The newly elected SADC Chairman and Tanzania President, John Magufuli has appealed to members during the 39th SADC Summit held at Julius Nyerere International Convention Center in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on the need to expedite action for the adoption of Kiswahili as the fourth official language after English, French and Portuguese.

Kiswahili or Swahili is a Bantu language spoken in all SADC countries. If the plan goes well, this will be the first official traditional African language that will stand in the space next to colonial languages spoken in African. Kiswahili can also become one African language that most AU nations could consider as a unified African language that the continent can be proud of.

Southern African Development Community (SADC), is an intergovernmental organization that comprises 16 member nations namely; South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Mauritius, Madagascar, Namibia, Seychelles, Comoros and Eswatini. Its headquarters is at Gaborone, Botswana.