Parliament, Tuesday, 21 April 2026 – The Chairperson of the Select Committee on Economic Development and Trade, Ms Sonja Boshoff, has called on the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition to intervene in the challenges facing the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).
She urged the department not to wait until there was a deadlock before it engages the issues.
Ms Boshoff cautioned that what was transpiring at SACU has an impact on South Africa’s regional trade model and the country’s wider economic strategy. “The call for continental integration when regional agreements are allowed to drift into non-compliance is a contradiction and will be noticed by investors and South Africa’s trading partners. Industrialisation does not happen in isolation,” said Ms Boshoff. “It requires a scale of operations where products can cross borders efficiently and consistently.”
Ms Boshoff notes that several economies in the region had introduced restrictions on South Africa’s agricultural exports. She said this is happening when the Department of Agriculture, under the stewardship of the Minister of Agriculture, Mr John Steenhuisen, is undertaking a massive vaccination drive of livestock to bring under control an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. “Placing restrictions on South African agricultural products is no longer occasional; it is frequent and strikes at the very heart of a rules-based customs union. When markets in the SACU region become uncertain, the impact is felt quickly,” said Ms Boshoff.
“Farmers have had to delay investment decisions as exporters reconsider contracts. Logistics networks are affected, and crucial investment plans are postponed,” Ms Boshoff said. South Africa has historically carried much of the economic weight within SACU. The customs union seeks to regulate and enforce trade policies on a broader scale than a single country’s economy. It collects revenue from member states, which, in turn, depend on it for smooth industrial-scale operations.
Ms Boshoff said South Africa needed to be honest and accept that there have been disputes, in which the government has faced criticism over market access barriers and restrictive practices. She said this is concerning.
“The apparent shift towards economic nationalism across the region, if left unattended for too long, remains a concern and an Achilles' heel for any economy, Ms Boshoff said. “This creates a more strategic concern for South Africa at a time when it seeks to position itself as a champion of industrialisation within the G20 and as a serious participant in the African Continental Free Trade Area.”
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TRADE, MS SONJA BOSHOFF.
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