Comesa plans to block imports unless structure changes
A TRADE WAR, in which South Africa will face the wrath of the 21-member nations of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) is looming, unless Pretoria reforms its current policies and opens up its market to its neighbours.
"South Africa's aggressive sale of products on the continent while closing up its own market is the reason that Comesa plans to block the country from trading in the region," says Kenya's trade minister Joseph Kamotho.
"We are looking at October 31, 2000 when Comesa establishes a free trade, then we act as a block. But before that date individual states, such as Kenya are enacting punitive and retaliatory tariffs that target South Africa. This has been inspired by South Africa's refusal to change its hardline stance."
Kamotho points out that since 1994 South Africa has spread its tentacles across Africa, helped by government agriculture and manufacturing export subsidies. But, he says, some of the countries in which the goods compete have high raw material taxes and other production inefficiencies that put locally produced costs above the price of the imports.
If implemented, Comesa's restructured tariffs will prevent South Africa from servicing what have become huge export markets such as Egypt, Kenya and Zimbabwe, with the Comesa nations as a whole having a combined population of 380 million and its imports valued at $38,8billion in 1998.
"South Africa has been feigning poverty to maintain a closed market, but who are really the poorer nations?
"South Africa is reluctant to sign a bilateral trade protocol with Kenya, which would have ironed out this mess. Kenya will send a trade mission to Pretoria next month to try and sort something out.
"South African companies which have set up operations in Kenya have failed to help the trade balance by insisting on sourcing raw material from back home. Examples are a fast food franchise which imports beef for its burgers and a brewery which gets its barley from South Africa. Is this fair play?"
Kenya's imports from South Africa in 1998 totalled $188million, while it exported $12,6million to South Africa in the same year.
Kamotho's outburst has been supported by Uganda's finance minister Gerald Sendaula, who has accused South Africa of using the African market as a dumping ground.
The only comment to come from South Africa's department of trade and industry is that there is no reluctance on South Africa's part to have everything balance, and that while negotiations on the matter are in progress these take time.
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