What is wrong with the Southern African Development Community? Why are they not doing their job? They are silent on crises such as Mozambique's civil war and the human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. Civil society groups, opposition leaders and commentators have criticised SADC over its inaction regarding the region's problems. Liesl Louw-Vaudran, the senior researcher for the Institute for Security Studies, discusses why the SADC does not intervene.