A century of customs unions in Southern Africa 1889–1989

A Quest to Run the Government by Black Ink in Botswana in 2012 and Beyond

“…To provide context, SACU's genesis is traceable to 1889 Customs Union Convention signed by then British colony of the Cape of Good Hope and the Orange Free State Boer republic (Ettinger, 1974). In the subsequent, in 1893, then British High Commission territories; being: Bechuanaland, Basutoland and Swaziland, joined the Union with unfavourable rights (Maasdorp, 1989). The formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910 vitiated all previous customs union agreements and, thus, this led to the birth of a new customs union that was negotiated in June 1910 that is the precursor to the present day SACU that is comprised by South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia (Walters, 1989).…”