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This case study discusses how the democratic governance principles and norms impact development in the Southern African Development Community and how institutional and structural reforms require greater participation by society to address the governance challenges encountered in this subregion of Africa. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to examine and assess the relationship between SADC’s governance, democratic principles and norms, and development plans and processes. A comparative analysis was conducted using SADC’s key democratic achievement connected to policies, processes, and remaining challenges. Subsequently, the key causes of SADC’s slow development on the African continent were explored, focusing on the failure to institutionalize liberal democratic governance consistently during postcolonial transition periods, speculating SADC’s slow development. The findings suggest that SADC is impacted by democratic principles, norms, and processes, such as local governance, civil society, and decentralization of power. Bearing in mind, Southern Africa’s economic frailty, elevated levels of civil unrest and poor service delivery, and SADC authorities require a strong sub-regional governance strategy supported by robust national programs to determine and overcome the factors hindering the institutionalization of democratic principles in SADC and promote strengthened institutional capacity. The unambiguous progression toward the consolidation of democracy, within the SADC, has impacted the governance and development successes of the region, resulting in democratic values and practices remaining shallowly rooted, and slow progress toward open and transparent governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]