4 Southern African Development Community (SADC): From the Past to the Future Nelson Ocuane The construction of SADC Africa is a recent socio-political construct. e Pan African formula derived in part from Kwame Nkrumah’s idea for the formation of the United States of Africa. e African regional blocs were founded on discrimination based on the criterion of neighbourhood. Bearing these two assumptions in mind, we will analyse SADC. e Southern African Development Community has existed since 1992 as a result of the transformation of SADCC(Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference), created in 1980 by nine of the member states. is transformation, which took place on 17 August 1992 in Windhoek, Namibia, was motivated by the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa. In 1980, the Organization of African Unity adopted the Lagos Plan(Nigeria) in which African leaders committed themselves to establishing ties of cooperation and economic interdependence at the regional level as a way to create an African common market and, later, the African Economic Community(AEC). e adoption of this plan has stimulated the proliferation of regional groups across the African continent. As a corollary to the Lagos Plan of Action, the countries of Southern Africa(Frontline countries) signed the Lusaka Declaration that created the now defunct SADCC, in April 1980, whose main objective was to reduce economic dependence on the Republic of South Africa(RSA) during the apartheid period. e Lusaka declaration was called the Declaration on Economic Liberation. e rst ve front line states(Frontline States- FLS) 91 Nelson Ocuane