South Africa’s Efforts and Mechanisms in Maintaining Peace and Stability in Southern African Development Community Subregion

The maintenance of peace, security, and stability in the Southern Africa subregion primarily became one of the core duties of the South African government, with the SADC integration arrangement in the subregion and its commitment to promote peace, security, and development. In the last few decades, Africa has invested much interest in ensuring stability, peace, and security in the continent, which has, without doubt, yielded many peace dividends in the continent. This chapter examines South Africa’s efforts in ensuring peace and security in the southern African subregion of Africa. The chapter further examines the various approaches adopted by the South African government, alongside other SADC member states, in managing conflict and promoting peace in the subregion. The Democratic Republic of Congo, in Zimbabwe’s land disputes during the reign of President Mugabe, and the Burundi conflict are key example. South Africa has been extensively involved and now serves as a model for conflict management across the continent. Findings in this chapter show that South Africa has a narrow focus on the state and war elites, and has neglected the key conflicts which have thereby created issues that are unresolved and fortified the mobilized dictator state structures. The chapter concluded that South Africa has neglected pioneering better approaches to overseeing struggle that could prompt more secure, strong, and prosperous social orders in the southern Africa subregion.