Now that African economies are beginning to grow, basing themselves on private enterprise, we must think of one additional factor - the size of the market. Our view is that the lifeblood of production is the ability to sell to as many buyers as possible so that we lower production costs per item. This is what will give us competitiveness. The wider the market, the better. While we would obviouly like to join SADC, we cannot afford to ignore the markets in Congo, Sudan, Kenya and the Horn of Africa.
Some comrades focus on peripheral issues when it comes to economic integration.
Some of them argue that some members fail to pay fees. Accordingly, such members are regarded as unreliable partners. This, however, is missing the point. We did not form a common market in order to collect membership fees. We created a common market for trade.