{"id":9607,"date":"2022-08-19T09:31:16","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T09:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/?p=9607"},"modified":"2022-08-19T09:31:16","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T09:31:16","slug":"sadc-welcomes-president-hichilema-as-he-pledges-to-continue-the-work-of-his-predecessors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/southern-african-news-features\/sadc-welcomes-president-hichilema-as-he-pledges-to-continue-the-work-of-his-predecessors\/","title":{"rendered":"SADC welcomes President Hichilema \u2026as he pledges to continue the work of his predecessors"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANF 22<\/em> no 29 – <\/strong>by Kizito Sikuka in Kinshasa, DRC<\/p>\n

This time last year, the newest President in southern Africa, His Excellency Hakainde Hichilema was preparing for his inauguration as the seventh President of Zambia.<\/p>\n

And on 17 August 2022, he addressed the 42nd<\/sup>\u00a0Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Summit of Heads of State and Government here in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo detailing his vision for regional integration and development in southern Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us continue working together as a region. The change of power in Zambia will not alter anything,\u201d he said, adding that he will continue with the work of his predecessors in \u201cpushing forward the regional integration agenda of SADC.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said SADC has always stood with Zambia and therefore Zambia will forever be with SADC, urging the region to emulate and honour the Founders of SADC who sacrificed their lives to establish a shared community in southern Africa.<\/p>\n

The leaders of nine countries (Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) met in Lusaka, Zambia on 1 April 1980 to establish the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) following a series of consultations by representatives of the then Frontline States to forge closer alliance.<\/p>\n

The SADCC was transformed into SADC at the historic 12th<\/sup>\u00a0Summit in Windhoek, Namibia on 17 August 1992 which transformed the organisation from a coordination conference into a community.<\/p>\n

This golden generation of selfless leaders included the founding Presidents of the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Botswana, respectively Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda and Seretse Khama, who delayed the economic development of their countries to ensure that the rest of the region achieved political independence. They formed the core leadership of the Frontline States.<\/p>\n

Driven by the strong desire of the SADC Founders to see southern Africa achieving political emancipation and economic development, the region has made significant progress in advancing regional cooperation and integration.<\/p>\n

One of the first notable achievements was the solidarity shown by the region as it championed the global campaign against apartheid South Africa.<\/p>\n

The culmination of this pressure led to the independence of Namibia in 1990 and the collapse of the apartheid system leading to democratic elections in South Africa in 1994.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the spirit of togetherness and common vision exhibited by the SADC Founders more than four decades ago, the region has made other significant advances on the peace and security front.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should emulate the solidarity and revolutionary spirit of our liberation icons, whose principled positions and sacrifice has enabled us benefit from the liberties we enjoy today,\u201d President Hichilema, who is\u00a0affectionately known as HH said in his maiden speech to the summit.<\/p>\n

He said Africa has the capacity to address its own challenges as the continent is endowed with vast natural resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been stated more frequently that Africa is facing food insecurity as a result of the war in Ukraine. But I would like to remind us all that Africa has been said to be food insecure for decades \u2013 long before any war anywhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must, therefore, look to ourselves, before anyone else, to ensure that our people have enough food. Our land, which is rich and vast, has the potential to transform our region into a front runner in addressing rising food insecurity not only on the continent but around the globe at large.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the theme of the summit should guide SADC in the next year as it aims to consolidate and strengthen industrialization in the region.<\/p>\n

The theme for the 42nd<\/sup>\u00a0SADC Summit was “Promoting industrialization through, agro-processing, mineral beneficiation, and regional value chains for inclusive and resilient economic growth.”<\/em><\/p>\n

At the summit, President Chakwera handed over the SADC Chair to President Felix Tshisekedi of the DRC.<\/p>\n

For the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, Namibian President Hage Geingob assumed the chair from his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa. sardc.net<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Southern African News Features offers a reliable source of regional information and analysis on the Southern African Development Community, and is provided as a service to the SADC region. <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

This article may be reproduced with credit to the author and publisher.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<\/span>\r\n\r\n

SANF is produced by the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC), which has monitored regional developments since 1985.      Email: <\/em>sanf@sardc.net<\/em><\/strong>      <\/em><\/p>\r\n

Website and Virtual Library for Southern Africa<\/em>     <\/em>www.sardc.net<\/em><\/strong><\/a>  <\/em>Knowledge for Development<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SANF 22 no 29 – by Kizito Sikuka in Kinshasa, DRC This time last year, the newest President in southern Africa, His Excellency Hakainde Hichilema was preparing for his inauguration as the seventh President of Zambia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-southern-african-news-features"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sanf__-e1498578789316.png?fit=600%2C590&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4h5b0-2uX","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9608,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9607\/revisions\/9608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}