The Southern African Development Community (SADC) declared a Free Trade Area on 17 August 2008. The Free Trade Area is the ultimate objective of the Trade Protocol on trade cooperation in SADC, signed in 1996. The Protocol is supported and complemented by the ambitious Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP). The idea behind the SADC Trade Protocol was to counter the developmental challenges facing SADC member states and to improve the productive and trade capacity of SADC countries. The implementation of the SADC Free Trade Area has been guided by the WTO/GATT regulatory framework on regional trade agreements, particularly GATT Article XXIV, the Understanding on the Interpretation of GATT Article XXIV, as well as the Decision on Differential and More Favourable Treatment, Reciprocity and Fuller Participation of Developing Countries (Enabling Clause). This research seeks to analyse the SADC Trade Protocol's provisions and the implementation of such provisions. To facilitate an understanding of factors that affect the implementation of the SADC Trade Protocol, SADC's institutional and operational framework is discussed from a legal-historical perspective. The provisions of the Trade Protocol are analysed for compliance with WTO/GA TT rules as well as for applicability within the SADC context. The provisions of the WTO/GA TT regulatory framework on regional trade agreements are also analysed with a view to determining whether they are applicable in developing country situations such as SADC. The Free Trade Area is seen as the first step towards regional economic integration in the region and is to be followed by a Customs Union, a Common Market and then eventually an Economic Community with its own central bank and regional currency. It is envisaged that the region will proceed through all these traditional theoretical phases of economic integration between 2008 and 2018. The implementation of the Trade Protocol has been beset with institutional, administrative and infrastructural challenges which pose obstacles to the attainment of the other stages of economic integration in the time frames prescribed in the RISDP. These challenges are assessed for impact on the regional economic integration of SADC by evaluating the progress towards implementing the Trade Protocol provisions and the implementation of measures taken towards the launch of the Free Trade Area. Emerging issues are also identified and analysed for their effect on the Free Trade Area and the general economic agenda of SADC. Of particular note is the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) being negotiated with the European Union where SADC countries are negotiating in four different configurations. An analysis of this EPA situation reveals that it compounds a pre-existing problem: that of overlapping membership of regional trade agreements. Prior to the EPAs and the intensified drive towards the creation of the Customs Union, there was largely no need to rationalise the overlap in regional trade agreement memberships, but it is now a matter of urgency. The overlap in membership has complicated EPA negotiations and places serious doubts on the prospects of complete regional integration in SADC.This research concludes with observations on South Africa's complicated relationship with her SADC neighbours. South Africa's trade policies, as regards both the SADC region and the world, are discussed. Because of its political and economic dominance, South Africa's policies have a ripple effect on the rest of SADC; hence the need for South Africa to be vigilant in formulating and implementing its trade policies.

This study examines the comparative impact of multilateral trade agreements on intra-regional trade in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regions in Africa. Annual data was gathered from 2000 to 2018 and dynamic panel data and econometric techniques were used to control for individual country characteristics, endogeneity, serial correlation, heteroscedasticity and interdependencies between the countries in each region. Two estimations were done, one using the tariff measures of multilateral agreements, the second using non-tariff measures of multilateral agreement. The results of the empirical analysis show that the SADC region has a slight edge over ECOWAS in terms of technological progress and investment, especially in trade infrastructure. However, the ECOWAS levels of employment and economic growth are higher than those in the SADC region. These differences further translate into differences that drive intra-African trade in these regions, and how they relate to the role of multilateral agreements in intra-African trade in each of these regions. While technology and investment are key drivers and enhancers of intra-African trade in SADC countries, economic growth and employment stand out as key enhancers of intra-African trade in ECOWAS, especially where multilateral agreement is represented by tariff measures. This study reports that when non-tariff measures are used to represent multilateral agreements, export trade costs, in addition to investment and technology, are the key drivers of intra-African trade in SADC countries. For ECOWAS, under non-tariff measures of multilateral agreements, only economic growth drives intra-African trade. / Business Management / D. Phil. (Business Management)

Motivation of virtually all regional economic integration (REI) initiatives has been prospect of enhanced economic growth. Although REI's role in contributing to growth and development was recognised and acknowledged, its importance in Africa has never been properly outlined. Theoretical background, economic assumptions and evidence of REI are examined to bring out REI's importance to Africa. Depicting from these, benefits and challenges of REI in Africa are explored. This dissertation analyses the progress, pace, approach, sequence of REI in Africa looking at different variables. Africa's regional integration blueprint and institutional framework are compared to EU's but selected areas are identified as essential for Africa. Progress on REI has been found to be slow. This study concludes that REI should be viewed as one aspect of strategy towards Africa's development and growth. However, the benefits of REI make it imperative for it to remain the central pillar of Africa's development agenda. / Economics / M.Com. (Economics)

The impetus for regional integration draws its rationale from the standard international trade theory, which states that free trade is beneficial to all. Free trade among two or more countries or preferential trade will improve the welfare of the member countries as long as the arrangement leads to a net trade creation in the Vinerian sense. The history of regional economic integration in Southern Africa (SADC) reveals that it has not yet achieved the economic benefits that are attributable to developing regions, namely: higher levels of welfare exemplified by low poverty levels, economic development and industrialisation. Regional economic integration in Southern Africa is constrained by high tariff and non-tariff barriers, archaic infrastructures and multiple memberships among different regional economic communities. A SADC-wide customs union can be successful, provided that countries are allowed to join, when their economies have adjusted and the South African Customs Union (SACU) is used as a nucleus. / Economics / M. A. (Economics)

No description available.

No description available.

Motivation of virtually all regional economic integration (REI) initiatives has been prospect of enhanced economic growth. Although REI's role in contributing to growth and development was recognised and acknowledged, its importance in Africa has never been properly outlined. Theoretical background, economic assumptions and evidence of REI are examined to bring out REI's importance to Africa. Depicting from these, benefits and challenges of REI in Africa are explored. This dissertation analyses the progress, pace, approach, sequence of REI in Africa looking at different variables. Africa's regional integration blueprint and institutional framework are compared to EU's but selected areas are identified as essential for Africa. Progress on REI has been found to be slow. This study concludes that REI should be viewed as one aspect of strategy towards Africa's development and growth. However, the benefits of REI make it imperative for it to remain the central pillar of Africa's development agenda. / Economics / M.Com. (Economics)

The impetus for regional integration draws its rationale from the standard international trade theory, which states that free trade is beneficial to all. Free trade among two or more countries or preferential trade will improve the welfare of the member countries as long as the arrangement leads to a net trade creation in the Vinerian sense. The history of regional economic integration in Southern Africa (SADC) reveals that it has not yet achieved the economic benefits that are attributable to developing regions, namely: higher levels of welfare exemplified by low poverty levels, economic development and industrialisation. Regional economic integration in Southern Africa is constrained by high tariff and non-tariff barriers, archaic infrastructures and multiple memberships among different regional economic communities. A SADC-wide customs union can be successful, provided that countries are allowed to join, when their economies have adjusted and the South African Customs Union (SACU) is used as a nucleus. / Economics / M. A. (Economics)

Magister Legum - LLM / South Africa

Foreign investments in SADC are regulated by Annex 1 of the SADC Protocol on Finance and Investments (SADC FIP), as well as the laws of SADC Member States. At present, SADC faces the challenge that this regime for the regulation of foreign investments is unstable, unsatisfactory and unpredictable. Furthermore, the state of the rule of law in some SADC Member States is unsatisfactory. This negatively affects the security of foreign investments regulated by this regime. The main reasons for this state of affairs are briefly explained below. The regulatory regime for foreign investments in SADC is unstable, due to recent policy reviews and amendments of key regulatory instruments that have taken place. Major developments in this regard have been the suspension of the SADC Tribunal during 2010, the amendment of the SADC Tribunal Protocol during 2014 to bar natural and legal persons from access to the Tribunal, and the amendment of Annex 1 during 2016 to remove investor access to international investor-state arbitration, better known as investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). The regulation of foreign investments in SADC has been unsatisfactory, among others because some SADC Member States have failed or neglected to harmonise their investment laws with both the 2006 and the 2016 Annex 1. Furthermore, SADC Member States such as Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have multiple Regional Economic Community (REC) memberships. This places these Member States in a position whereby they have conflicting interests and treaty obligations. Finally, the future of the regime for the regulation of foreign investments in SADC is unpredictable, due to regional integration efforts such as the recent formation of the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Zone (T-FTA) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The T-FTA is entitled to have its investment protocol, while the AfCFTA investment protocol will be negotiated from 2018 until 2020. These developments entail that the 2016 Annex 1 will soon be replaced by an investment protocol at either the T-FTA or AfCFTA levels, thereby ushering a new regime for the regulation of foreign investments in SADC. The unknown nature of the future regulations create uncertainty and instability among foreign investors and host states alike. This study analyses the regulation of foreign investments in terms of Annex 1 and selected laws of SADC Member States. In the end, it makes the three findings mentioned above. In order to address these findings, the study makes four recommendations. The first is that foreign investments in SADC must be regulated at African Union (AU) level, by means of an AfCFTA investment protocol (which incidentally is now the case). Secondly, investor-state disputes must be referred to the courts of a host state, optional ISDS, the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (ACJ&HR) or other agreed forum. Thirdly, an African Justice Scoreboard (AJS) must be established. The AJS will act as a gateway to determine whether an investor-state dispute shall be referred to the courts of a host state, ISDS, the ACJ&HR or other forums. Fourthly, the office of an African Investment Ombud (AIO) must be created. The AIO shall facilitate the early resolution of investor-state disputes, so as to reduce the number of disputes that may end-up in litigation or arbitration. / Mercantile Law / LL. D.