs from the Congo basin to four Indian Ocean islands.
16 countries
Common questions
Questions about SADC
Which countries are members of SADC?
Angola, Botswana, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The roster on this page is read from the organisation's own membership page rather than assembled from country records, because the record of who belongs to what is thinner for regional bodies in Africa than for the treaty organisations of Europe.
Why is South Africa in an organisation founded to reduce dependence on it?
Because the founding purpose expired before the organisation did. The conference declared at Lusaka on 1 April 1980 set out to route transport, power and trade around apartheid South Africa, which was not a member. The Windhoek treaty of 17 August 1992 replaced the conference with a community open to accession, and South Africa acceded on 30 August 1994.
Is SADC a free trade area or a customs union?
A free trade area. Tariff phase-down began in 2001 and the area was reached in August 2008, when 85% of trade inside the group carried no duty. Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are outside it. A customs union was the next milestone in the plan and has not been declared, which leaves each member setting its own external tariff except where another agreement sets one.
What happened to the SADC Tribunal?
It was inaugurated at Windhoek on 18 November 2005 and heard cases brought by individuals, deciding against Zimbabwe in 2007 and 2008 over land acquisition. The summit of August 2010 ordered a review of its functions and terms of reference and it did not sit again. In 2012 the summit resolved that a new tribunal would hear disputes between states only, and a protocol on that basis was signed at the summit of August 2014.
Can a country belong to SADC and COMESA at the same time?
Nine members do. Overlapping membership of free trade areas is workable, since each sets tariffs only among its own participants. Overlapping membership of customs unions is not, because a customs union sets one external tariff for everyone inside it. The Southern African Customs Union, dating from July 1910, covers Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania are partner states of the East African Community.
Sources
- History and Treaty · SADC. The Lusaka declaration of 1 April 1980, the Windhoek Declaration and Treaty of 17 August 1992, the Blantyre amendment of 14 August 2001 and the seat at Gaborone.
- SADC Treaty · SADC. The consolidated text and the amendments of 2001, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015 and 2025.
- Member States · SADC. The roster this hub files, read on 2 September 2026.
- Free Trade Area · SADC. The phase-down from 2001, the free trade area of August 2008 at 85% of intra-regional trade, and the two members outside it.
- Southern African Customs Union · SACU. The establishment of July 1910, the agreement of 2002, the five member states and the secretariat at Windhoek.
- COMESA Member States · Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. The members it shares with this group.
- EAC Partner States · East African Community. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania as partner states.
- The SADC Tribunal · Southern Africa Litigation Centre. The review ordered in August 2010, the resolution of 2012 restricting jurisdiction to disputes between states, and the protocol signed at the summit of August 2014.
- Southern African Development Community · The accession dates from Namibia in 1990 to Comoros in 2017, the Seychelles withdrawal and return, the Madagascar suspension and readmission, and Swahili adopted as a working language in August 2019.
- SADC Tribunal · The inauguration at Windhoek on 18 November 2005 and the Zimbabwe land cases of 2007 and 2008.