The SADC Treaty

SADC is an intergovernmental organisation aimed at promoting economic development. It is established as a Regional Economic Community of the UN system and the Treaty principles commit SADC and its member states to:18

Sovereign equality of all Member States;


Solidarity, peace and security;


Human rights, democracy, and the rule of law;


Equity, balance and mutual benefit;


Peaceful settlement of disputes."

The SADC Treaty, therefore, provides some guidance with regard to the rule of law, democracy, good governance and human rights practices. Article 6 on General Undertakings also includes the clause: "SADC and Member States shall not discriminate against any person on the grounds of gender, religion, political views, race, ethnic origin, culture or disability." Article 23 furthermore specifically provides for the involvement of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), although their engagement by SADC is still very tentative. The recent establishment of the SADC Parliamentary Forum is the first hesitant step by the Community to engage in human rights and oversight issues.19

The SADC Treaty establishes six institutions (Article 9), each of which is briefly discussed below.

The Summit of Heads of State and Government is considered to be the supreme policy-making body of the Community. Furthermore, "[t]he Summit shall elect a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman of SADC from among its members for an agreed period, on the basis of rotation."20 Since decisions of the Summit are taken by consensus, any single dissenting head of state has a right to veto.



The Council of Ministers is the most important structure in terms of the Treaty and responsible for the functioning and development of SADC. The Council is composed of one minister from each member state "... preferably a Minister responsible for economic planning or finance."21 In the case of South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mauritius, the Foreign Ministry co-ordinates SADC involvement. Elsewhere, the responsibility generally lies with the relevant ministers for Economic Development as specified in the Treaty. This arrangement is something of an anomaly internationally where Foreign Affairs traditionally chair such meetings.



The Treaty also envisages the establishment of commissions to guide and co-ordinate co-operation and integration policies and programmes in designated sectoral areas as prescribed by the appropriate protocol approved by the Summit.



The Standing Committee of Officials serves as a technical advisory committee to the Council and is composed of one permanent official from each member state, once again "... preferably from a ministry responsible for economic planning or finance."22



The Secretariat, located in Gaborone, is the principle executive institution of SADC and headed by an executive secretary appointed for a four-year term at a time.23 The staff is composed of approximately twenty permanent employees. The remainder of the 57 staff members in Gaborone are support staff and technical advisors. The Secretariat is, therefore, a very small organisation often overburdened by the magnitude of its development co-ordination challenge. During the 1999 Summit in Maputo, the long serving Kaire Mbuende resigned with effect from the end of the year, following long standing dissatisfaction with his management and style of leadership.



The Tribunal is constituted to ensure adherence to the proper interpretation of the Treaty.24 The composition, powers, functions and procedures governing the Tribunal are to be described in a Protocol, adopted by the Summit. By the end of 1999, this was still under consideration by the Council. This is an important omission on the side of SADC since, as will be shown below, different interpretations of the SADC Treaty lie at the heart of much of the dispute about the status of the proposed Summit of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security. Some see an even more ambitious and probably unrealistic role for the Tribunal. According to Mokou,

"The Tribunal could develop into an extremely important legal instrument in the process of regional integration. It is conceivable that it could also eventually attend to regional disputes, for instance the one between Namibia and Botswana regarding the Sedudu/Kasikili Island. Instead of calling upon the International Court of Justice in The Hague, as is the case with the above dispute, Southern Africa could utilise its own legal structure to attend to such matters."25

Although the SADC Treaty provides for sanctions against any member state,26 it is difficult to see how this could be implemented given the Treaty requirement for consensual decisions.

In terms of Article 21(3) of the SADC Treaty, member states agreed to co-operate in the following areas:

food security, land and agriculture;


infrastructure and services;


industry, trade, investment and finances;


human resource development, science and technology;


natural resources and environment;


social welfare, information and culture; and


politics, diplomacy, international relations, peace and security.

In terms of Article 21(4), the Council may also decide on additional areas of co-operation.

Although the Treaty provides for co-operation in ‘politics, diplomacy, international relations, peace and security’, there has thus far been little enthusiasm within the Secretariat itself for the involvement of SADC in this kind of endeavour. As could be expected from such a small and overburdened organisation, the Secretariat appears reluctant to engage issues that could dilute its focus on economic and development matters. Despite these limitations, regional interaction and consultation continue to increase and expand. Donor pressure and the absence of international instruments alternative to the SADC Treaty have already led to protocols and initiatives regarding small arms, landmines and drugs.

The Secretariat, for example, has appointed full-time advisors to deal with landmine27 and drug issues, both of whom reside in Gaborone. The mandate of the former has subsequently been broadened to include disaster management and small arms. With the recent establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC), extensive regional discussions took place in Pretoria prior to the finalisation of the statute to enable a stronger, regional voice to be heard on complicated and sensitive issues ranging from rules of procedure and evidence to enforcement of sentences.