Unearthing the challenges and prospects of regional integration in Southern Africa

• Published date: 01 February 2019
• Author: Daniel N. Mlambo
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1882
• Date: 01 February 2019

ACADEMIC PAPER

Unearthing the challenges and prospects of regional integration

in Southern Africa

Daniel N. Mlambo

Department of Public Administration,

University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa, South

Africa

Correspondence

Daniel N. Mlambo, Department of Public

Administration, University of Zululand,

KwaDlangezwa, 3886, South Africa.

Email: mlambo1@ymail.com

Regional integration is viewed as a significant initiative with regard to stimulating eco-

nomic growth amongst member states and enhancing intraregional trade, security ini-

tiatives, and bilateral and multilateral agreements. This paper examines the challenges

and prospects of African regional integration with the focus on Southern Africa. The

paper posits that regional integration is an imperative factor for Southern African states

as it plays a pivotal role in stimulating their economic growth prospects. Nonetheless,

economic growth prospects realizing the benefits of regional integration seem to be still

a work in progress. The paper concludes by outlining that regional integration is a

diverse component that entails the private sector and economically advanced regional

states such as South Africa to be at the fore in orchestrating developmental blueprints

and that there is a need for the necessary support from regional heads of states as so to

realize the benefits of regional integration and the benefits it brings with it.

1|INTRODUCTION

Since the emergence of influential regional economic communities

(RECs) such as the European Union, regional integration was viewed

as a noteworthy mechanism to augment the economic growth of most

countries, not only in Africa but throughout the world (Cheru, 2002).

In this vein, the need and prominence of regional integration from a

global perspective is derived from factors such as increased trade

opportunities, enticing foreign direct investments (FDI), increased

market size, bilateral and multilateral arrangements, improved regional

security mechanisms, and infrastructural development (De Melo &

Tsikata, 2014).

As a result of this, Masemola (2005) asserts that from an

African perspective, regional integration was observed as a way of

redressing Africa's underdevelopment, colonial heritage, and depen-

dence on first world nations, particularly postcolonial era. Along

these lines and throughout the years, major strides have been

taken through the implementation of REC's

1

in Africa as engines

to steer this process forward. By narrowing this to Southern Africa,

after some states were about to gain their independence from

respective European colonizers, there was a need for them to

now dust themselves up and take control of their own economies

that were to be driven by their own policies either individually

or as a collective group. This is notwithstanding the fact that

these states possessed (and still do) varying levels of development

and economies.

The shift from the earlier Southern African Development Coordi-

nation Conference (SADCC) to the Southern African Development

Community (SADC) after the signing of the Windhoek treaty in 1992

by the SADCC member states further gave impetus to the importance

of regional integration in Southern Africa (Makagwe, 2013). This shift

was merely driven by the fact that the SADCC's mandate was to

reduce its member's economic dependency on apartheid driven South

Africa, while also establishing mutual development blueprints for its

member states. As a result of this, Stromnes (2014) opines that the

SADCC was not a successful regional grouping. Basically, The SADC

(unlike its predecessor) was to have a more robust and specific vision

of enhancing regional integration in Southern Africa through stimulat-

ing intraregional trade and socioeconomic collaboration together with

political and security cooperation (Tanyanyiwa & Hakuna, 2014).

Nonetheless, with different member states having just gained their

independence, possessing different levels of economic growth, minor

markets, and some being landlocked, there were and have been

1

In Africa, there are currently eight recognized RECs. These include the Arab

Maghreb Union, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Community

of Sahel –Saharan States, East African Community, Economic Community for

Central African States, Economic Community for West African States, Intergov-

ernmental Authority on Development, and the SADC. The aim of these RECs is

to provide building blocks for continental integration.

Received: 7 September 2018 Accepted: 29 September 2018

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1882

J Public Affairs. 2019;19:e1882.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1882

© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of7