Options for Regional Integration in Southern Africa

Abstract

Windhoek Treaty of 1992 changed the basis of economic co-operation to allow for 'efficiency, economy and competitiveness'. This shift led to the 1996 SADC Protocol on Trade Co-operation for the creation of a Free Trade Area (FTA). At the time of writing (autumn 2000), the implementation of the SADC FTA is almost complete. Successful regional associations usually require a strong political rationale for economic benefits to be realised.*(3) It remains to be seen whether or not the original unifying forces in Southern Africa are strong enough in the post apartheid era to enable SADC to build the institutions necessary for rule based economic integration and thus realise the potential economic benefits. In terms of economic conditions, the SADC countries are an extremely heterogeneous group. This can be seen from Table 1, which includes those SADC member countries included in this study. At the time of the Windhoek Treaty, the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita ranges roughly 20:1 from richest to poorest. In terms of economic size, the range is nearly 100:1. GDP growth performance over the last 20 years varied considerably, but some SADC countries had a surprisingly good record of economic management in terms of the average rate of inflation, poverty reduction and human development. An important characteristic of the SADC region is the historically high level of barriers to trade. Whilst there was a considerable lowering of protection in the SADC region in the 1990s, there are still significant barriers to trade. This is shown in columns 2 and 3 of Table 1. The fall in tariffs reflect the fact that several SADC countries underwent World Trade Organisation (WTO) tariff reform or World Bank Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) during the