Trending 
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states must remove non-tariff barriers, improve border management, and harmonise standards to allow goods, services, capital, and skills to move freely across the region.
Ramaphosa made the call in his address at the 46th SADC Summit in Durban, urging the 16-member bloc to become “more than the sum of its member states” and transform its communiques into tangible projects.
“SADC must become a powerful platform from which our businesses can access a continental market of more than 1.4 billion people that reside on our continent,” Ramaphosa said.
“Our decisions must also be implemented. They must be properly costed; they must be funded, assigned and monitored.”
He added: “Our communiques must become construction sites, factories, power lines, water systems, laboratories, businesses and create jobs for our young people. Regional integration must be seen and felt in the daily lives of our people.”
Ramaphosa stressed that regional integration could not succeed without peace, security and stability.
“Peace without development is fragile. Development without peace is impossible,” he said.
“Regional integration must be seen and felt in the daily lives of our people.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says regional integration must move beyond agreements and produce tangible economic and social benefits for people across Southern Africa. pic.twitter.com/LEum1DrlS9
— News Central TV (@NewsCentralTV) August 17, 2026
He called on member states to invest in preventative diplomacy, mediation and political dialogues to solve political challenges, and to strengthen the work of the SADC panel of elders, the organ troika and regional institutions.
“We must also resolve differences that may exist through dialogue, uphold our shared democratic principles and act collectively whenever the peace and stability of our region are threatened,” he said.
The South African leader used a river analogy to describe the bloc’s integration process.
“Our community, in the end, is like a river system. Every member state of our 16 countries is a tributary with its own history, its own identity, its own character, its own strength,” he said.
“When those separate currents come together, they become a powerful force that carries opportunity across borders and sustains all in its path.”
He added: “A tributary does not lose its identity when it joins a great river. It gains reach, depth and power and flows strongly. In the same way, regional integration does not diminish our sovereignty. It multiplies our collective capacity to secure the well-being of the people of Southern Africa.”
Ramaphosa said the community must become more than the sum of its member states, calling for institutional strength, authority and resources to advance common interests and realise a shared vision.
