Zimbabwe fears SA trade dominance<\/p>\n
By Susan Njanji<\/p>\n
HARARE (AFP): The 15-month-old democratic South Africa which
\nmany regional countries expected would act as a magnet to
\nattracting investment to the sub-continent is now being viewed as
\na threat, particularly by neighboring Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
Fears of the economic giant dominating trade and economy in
\nthe region were conspicuously expressed at a just-ended annual
\ncongress of the Confederation of Zimbabwe's Industries (CZI), in
\nthe resort town of Victoria Falls, about 800 kilometers (500
\nmiles) northwest of here.<\/p>\n
According to reports from the meeting, the issue of trade
\nimbalances and protectionist tariffs imposed by South Africa
\ndominated the discussions which were supposed to be centered on
\nthe cost of money in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
Industrialists and economists here, who celebrated the
\npolitical changes in South Africa last year from apartheid in the
\nhope that the regional peace would contribute to an overall
\neconomic growth, have been caught off guard by the potentially
\ndomineering regional giant.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe's industrialists are particularly impatient with
\nSouth Africa's delay in concluding a new trade agreement to
\nreplace a 1964 one which favored Pretoria.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe, whose market-based economic reforms highly depend on
\nexports, is unhappy that trade between the two countries is
\nheavily skewed in favor of South Africa.<\/p>\n
According to figures from the CZI congress South Africa
\nexports goods worth about four billion Zimbabwe dollars (US$500
\nmillion), against Zimbabwe's one billion dollars (US$125
\nmillion), yearly.<\/p>\n
In highly emotional discussions, some industrialists called
\nfor reciprocal trade war against South Africa which they charged
\ndid not take Zimbabwe as a trading partner, but a market.<\/p>\n
\"If South Africa does not want us, there should be a trade
\nwar... we should not compromise... there should be a counter-
\nstrategy\" said Jonee Blanchfield, managing director of a leading
\nchain of clothing stores.<\/p>\n
She added that South Africa was \"not trying to make us look
\nlike idiots but to succumb to them so that we become a perpetual
\nmarket for their goods\". Zimbabwe is rated to have the second
\nlargest industrial base after South Africa in the southern
\nAfrican region.<\/p>\n
But South African ambassador to Harare Kingsley Mamabolo said
\nit might take three to four years to reach a trade agreement
\nwhile it sorts out its domestic woes following decades of
\nisolation.<\/p>\n
\"The purpose of any government is to support its industry. It
\nwould be disastrous for South Africa to succumb to pressure and
\nchange its trade laws overnight. It would be disastrous for you
\nto ask us to destroy our companies, \" Mamabolo told the meeting.<\/p>\n
Blanchfield said South Africa's aggressive protectionist
\npolicies were lack of vision on its part and now the biggest
\nthreat to Zimbabwe's economy.<\/p>\n
\"There is a very real danger of de-industrialization in our
\ncountry. To our South African counterparts we are a means of
\nenabling them to find markets for its goods in Africa,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The clothing and textile industries have been the hardest hit
\nsectors of Zimbabwe's economy.<\/p>\n
Regionally, Zimbabwe has signed free trading agreements with
\nMalawi and Namibia, and is about to conclude similar pacts with
\nMauritius and Zambia.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/zimbabwe-fears-sa-trade-dominance-1447893297",
"image": ""
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