THE PEOPLE of Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Namibia should form a “Union of Southern Africa”. The present territorial boundaries are artificial, having been arbitrarily drawn by European colonialists guided only by European interests and motives.
The formation of this union should be in stages; the first stage is the formation of an Economic Union, embodied in a Central Economic Council for Southern Africa.
This economic union should go much further than the mere formation of a “single trade area”; indeed, much further than Nepad: this Central Economic Council for Southern Africa should be the decisive arm and brain in formulating planning and investment policies for the entire union.
The formation of this union shall be in stages also in the sense that not all the currently existing states may agree to merge at the same time, even at the economic level: the union may begin, perhaps, with the agreement of two, or perhaps four, nation-states; others may follow later, as happened with the EU.
The failure of development and psychological-mental illnesses are on such a large scale now that African societies are facing a catastrophe similar to a war situation. A serious war threat, or a war situation, such as that faced by Britain in 1940, requires centralised decision-making, centralised planning, and mobilisation of resources.
Leon Trotsky warned, in his criticism of Stalinist planning, that centralised management of the economy implies not only great advantages but also the “danger of centralising the mistakes”.
Rational planning requires the inclusion of democratic discussion, democratic control and a critical spirit, within the centralisation and planning process.
Capitalism gave rise to economic and cultural processes that tend to cross all territorial boundaries in the world; capitalism also generated the modern desires for equality and freedom. The positive features of capitalism became intertwined with its negative features. Both the positive features and negative features of capitalism call for co-operation and planning among nation-states. The dangers of war and destruction, alone, call for co-operation and planning among nations.
Integration of nation-states at the regional level, and across the territorial boundaries of the globe, is a universal inner urge and tendency of our time.
This universal urge and tendency must be knit together and guided by justice and equality for all communities. The integration of economic and science activities is occurring informally across nation-states; what needs to occur now is the formalisation of this integration at the political level. These tendencies, and this urge, are also manifesting themselves in southern Africa.
We need a single investment plan for the entire southern Africa. The overall planning for the development of southern Africa, and the investment decisions, should be made by the Central Economic Council for Southern Africa.
This planning and investment council should be composed of representatives, in equal number, of all nation-states comprising the union. The planning and development fund in the hands of this council should aim to accomplish the following:
n To plan and develop the infrastructure for the entire southern Africa: the solution of the water problem in the region; electrification and alternative sources of power; telecommunication; roads; railways; airports; and harbours.
n Develop the infrastructure for education, health and environmental care.
n The most important challenge facing the Central Economic Council for Southern Africa should be the initiation of the agricultural revolution in the region. The aim, here, is to develop agriculture to be an economic asset of the first order, as a foundation for the development of the region and the African continent.
The World Bank has written: “Africa’s farmers and agri-business could create a trillion-dollar food market by 2030 if they can expand their access to more capital, electricity, better technology and irrigated land to grow high value nutritious foods.”
Non-chemical-based agriculture shall have an enormous impact on the health of human beings consuming that food. The first medicine the human body gets is food. Non-chemical-based agriculture shall considerably lower the medical expenses of government.
An overall aim of this strategy is to bring about balanced, rational, just development in the entire region, bringing about economic-social equality between the different parts of southern Africa.
To stop millions of people from poorer regions of southern Africa flocking to South African urban areas for jobs and better living conditions, the council should plan, encourage and direct investments to less developed parts of the region.
There are sound, compelling economic reasons for the formation of this Central Economic Council for Southern Africa. The economic problems of each of these nation-states shall be solved much better and effectively, if these nation-states become a single economic union guided by a rational overall plan.
Professor Herbert Vilakazi is an independent scholar and contributed this article in his personal capacity. Note: This is part 1 or a 2-part series on this topic. Part 2 will be published this Friday. Reference works used in this piece have been acknowledged by the editor.