UN General Assembly Vote exposes deep cracks in SADC unity

The UN General Assembly's (UNGA) resounding vote on 12 September 2025 to endorse the historic "New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution" should have been a unifying triumph for global justice. Instead, in our part of the world, it exposed alarming fissures within the Southern African Development Community (SADC), highlighting the regional bloc's eroding ability to speak with one voice on pivotal geopolitical issues. With 142 nations voting in favour, 10 against, and 12 abstaining, the resolution demonstrated broad international consensus - yet SADC's splintered stance was so out of step as to raise urgent questions about the purpose and potency of the regional body in an increasingly interconnected world.

#BREAKING
UN General Assembly ADOPTS resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution

Voting result
In favor: 142
Against: 10
Abstain: 12 pic.twitter.com/38ilC20OYL

— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) September 12, 2025

As shown in the results chart from the official post by @UN_News_Centre, five out of SADC's 16 member states failed to support this crucial resolution: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) abstained, while Eswatini, Madagascar, Malawi, and Zambia were conspicuously absent from the vote. This means virtually a third of SADC effectively turned its back on a historic declaration designed to advance peace, self-determination, stop genocide and bring to an end the occupation of Palestine. The full text of the Declaration, adopted on August 6, 2025, is available as a PDF addendum (document symbol A/CONF.243/2025/1/Add.1) in the United Nations Digital Library at: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/4087153/files/A_CONF.243_2025_1_Add.1-EN.pdf.

The UNGA's voting tally accounts for 164 member states: 142 in favour, 10 against, and 12 abstaining. With 193 total UN members, this leaves 29 countries that did not participate - their delegations either absent or failing to register a vote electronically. In essence, UNGA recognizes four categories of response:

- Voted in favour
- Voted against
- Abstained
- Did not participate

Those in the final category are classified as "not voting" (or absent/non-participating). According to UNGA Rules of Procedure (Rule 86), both abstentions and non-participation count as "not voting" when determining majorities. However, reporting distinguishes abstentions as an intentional choice, while non-participants remain unlisted or appear as blanks in official charts. Such absences may arise from deliberate strategy, logistical hurdles, or suspended voting rights due to unpaid dues - though none of the 29, including Eswatini, Madagascar, Malawi, and Zambia, faced suspension in this instance.

The irony stings: among these truants is Madagascar, the current SADC chair. What message does this send from the leader of a bloc founded on solidarity and collective action?

How can SADC advance African interests when its chair skips a vote on an issue echoing the continent's own struggles against colonialism, occupation and for sovereignty?

This humiliating fragmentation of SADC erodes the regional body's authority and repute.

What is the geopolitical value of a regional body that falters on core international matters? SADC nowadays seems lost, with its cohesion unravelling into irrelevance. 

Undoubtedly, SADC'S founding visionaries - like Zambia's Kenneth Kaunda, who championed the liberation of not just the region but also Palestine, international solidarity and regional unity - must be turning in their graves at this display of disunity, inertia and inaction!