The Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has appointed the Republic of South Africa as the interim chair of the organization until 2026, following the change of power in Madagascar, which had held the SADC chairmanship since August. This is stated in a press release published by SADC following an extraordinary summit on November 7.
"The Summit took note of Madagascar's decision to relinquish its role as SADC Chair following recent political developments that affected its ability to execute the functions of the chair. In this regard, South Africa was appointed as the interim Chair of SADC until August 2026," the message reads.
The secretariat of the organization also requested member states to determine the next SADC chair in accordance with the principle of rotation.
Furthermore, the summit expressed appreciation to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa for convening the extraordinary summit and agreeing to lead the regional organization.
Earlier in November, the South African Cabinet had approved a request from SADC Executive Secretary Elias Magosi for South Africa to assume temporary leadership of the organization due to political instability in Madagascar.
In August, Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina had taken over the SADC chairmanship from Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who led the organization throughout 2024.
However, on October 12, former President Rajoelina left Madagascar on a French military aircraft in coordination with French President Emmanuel Macron. Rajoelina later confirmed in a statement that he had "relocated to a safe place" following an attempted coup. On October 17, CAPSAT special forces officer Michaël Randrianirina was sworn in as the Interim President of Madagascar.
On October 20, Randrianirina appointed Herintsalamo Razakanirivo as the new Prime Minister of the republic. On October 28, the composition of the new government, comprising 25 civilian officials and four representatives from the military bloc, was announced on the national television channel TVM.
