Fikile Skosana
SADCA Secretariat

The Southern African Development Community Cooperation in Accreditation (SADCA) is a Cooperation of accreditation bodies in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

SADCA held virtual Committee Meetings from 14–20 March 2025. Following the Committee meetings the face-to-face 29^th SADCA General Assembly (GA) meeting was held on 27 March 2025 at the Peniel Retreat in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and included virtual facilities for members who were not able to travel. The SADCA GA meeting was held as part of the 40^th SADC Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Cooperation Structures Annual meetings.

The abovementioned meetings included meetings of the SADCA Evaluators Working Group (EWG), Technical Committee (TC), TC Sub-Committees (Certification and the Calibration and Testing Sub-Committees), Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) Committee, MRA Council, Marketing and Communication Committee (MCC), Executive Committee (EXCO) and the GA.

Developments to take note of:

SADCA MRA Committee and Council

• Confirmation of competencies of Mr Victor Mundembe (SADCAS) a SADCA Peer Evaluator for Calibration and MS Certification (QMS).
• Appointment of Ordinary and Stakeholder member representatives on the MRA Council and Committee.
• Training on the summary of the peer evaluation process and decision-making, including the role of the task force group will be held before August 2025. A workshop on any applicable ILAC/IAF A-series publications will also be scheduled.
• Appointment of a second SADCA representative to the IAF Database Management Committee – Mr John Ndalamo (SANAS).

SADCA TC Sub-Committees and SADCA TC

• Approval of the terms of reference and 2025 workplans of the Certification Sub-Committee and 2025 Workplan of the Calibration and Testing Sub-Committee.
• The TC reported 89% of its 2024 Workplan activities. Developed the 2025 Workplan which was presented at the GA.
• Encouragement of SADCA members and Stakeholders to participate on the national mirror committees:
  • ISO/IEC 17020;
  • ISO/IEC 17024;
  • ISO/IEC 17065;
  • ISO/IEC 17067; and
  • ISO 19011.

SADCA MCC:

• Approval of a project plan for the 2025 SADCA Regional World Accreditation Day (WAD) celebration that will be undertaken on 10 June 2025 virtually.
• The MCC achieved 80% of its 2024 Workplan activities. The MCC developed the 2025 Workplan to be presented at the GA.
• The MCC expressed appreciation to the outgoing SADCA MCC Chair Edward Mmatli for the valuable contribution, leadership and commitment to the SADCA MCC during his tenure.  

The SADCA EXCO:

• Approval of various documents which were to be published on the SADCA website www.sadca.org. Various documents were reviewed and recommended for GA approval.
• Approval of the 2024 SADCA Management Review report.
• The 2024 SADCA EXCO workplan which is aligned to the SADCA 2022–2026 Strategic Plan was finalised and presented to the GA.
• Appointed a Stakeholder members representative to the EXCO.
• EXCO congratulated the Secretariat for the work in ensuring a successful Internal Audit with only two non-conformities and two comments being raised. The internal audit was undertaken 2–3 December 2024.

The 29^th SADCA GA meeting was held face-to-face on 27 March 2025. During the GA meeting the various SADCA documents and workplans were approved along with the approval of the 2024 SADCA Annual Report. The meeting received verbal reports from member states on accreditation activities undertaken during the period under review (Jan–Dec 2024).

Elections were held during the General Assembly Meeting for the following Office Bearers:

• SANAS – was re-elected as the Secretariat for a term of three years.
• Ms Tshenolo Molamu (SANAS) – was elected as the MCC Chair for a term of four years.
• Mr Boniface Badubi (SADCAS) – elected as the MCC Vice Chair for a term of four years.