HARARE: Zimbabwe’s recent ban on imports from South Africa suggests that the country has taken action that undermines the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional integration project. This is because trade is an important element of regional integration. It promotes cross-border and local economic development, and provides the foundation for cross-border cooperation and integration, and the development of good neighbourly relations. The Economic Community of West Africa’s common approach to migration is a good case in point.
Regional integration, as seen through the Balassian Model, envisages the process taking place through various stages. These include progressing from establishing a free-trade area, followed by the adoption of a common external tariff and the formation of a customs union. The customs union evolves to a common market when member states remove all restrictions on the movement of capital, labour, goods and services. The countries then set up an economic and monetary union and at this stage supranational authorities coordinate economic policies.
Total integration happens when there is a supranational authority that superintends policies in a region. The example of the European Union seems to validate these stages of regional integration. This conceptualisation of regional integration emphasises the role of state institutions. This is very useful, but doesn’t consider the role of grassroots or non-state actors. These include informal cross-border traders who move, among others, goods and capital across borders.
Research by the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre suggests that SADC’s informal cross-border traders are a case in point. With this in mind, it is possible to reflect on how the actions and policies of a SADC member state can affect informal cross-border trade, traders and regional integration.
