DIRCO Annual Report

and to operationalise the strategic documents, member states were requested to undertake national consultations on the draft RISDP 2020 – 2030 Implementation Plan and provide inputs to the Secretariat by 31 January 2021. The branch is in the process of finalising these inputs. The summit also reflected on the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on SADC economies and noted its effects across sectors. This impacted adversely on the implementation of the RISDP. To this end, the summit approved proposed measures to address the sectoral effects, including an enhanced Macro-economic Convergence Surveillance Mechanism. The meeting of the SADC Council of Ministers was held on 29 May 2020. The council deliberated on key strategic issues relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, namely: the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic; the impact of COVID-19 on the implementation of the SADC Work Programme; and the socio-economic imIIpact of COVID-19 on the SADC region. In addition, the status of the organisation’s finances was also discussed. The council also approved the rescheduling of the external audit to the third quarter of the 2020/21 financial year. The council furthermore deliberated on the status of implementation of the theme of the 39th SADC Summit, the status of SADC intra-trade, SADC industrialisation and the report on the implementation of the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the council decided to cancel the 2020 SADC Secondary School Essay Competition. South Africa contributed towards peace and stability in the region through the following engagements: As SADC Facilitator to the Kingdom of Lesotho, South Africa successfully undertook a number of visits to the Kingdom in an effort to address the political and security situation, culminating in the agreement for then Prime Minister, Dr Thomas Thabane, to resign on 19 May 2020 and the subsequent appointment of Prime Minister, Dr Moeketsi Majoro, who was inaugurated on 20 May 2020. Prime Minister Majoro visited South Africa in June 2020. An Extraordinary Summit of the Troika of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security plus Mozambique was held in May 2020. Two key outcomes of the Troika meeting as communicated in the communiqué were, firstly, the Extraordinary Organ Troika Summit plus Mozambique reiterated SADC’s position that condemns all acts of terrorism and armed attacks wherever they occur as contained in the SADC Declaration on Terrorism and the AU

Convention on the Prevention and Combatting of Terrorism. Secondly, the Extraordinary Organ Troika Summit plus Mozambique committed and urged SADC member states to support the Government of Mozambique in fighting the terrorists and armed groups in some districts of Cabo Delgado. It was agreed that Mozambique would work with the Secretariat to prepare a “Road Map” for SADC to assist Mozambique in stabilising the region. South Africa participated in the meeting of the Ministerial Committee of the Organ (MCO), which took place on 25 and 26 June 2020. The MCO, among others, reviewed the political and security situation in the region, specifically in the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Republic of Mozambique. South Africa, while noting the progress made with the reforms process in the Kingdom of Lesotho, advised on the urgent need to ensure that the SADC-sponsored Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed by all Basotho stakeholders in 2018, remains respected in both letter and spirit and is implemented accordingly. South Africa’s role was acknowledged when the communiqué, issued at the end of the 40th Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads and State and Government, held on 17 August 2020, commended President Cyril Ramaphosa for his continued facilitation and directed the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho to submit a progress report to the

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