Impacts and Contribution of Developmental Integration on Industrialisation in the Southern African Development Community

Abstract

This study examines the impacts and contribution of developmental integration on the regional industrialisation process in SADC, focusing on Botswana and Mauritius from 1992 to 2020. Developmental integration is an approach to regional integration adopted by SADC on its transformation in 1992 to deal with the developmental challenges of the region. The study's objective is to determine whether this initiative has contributed to the increase in the significance of the manufacturing sector in the SADC region. Furthermore, to understand, if so, what accounts for the failure of developmental integration to accelerate the industrialisation process in the SADC region. Textbooks, e-books, articles in scientific journals, government and organisational reports were deployed as data collection methods. The region’s economic indicators were examined to measure the significance of the manufacturing sector to the industrial GDP and the total GDP. Despite adopting the mentioned developmental initiative, the collected data suggest that SADC economies are de-industrialising as the manufacturing sector's significance is too little and has also been in decline for years, especially in the specified member states. Lack of coordination between national industrial policies, regional industrialisation and developmental integration objectives impedes the regional industrialisation process. Growth continues to be driven by mining and other natural resource-related activities, with little or no diversification towards the manufacturing sector. The study recommends a synchronisation of national and regional industrialisation strategies. Member states would formulate national industrialisation strategies according to the regional industrialisation agenda. This is precisely because regional initiatives are not of any value if the participating member states do not align their national strategies to them.