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The Herald, July 21, 1981
THE leaders of the nine member Southern African Development Coordination Conference yesterday chose Botswana as headquarters of the organisation for the next three years.
Reliable Government sources said the leaders decided at the Salisbury summit that a Zimbabwean be appointed executive secretary of the SADCC. He is expected to be named shortly.
A communiqué issued after the one-day summit said the SADCC had decided that the responsibility for implementing its programmes should rest on the governments of member states.
“The summit also approved the establishment of a secretariat which will service meetings and ensure continuity in SADCC deliberations.”
It added: “The secretariat, which will be based in Botswana and will be operational from July 1, 1982, will be headed by an executive secretary.”
Government sources said Botswana would head the body for three years after which it would be moved elsewhere.
The communiqué said that SADCC chairman, President Ketumile Masire of Botswana, paid a personal tribute to Mr Mugabe for his unswerving commitment to the principles on which the SADCC was based and for the major contribution which Zimbabwe had already made to ensure the organisation’s success.
Those who attended the summit were: President Jose Eduardo dos Santos (Angola), President Masire, President Samora Machel (Mozambique), President Julius Nyerere (Tanzania), President Kenneth Kaunda (Zambia), Prime Minister Prince Mabandla Dhlamini (Swaziland), Lesotho Minister of Commerce and Industry, Dr Mooki Molapo, and Mr Mugabe.
All but Prince Dhlamini and Mr Mojapo left for home last night and were seen off at Salisbury airport by President Banana, Mr Mugabe, ministers and diplomats.
The communiqué said the leaders expressed satisfaction with the progress made in regional co-operation since the founding of the SADCC in Lusaka in April 1980. It also reaffirmed the nine members’ total commitment to the principles embodied in the declaration – Southern Africa: Towards Economic Liberation and called on all those who share “these ideals to join them in the struggle for economic liberation, justice and peace in Southern Africa”.
The leaders also noted the ratification of a convention for the Southern African Transport and Communications Commission (SATCC), based in Maputo.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
The Southern African Development Coordination Conference, which is the predecessor of the Southern African Development Community, is a memorandum of understanding on common economic development signed in Lusaka, Zambia, on April 1, 1980 after the ratification of the Lusaka Declaration by nine states.
The transformation of the organisation from a Coordinating Conference into a Development Community (SADC) took place on August 17, 1992 in Windhoek, Namibia when the Declaration and Treaty was signed at the Summit of Heads of State and Government thereby giving the organisation a legal character.
Dr Simba Makoni was appointed as the first executive secretary of SADCC in accordance with the agreement made at the summit.
The founding Member States are: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. To date, SADC’s membership has expanded exponentially.
Online Reporter