Pretoria: Cabinet has expressed confidence in South Africa's readiness to successfully host the 46th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), scheduled to take place in August.
According to South African Government News Agency, preparations for the regional summit are on track, as conveyed by Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni during a media briefing on the outcomes of the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday. The SADC Summit is set to be held at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre from 16 to 17 August 2026.
As part of the build-up activities leading to the SADC Summit, South Africa will host the 2026 SADC Industrialisation Week from 27 to 31 July 2026. This event aims to bring together policymakers, business leaders, investors, academics, researchers, and development finance institutions from across the region and beyond to advance industrial development.
The SADC Industrialisation Week is aligned with the implementation of the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap (2015-2063), which focuses on three main areas: industrialisation, competitiveness, and regional integration.
The programme for this year emphasizes developing regional value chains in agro-processing, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, and critical minerals beneficiation. It also promotes investment in key infrastructure areas such as energy, transport, logistics, water, and information and communication technology (ICT).
In other developments, the Cabinet has congratulated the South African Reserve Bank on expanding the SADC Real-Time Gross Settlement (SADC-RTGS) system. This expansion now includes the Angolan Kwanza as the second settlement currency after the South African Rand, which was announced by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Governor Lesetja Kganyago and Banco Nacional de Angola Governor Manuel Tiago Dias.
The SADC-RTGS system, operated by the South African Reserve Bank on behalf of participating SADC central banks, aims to reduce transaction costs for cross-border trade within the region by facilitating the use of local currencies. The inclusion of the Angolan Kwanza as a settlement currency marks a significant milestone in advancing regional economic growth by reducing transaction costs.
Furthermore, the Kwanza's inclusion supports regional payment modernization efforts and aligns with the Group of Twenty's (G20) cross-border payment goals of reducing costs, increasing speed, and improving efficiency in cross-border transactions. The SADC-RTGS system, since its inception in 2013, has exclusively settled transactions in South African Rand, processing R250.7 billion worth of transactions monthly.
The system is operated by the SARB, as appointed by the SADC Committee of Central Bank Governors, with 15 countries currently participating in the SADC-RTGS system.