19 November, 2025
Final Communiqué of the Extra-Ordinary General Assembly of the Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network

Posted at 11:04h in AfricanDefenders, Defenders, Featured, Southern Africa by

The Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (SouthernDefenders) convened its Extra-Ordinary General Assembly (EGA) on 17 and 18 November 2025 in South Africa. Delegates from Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, eSwatini, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe participated, alongside representatives from the Pan Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (AfricanDefenders) and the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (DefendDefenders).

In June 2025, during the AfricanDefenders Leadership Summit in Maputo, the founding members of SouthernDefenders reflected on the state of protection mechanisms in Africa. They expressed deep concern about the collapse of the Southern Africa protection mechanism and its detrimental impact on human rights defenders (HRDs) and civic space in the region. The founding members noted that although SouthernDefenders had grown exponentially in resources and programmes since its registration in 2018, this expansion had not been matched by corresponding growth in systems, procedures, governance capabilities, and oversight mechanisms. These gaps placed the organisation’s credibility at risk and eroded trust among key stakeholders.

The founding members, therefore, resolved that there was an urgent need for an Extraordinary General Assembly to address the governance crisis and to reconstitute the SouthernDefenders Board in accordance with its Constitution.

The founding members resolved that there was an urgent need for an Extraordinary General Assembly to address the governance crisis and to reconstitute the Southern Defenders Board in accordance with its Constitution.

The Extraordinary General Assembly was intended to restore institutional credibility, ensure compliance with statutory and donor obligations, and enhance the delivery of protection services to HRDs in Southern Africa.

The Extraordinary General Assembly concluded that, from legal registration in 2018 to the present date, SouthernDefenders has experienced exponential growth in resources and programmes, but this has not been matched by growth in systems, procedures, governance capabilities, processes, and oversight, and that this requires immediate corrective measures. This situation has placed the organisation in a difficult position, where its credibility is at stake and trust levels with key stakeholders are low.

The Extraordinary General Assembly was intended to restore institutional credibility, ensure compliance with statutory and donor obligations, and enhance the delivery of protection services to HRDs in Southern Africa.

The Extraordinary General Assembly acknowledged that the abdication of Professor Adriano Nuvunga as Board Chairperson in August 2025 precipitated a governance crisis within SouthernDefenders. In response to the escalating institutional challenges, Mrs Tanele Zikhona Maseko, the Deputy Chairperson of SouthernDefenders and Chief Executive Officer of the Thulani Maseko Foundation, had no option but to call for an Extraordinary General Assembly to enable members to make decisions on the organisation’s governance.

In addition to convening the Extraordinary General Assembly, Mrs Maseko formally stepped down from the SouthernDefenders Board during the Assembly on 17 November 2025.

The Extraordinary General Assembly reconstituted the Board of SouthernDefenders as a precondition for the policy and institutional reforms necessary to achieve good, accountable, and transparent governance.

The reconstituted Board is as follows;

  • Chairperson: Mary Pais Da Silva (Swaziland)
  • Vice Chairperson: Keikantse Phele (Botswana)
  • Board Members:
    • Godinho Mario Cristovao (Angola)
    • Kelvin Kabaya (Zimbabwe)
    • Lepeli Moeketsi (Lesotho)
    • Kayan Leung (South Africa)
    • Cathy Elando (DRC/South Africa)
    • Memory Bandera (AfricanDefenders representative: ex officio, non-voting)

The SouthernDefenders Extraordinary General Assembly mandated the reconstituted Board to carry out the following interventions;

  • Establish the status of the current Secretariat and take the necessary measures to reconstitute it.
  • Conduct a comprehensive forensic audit of the Secretariat to assess its financial and administrative practices, identify any irregularities and provide a basis for necessary corrective action.
  • Establish the status of the finances of SouthernDefenders and take necessary measures for the Board to take control of the financial function including working with the donors and bankers of SouthernDefenders to restore the integrity of Extraordinary General Assembly
  • Establish the status of programming of SouthernDefenders and take the necessary measures for the Board to take control of the programming function including working with the donors of SouthernDefenders, Founding members, and Steering Committee to ensure full execution of any outstanding projects.
  • Conduct a constitutional systems and policies audit and review in full consultation with the members to make recommendations for constitutional amendments to ensure that the main governance, systems and policy framework of SouthernDefenders does not have governance vulnerabilities.
  • Engage the key stakeholders, the members, the donor and development partners, HRDs and civil society in general and the diplomatic and policy community to rebuild confidence and trust in SouthernDefenders.
  • The reconstituted Board was directed to organise the Biennial Conference of the Membership no later than 30th November 2027.

The members of SouthernDefenders who attended the Extraordinary General Assembly left the meeting convinced that they had taken concrete measures to put SouthernDefenders on track to revival.

The Extraordinary General Assembly expressed appreciation to AfricanDefenders for its steadfast support. In his solidarity message, Mr Hassan Shire, Chairperson of AfricanDefenders, reaffirmed the continental body’s commitment to supporting SouthernDefenders through its restructuring and governance renewal process, emphasising the importance of a strong and credible regional protection mechanism.

 

Adopted in Gauteng, South Africa, this 18th day of November 2025.