DAVID MAGERIA, Nairobi | Friday 2.45pm
SOUTH Africa faces a bitter trade war with its Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) neighbours over its aggressive sale of products on the continent while closing its own market, a Kenyan minister said.
Kenyan Trade Minister Joseph Kamotho said on Thursday the 21-member Comesa will block South Africa from trading in the region, or introduce punitive tariffs until Pretoria reformed and opens up its market to its neighbours.
Since the fall of apartheid, South African products have glided across Africa, partly benefiting from government farm and export subsidies. But some of the countries in which the goods compete have high raw material taxes and other production inefficiencies that put unit costs above the price of imports.
”We are looking at October 31 2000 when Comesa establishes a free trade [regime], then we act as a block,” Kamotho said.
Before that date, individual states such as Kenya are enacting punitive and retaliatory tariffs that clearly target South Africa — inspired by South Africa’s refusal to change its hardline protectionist stance, Kamotho said.
Ugandan Finance Minister Gerald Sendaula said last month: ”What we really hate is the flow of goods being one-sided. People using your market as a dumping ground. We love fair trade. They send their stuff here, they allow ours there.”
Comesa’s restructured external tariffs will deny South Africa the huge export markets of Egypt, Kenya and Zimbabwe, Kamotho said.
The Comesa nations have a combined population of 380-million people and its imports are valued at $38,8-billion in 1998.
Comesa secretary-general Erastus Mencha said last month South Africa’s trade practices remain deeply unfair and states in the region will be forced to seek measures to force fair play. — Reuters