Harmonising Road Transport Legislation in the SADC Region for Crime Prevention

Abstract

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an organisation that aims to facilitate cooperation between the governments of its Member States through a set of goals. SADC uses protocols as an instrument of coordination of its Member States on Transport, Communications and Meteorology endeavours to harmonise various aspects of traffic and transportation in the region. The researcher relies on carrying out an extensive literature review, consulting secondary data, official government publications and review of case studies. This article is informed by both the routine activity theory and situational crime prevention theory. It was found that the SADC regional body still has several barriers to overcome before a successful harmonisation stage to prevent crime will be achieved by Member States. Regional cooperation is needed amongst Member States to prevent organised borderless crime like human trafficking, drugs trafficking, fraud and money laundering, car-hijacking and terrorism.