Your Excellency Emmerson Mnangagwa, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe and outgoing Chairperson of SADC,
Your Excellency Peter Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi and Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security,
Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government,
Honourable Mr. Ronald Lamola, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa and Interim Chairperson of the SADC Council of Ministers,
Honourable Ministers,
Mr Elias Mpedi Magosi, Executive Secretary of SADC,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good afternoon and welcome.
Allow me to thank you, your Excellencies, for accepting my invitation to this Extraordinary Summit – where we will be considering a report from the Chairperson of the Organ on the political and security situation in our sister country, 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 the light of this development, the Extraordinary SADC Organ Troika Summit convened on the 16th of October 2025 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 today.
Your Excellencies,
The developments in Madagascar in September this year brought to the fore the urgent need to accelerate the implementation of our regional development objectives to attain our SADC Vision 2050.
This vision seeks to achieve a region whose peoples live in peace and harmony and can realise their economic potential.
Through our SADC Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, we seek to promote and maintain peace, security, democracy and political stability in our region. The protocol also calls for solidarity amongst our people.
Over the past years, we have made progress towards achieving these goals, notably with respect to consolidating democracy, promoting good governance, ensuring electoral integrity and deepening a culture of human rights.
At the same time political and security challenges continue to plague parts of our region. The
situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo remains of grave concern. We also stand in solidarity with the government and the people of Mozambique in their quest for stability and security in the Cabo Delgado province.
Madagascar has faced political and security challenges of a systemic nature. In 2009, SADC supported the people of Madagascar in their aspiration for democratic and peaceful future.
Although important achievements were recorded, the recent developments indicate that much more work needs to be done to foster sustainable peace.
Like all peoples in our region and our continent, the people of Madagascar yearn for durable peace and development. We have a collective responsibility to make this a reality.
Your Excellencies,
In conclusion, this Session will also be expected to elect the interim incoming chair of our organisation, thereby ensuring that there a full and complete Troika to drive our regional peace, security and development agenda.
I wish this Extraordinary Summit fruitful deliberations.
I thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria