RECs in Eastern and Southern Africa: Attractive Aspects for Zimbabwe

The briefing analyzes Zimbabwe's strategic options regarding membership in the SADC, COMESA, SACU, and EAC regional blocs. While Zimbabwe has significantly higher trade volumes and deeper political ties with SADC, it is attracted to COMESA due to a larger, more balanced market and faster integration progress. The author concludes that Zimbabwe is likely to join the COMESA Customs Union, though this depends on South Africa's regional role and the outcome of EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations.

• Zimbabwe's trade is heavily concentrated in SADC, with annual total trade averaging US$1.6 billion between 2001 and 2005, which is approximately eight times higher than its average annual trade with COMESA of US$200 million.
• Despite high trade volumes with SADC, Zimbabwe views the bloc as unbalanced because South Africa dominates the region, accounting for over 73% of Zimbabwe's trade, which creates vulnerability to the South African economy.
• COMESA is attractive to Zimbabwe because it offers a larger market of over 374 million people, more balanced trade capacities among members, and faster progress toward regional integration, having established a Free Trade Area in 2000.
• Zimbabwe considers SADC's primary competency to be development co-operation rather than economic integration, whereas COMESA is viewed as having a clearer mandate for the latter.
• Zimbabwe's preference for COMESA is indicated by its decision to negotiate Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the EU under the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) configuration, an institution created by COMESA.
• Zimbabwe views the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) as an "apartheid relic" and remains skeptical of it due to disputes over the revenue sharing formula among member states.
• The final decision on which Customs Union to join depends on several external dynamics, including the outcome of EU-ESA EPA negotiations, the decisions of key COMESA partners like Zambia and Malawi, and South Africa's willingness to address unbalanced trade through a "development formula."

APA

Masiiwa, M. (2007). RECs in Eastern and Southern Africa: Attractive Aspects for Zimbabwe. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/Briefing-No_14_Masiiwa.pdf

Chicago

Masiiwa, M. RECs in Eastern and Southern Africa: Attractive Aspects for Zimbabwe. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2007. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/Briefing-No_14_Masiiwa.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Masiiwa |first1=M |title=RECs in Eastern and Southern Africa: Attractive Aspects for Zimbabwe |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=14 March 2007 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/Briefing-No_14_Masiiwa.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{masiiwa2007recs, author = {Masiiwa, M}, title = {{RECs in Eastern and Southern Africa: Attractive Aspects for Zimbabwe}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2007}, month = mar, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/Briefing-No_14_Masiiwa.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }