The department of trade, industry & competition is establishing a government-wide implementation committee to ensure the effective enactment of preferential intra-Africa trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
SA ratified the AfCFTA in 2019 and began trading with 12 African countries under the preferential regime in January, beginning with Kenya and Ghana. SA is the first among the four Southern African Customs Union countries to launch preferential trade exports under the AfCFTA’s second Guided Trade Initiative (GTI).
The committee will comprise the relevant departments, government agencies, business formations, export councils, business chambers, associations, civil society organisations, labour and other stakeholders. Its aim is to ensure a co-ordinated effort between government and stakeholders to maximise opportunities and minimise challenges, says the department.
The AfCFTA aims to remove barriers to intra-Africa trade. It seeks to turn the continent into the largest regional free-trade area, with most tariffs on goods traded eventually at zero, complete with a consumer base of 1.3-billion people and about $31.1bn (R565bn) in export potential. It aims to lift up to 50-million Africans out of poverty.
For SA, the AfCFTA supported the government’s aims of increasing exports to the rest of the continent, supporting industrialisation and improving ease of doing business in Africa, said the department. This included creating regional value chains and the beneficiation of critical raw materials.
“Commercially meaningful trade under the preferences of the AfCFTA is therefore taking place, though modest in volume we see trade happening,” AfCFTA secretary-general Wamkele Mene said on the sidelines of the AfCFTA Business Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, last week. An additional 39 African countries that had ratified the AfCFTA would start trading under the GTI, which was likely to increase trade volumes.
Lerato Mataboge, SA trade department deputy director-general of export development, emphasised regulatory stability and sustainable business practices in reaching long-term development goals, including the movement of goods and people. It was important to overcome political instability and disruptive election cycles to achieve these objectives.
Mataboge told members of a business panel in Rwanda that there was a need to create a predictable framework for external investors, and cross-border infrastructure development was vital. She also said that investments should be made accessible and attractive, and community involvement had a role in ensuring success.
The collaboration between SA, Mozambique and Eswatini to develop the Maputo Corridor for post-conflict reconstruction in Mozambique, focusing on industrial capacity, infrastructure and economic integration, was an example of harmonise intra-African relationships and initiatives for development, said Mataboge.
“Today, we have the N4 highway that all of us [SA, Mozambique and Eswatini] utilise for the movement of goods and people because of that agreement in 1996 that brought us here ... Unfortunately, we are also caught up in a trap as a continent of political cycles, election cycles and legacy disputes instead of generational projects.
“So, whoever comes in at the head of state, that’s a new year, and at some point we need to have a conversation regarding sustainability and political will,” she said.
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