SA losing its lustre as supplier, gateway

Cross-border countries
are working hard to up
their game and reduce
dependencies on
South Africa, says Duncan
Bonnett of consultancy Africa
House.
“East Africa is fast
changing and
integrating and major
inroads are being
made globally as
they start to attract
attention. The
focus has definitely
moved away from
South Africa – a
move that we are also
seeing more and more
in southern African
countries.”
Bonnett says as ports
in countries such as
Mozambique, Tanzania, Angola
and Namibia are upgraded and
expanded along with road and
rail networks, more capacity
is being generated within
SADC. “There is just less
rationale to depend on South
Africa and as a country
we need to be cognitive
of this at all levels
– be it government,
institutions or
industry,” he says.
“We can no longer
sit in South Africa
and think that
people from other
African countries are
looking at us to supply
them and that they will
continue to do this. The
further north one goes,
traditionally, they have
had less to do with South Africa
and these are markets that offer
good opportunities.”
He says in a global environment
the relevance of a strong
manufacturing
supplier in South
Africa for crossborder
countries
diminishes every
year.
“Also if we look
at the gateway
concept then it is
quite generous to
say South Africa
is the gateway
to southern
Africa,” says Bonnett. “We certainly
are not the gateway to Angola or
Madagascar and only to parts of
the Democratic Republic of the
Congo. Nigeria is also fast becoming
a gateway into Africa and ditto for
Kenya.”
He said the idea of carrying on
the mantra of being the gateway was
just not beneficial as it was resulting
in a complacent
attitude on the part
of South Africa that
could have severe
consequences.
“A lot of the
work we are doing
in Africa – and
even within
southern Africa – is
suggesting that
these countries
are particularly
attractive markets and that there is
no longer a hesitancy to bypass South
Africa altogether. The idea that South
Africa is still the gateway to crossborder
countries is quite false.”
INSERT & CAPTION
The idea that South Africa
is still the gateway to
cross-border countries is
quite false.
– Duncan Bonnett