During the apartheid era in South Africa the two organizations SAMSA and SAMS had virtually no relations.
"[2] Besides its annual meetings, SAMSA has been involved in projects designed to form a critical mass of trained mathematicians for the member countries.
[3] The Masamu program was founded in 2011 by the Malawian-American mathematician Overtoun Jenda, who is Assistant Provost for Special Projects and Initiatives at Auburn University and a member of SAMSA.
Jenda has said that a primary objective of the program is "to strengthen mathematical sciences departments at universities in southern Africa.
"[4] Stellenbosch University mathematics professor and SAMSA president Farai Nyabadza commented that, as a consequence of the Masamu project, US and European mathematicians have collaborated with talented young African mathematicians, resulting in numerous joint research papers.