Southern African Customs Union (SACU) heads of state and government at their meeting on 22 April 2010 in Windhoek, Namibia adopted and signed a new vision and mission for SACU to be an economic community. They decided that SACU should be an economic community advancing regional integration.

They recognised the role that SACU “can play as a building block for deeper regional integration in Southern Africa”.  Its vision is for SACU to be an “economic community with equitable and sustainable development, dedicated to the welfare of its people for a common future”. 

Among declared objectives of its mission is for SACU  to “serve as an engine  for regional  integration and development, industrial and economic  diversification, the expansion  of intra-regional  trade and investment, and global competitiveness”  and to “serve as a building  block of an ever closer community among  the peoples  of Southern Africa”. 

This declaration constitutes in essence the repetition of what Southern African Development Community (SADC) is doing in the area of regional integration. This raises the fundamental question why is SACU heads of state and government are spending time, energy and resources repeating what SADC is doing by trying to transform the customs union into a regional economic community. Central to this question is another question as to if they are committed to the advancement of regional integration in practice why do they not demonstrate their commitment within SADC of which all their countries are members.

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Written by Dr Sehlare Makgetlaneng – Chief Research Specialist and Governance and Security Programme Leader, Africa Institute of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa and Member, International Expert Group, Russian Centre for Policy Studies, Moscow