South Africa could position itself as a brains-trust country for skills development across the rest of the continent as momentum picks up for the realisation of trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
That’s according to Thina Nodada of Waymaker Trade Solutions.
Speaking at the “air cargo Africa 2023” (ACA) conference in Johannesburg, the trade skills expert said a lot of signatories to AfCFTA were looking to South Africa for skills specialisation.
The reason, he said, was because of South Africa’s leading role on the continent as an exporting country compared to the reliance of other countries on significantly more imports compared to South Africa’s import-export trade balance.
Although South Africa also imported more than it should, it remained the continent’s leading exporter, controlling about 24% of Africa’s total exports, Nodada said.
Considering that AfCFTA – with a projected combined GDP of $2.5 trillion and representing about 1.2 billion people, effectively making it the world’s biggest economic bloc – could possibly improve the export potential of emerging markets across the continent, countries are increasingly looking to South Africa for assistance.
“What we’ve seen is that there is a strong emphasis on skills and knowledge development from African countries to partner with South Africa in achieving these aims,” Nodada told guests of The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport which hosted the ACA’s third and final day.
If South Africa got its act together, he said, a lot of goodwill could be invested through the transference of goods, services, skills and knowledge needed to achieve AfCFTA’s aim of boosting trade across the continent by at least 52.3%
It would take a bit of a mind-shift though, Nodada said, as South Africa still sees itself in different terms in relation to the rest of the continent.
“We must stop thinking of ourselves as the gateway to the continent. We aren’t the gateway to Africa, never have been, and never will be.
“What we can be is an enabler of trade improvement,” Nodada said.
He is not alone in this view of imploring South Africa to stop deluding itself with regard to its supposed superior trade position.
The same sentiment has been echoed by Duncan Bonnett, head of market access and research at Africa House, at regular trade presentations held by the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
