Durban Welcomes a Region: Poetry and Song Open the 46th SADC Summit on Home Soil

Poetry, song and the warmth of a South African welcome opened the 46th Ordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government in Durban on Monday, as regional leaders gathered for high-level talks on integration, industrialisation and sustainable development across Southern Africa.

Hosted by South Africa at the Durban International Convention Centre under the theme “Resilient, sustainable, and inclusive industrialisation through infrastructure development, agricultural and critical minerals transformation in pursuit of a just world”, the summit places infrastructure, agricultural transformation and the beneficiation of critical minerals at the centre of the region’s development agenda.

Culture takes centre stage

Acclaimed South African poet Lebo Mashile opened proceedings with a moving poem dedicated to SADC, reflecting on the shared history, aspirations and interconnectedness of the region. Cultural performances followed, showcasing South Africa’s rich heritage and giving the regional gathering a distinctly local flavour, a reminder that beyond the political and economic agenda, the region is bound by shared history, culture and collective dreams.

“You have come not as strangers or visitors, but as brothers and sisters, as partners and as fellow custodians of a shared Southern African destiny,” President Cyril Ramaphosa told the visiting leaders on behalf of the government and people of South Africa.

A city steeped in African history

The President noted that the summit was meeting at a special place and moment in African history: Durban is the city where the African Union was officially launched 24 years ago, and the gathering fell exactly 34 years after the SADC Declaration and Treaty were signed in Windhoek, Namibia, on 17 August 1992.

“We therefore meet at the confluence of two defining moments in Africa’s history: the establishment of our Southern African Community and the birth of our continental Union,” he said.

He pointed to the real progress the region has already made through initiatives such as the SADC Free Trade Area, the SADC Real-Time Gross Settlement System and the Southern African Power Pool, and urged leaders to accelerate the pace so that regional decisions translate into jobs, industries, reliable electricity, affordable food, quality healthcare and education.

“Our communiqués must become construction sites, factories, power lines, water systems, laboratories, businesses and jobs,” he said.

Tributaries of one great river

In the speech’s most memorable image, President Ramaphosa compared the community to a great river system in which each member state is a tributary with its own history, identity, character and strength.

“A tributary does not lose its identity when it joins a great river. It gains reach, depth and power. In the same way, regional integration does not diminish our sovereignty. It multiplies our collective capacity to secure the well-being of our people,” he said.

Urging leaders to turn “borders into bridges” and “solidarity into shared prosperity”, the President declared the summit officially open, and Durban, for a shining moment, became the beating heart of Southern Africa.

The story was first reported by SAnews.gov.za.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org