Regional governance in Southern Africa

AI Governance for Africa > Part 2 > Section 4

This section assesses AI governance in Southern Africa in greater detail, with a particular focus on South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

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At the regional level, there are several relevant instruments:

• SADC Model Law on Data Protection:^[1] The SADC Model Law, developed in 2013, does not explicitly mention AI but does provide for certain rights in relating to the automated processing of personal data as outlined on the previous page.
• Windhoek Statement: During UNESCO’s Southern Africa sub-Regional Forum on AI in 2022, various ministers from Southern Africa signed the Windhoek Statement on Artificial Intelligence in Southern Africa.^[2] The Statement includes a set of recommendations on AI and data governance, capacity-building and awareness-raising, the need for investment and infrastructure, the opportunities that AI presents in the context of education, the need for research, development, and innovation, the potential use of AI in matters pertaining to the environment and disaster risk reduction, gender considerations and AI, as well as the importance of collaboration and partnership.

As the previous table shows, none of the countries in the SADC region (including South Africa, Zambia, or Zambia) have dedicated AI legislation, though, on a positive note, all three countries have data protection legislation which addresses AI. In the following sections we explore the situations in South Africa, Zabia and Zimbabwe. Of these, only South Africa had published a draft AI policy at the time of publication; the other two countries have announced draft policies though these were not publicly available.

We unpack these measures in more detail in the following pages.

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