Davies outlines SA’s concerns on Sacu

South Africa is not intent on pulling apart the SA Customs Union (Sacu), but instead is critical of processes that undermine the organisation, said Rob Davies, Minister of Trade and Industry. Speaking after a briefing at the offices of Business Unity South Africa in Sandton recently, Davies said South Africa’s objective was to promote deeper integration of Sacu and to see it move towards an economic union. He said the recently signed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) should not be allowed to undermine it. This follows the decision by South Africa and Angola not to sign the agreement while Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland all opted to sign. Mozambique is also believed to be willing to sign. Namibia has initialised the agreement, said Davies, but shares South Africa’s concerns and has voiced this. “We are of the opinion that there are fundamental issues that need to be resolved before we can sign. There are trade related matters that we want clarity on.” He said one of the conditions required was to keep cheap clothing imports out of South Africa and that questions around the ban on export taxes and no provision for tariff protection over a period of time had not been addressed. “In March we met in Swakopmund in Namibia where our concerns were voiced. We were of opinion that negotiations were not concluded after this meeting, but it was indicated that the Commissioner wanted to move towards signatures.” South Africa was then called to sign on June 4 and was given the original text which did not include the issues discussed, said Davies. “We believe that our position was not taken into account and that the clauses they agreed to change were not changed. The rules of origin are different.” He said South Africa was not holding the agreement hostage, but could not sign a document that undermined Sacu. In fact South Africa is in favour of a deeper integration in Sacu. We don’t want to see it as only a form of convenience for transfers of revenue.”