Trade integration in the Southern African development community: Prospects and problems¹

Mobile entrepreneurship: Informal sector cross-border trade and street trade in South Africa

“…The author would like to thank the Canadian International Development Agency through the Southern African Migration Project, and Jonathan Crush who co-authored the original report. 2 Member states adopted the protocol in principle in August 1996 it now has to be rati ed by each member state, and details of remaining tariffs need to be agreed (see Mayer & Thomas, 1997).…”

Border Crossings: Small Enterpreneurs and Cross‐border Trade between South Africa and Mozambique

“…Increasing attention is being paid by policymakers to cross-border relationships between Mozambique and South Africa. These have made their way into concrete proposals in the form of spatial development initiatives (SDIs) (de Beer et al 1998;Driver & Barros 1999; for critical analyses see Harrison & Todes 1996;Mitchell 1998;Rogerson 1998a;Rogerson 2000) and the development of an, as yet to be ratified, free trade agreement between SADC countries (Carim 1997;Gibb 1997Gibb , 1998Mayer & Thomas 1997;Bertelsmann 1998;Jenkins;Van Rooyen 1998). Increasingly discussions of these initiatives are littered with the language of`borderlands' ± where borders change from`barriers' to`bridges', allowing and facilitating the formation of cross-border economic development strategies (de Beer et al 1998;Mpumalanga Report 1999).…”

Trade Relationships and Economic Development

“…Finally, in 1994 when apartheid was officially abolished, South Africa was encouraged by the other members to join the community. The following year Mauritius was accepted as a member, and in 1997 both the Seychelles and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) entered the group (Fouratan 1998, Holden 1998, Maasdorp 1993, Mayer and Thomas 1997, Proff 1997. Todaro (1997) refers to the SADC as the most promising regional grouping on the African continent and confirms that their infrastructure is better than anywhere else in Africa.…”

“…This paper attempts to answer these questions by, first, empirically estimating the effects of trade relationships on economic growth, and second, estimating the determinants of intra-SADC trade using the gravity equation of trade. No extensive empirical studies exist on the SADC region; nor has anyone directly investigated the effects on SADC arising from preferential treatment offered by the European Union (Mayer and Thomas 1997). Hence, there is a real need to extend the current understanding of these issues.…”

“…For example, exports from Angola are predominately oil, ( 86 per cent) and for Botswana, diamonds, (88 per cent), while Malawi's exports are mainly comprised of tobacco, (76 per cent). Such high dependence makes their economies quite vulnerable to fluctuations in market conditions (Mayer andThomas 1997, Ng andYates 1997).…”