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Darlington Musarurwa  
President Mnangagwa has left for Lilongwe, Malawi, for the 41st Ordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government, which runs from tomorrow to Wednesday.

He was seen off at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, Service Chiefs and senior Government officials.

The theme for this year’s summit is “Bolstering Productive Capacities in the Face of Covid-19 Pandemic for Inclusive, Sustainable, Economic and Industrial Transformation.”

Before regional leaders meet tomorrow, the Organ Troika, whose mandate is to secure and guarantee peace in the region, will meet today.

It will likely be seized with developments in the DRC, Eswatini, Lesotho and Mozambique, where regional countries have decided to intervene to deal with an insurgency in Cabo Delgado province that has so far killed 2 500 people and displaced more than 800 000.

Host President Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi will take over as chairperson of the bloc from Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, while a new Executive Secretary to head the SADC Secretariat in Botswana will be elected after the expiry of incumbent Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax’s tenure.

Dr Tax – the region’s first female Executive Secretary – has served the statutory two four-year terms.

SADC is currently pursuing a development strategy that is premised on regional integration, industrialisation and competitiveness.