Online Reporter
Zvamaida Murwira
Senior Reporter
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) today convened an extraordinary virtual summit to elect an interim incoming chairperson for the region, following Madagascar’s withdrawal from the annual rotating chairmanship due to a leadership transition in that country.
The summit will also consider a SADC technical committee’s fact-finding mission on the political situation in Madagascar, which resulted in the removal of the country’s president, Andy Rajoelina, by a military administration.
South Africa, which held the vice-chair and was the incoming chairperson, has been elevated to interim chairperson, leaving the vice-chair position vacant.
President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa is chairing today’s meeting, while Zimbabwe, which is a member of the SADC Troika by virtue of being the outgoing chair, is represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Professor Amon Murwira.
In his opening remarks, President Ramaphosa stated that one of the summit’s objectives was to consider a report from the chairperson of the SADC Organ on the political and security situation in Madagascar.
“As you will recall, we convened a similar session during the past month to attend to an urgent issue pertaining to the leadership of our organisation. In September 2025, the Republic of Madagascar experienced political challenges that resulted in the formation of a transitional government.
In light of this development, the extraordinary SADC Organ Troika summit convened on 16th October to assess the situation in the country. The Organ Troika summit resolved to urgently deploy a technical mission to undertake a fact-finding mission to Madagascar. The outcome of this mission is contained in the report we will be considering this afternoon,” said President Ramaphosa.
“The session will also be expected to elect the interim incoming chair of our organisation, thereby ensuring that there is a full and complete Troika to drive our regional peace, security, and development.”
The summit has now moved into closed-door deliberations and is expected to produce resolutions reflecting the issues agreed upon.
