To address regional poverty, more than regional trade policies need to be spotlighted though.
Recently, South Africa introduced transit visa requirements. Given that South Africa is an important hub of regional air travel, this may have negative impact on regional travel. Some say this was the case with a short-lived change in South African immigration control legislation that required those travelling into South Africa with minors to carry long-form birth certificates.
It need not be said that these immigration policies, which are founded on negative attitudes towards foreigners, have negative impacts on the South African economy that need to be understood. One just has to look at how measures such as this, that reduce passenger traffic into the region, impact tourism, and South African Airways, the national carrier.
It is unjust to not involve the masses in discussions about how jobs are made and lost regionally. Yet, the history of ubuntu teaches that “the people” are willing to work with their neighbours to produce better shared regions.
Nyerere concluded his 1997 speech to the parliament of South Africa by saying: “We all enhance our capacity to develop if we work together.” As we continue to fail to heed his words, neighbours are attacked after they pour into South Africa as their own national economies fail.
By Colin Chasi for the Mail and Guardian
ED: See also: https://insiderzim.com/can-south-africa-escape-what-has-happened-to-its-northern-neighbours-i-doubt-it/
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