Geingob tears into SA over SACU, Orange River

President Hage Geingob yesterday lashed out at the manner in which South Africa is managing the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), which he says is seen as a colonial artefact by countries like Zambia, which has refused to join it. The president also called on South Africa to ‘respect international law’ over the Orange River, which borders Namibia and South Africa, and over which Namibia wants partial jurisdiction.During a year-end briefing at State House, Geingob expressed great dissatisfaction with the current SACU model, saying Namibia has pushed for reforms, but it would appear that South Africa ‘has other plans’.“As long as SACU is operated the way it is operated now, we will never industrialise. We have been fighting with South African comrades about SACU. We joined and we are there. We said ‘let us restructure it so it can be a modern one with democracy in revenue sharing’. Initially, we were making progress, but as of now, it looks like South Africa has maybe different plans, to tell you the truth. That is a serious problem,” the head of state said.SACU is the oldest functional customs union in the world, having been established in 1910. Its members are Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Eswatini, and it has become a customs-free zone with no import duties between members, except domestic taxes. Not happyAccording to Geingob, the last meeting held by SACU members and its technocrats was frank - Namibia and Botswana have the same views and they are not happy with the customs union’s current model. “The last meeting was not so good at the level of officers, but with us on top where there is always diplomacy, it was good. “But there was straight talk. We are suffering. You cannot buy cars directly from Germany, it must go through South Africa. They create jobs, add value and add up the price and sell it to me in Namibia. For how long?” he wanted to know.“That is a problem. We must look into it. SACU is a problem that we are dealing with with our neighbouring country, big brother and friendly country, so we are still going to negotiate until we reach that stage where we are going to say ‘enough is enough’,” he added. Border impasseSenior officials in the ministry of international relations yesterday said Geingob was ‘undiplomatic’ in his remarks about the Orange River.In his briefing, the president mentioned a bi-national meeting that he and South African president Cyril Ramaphosa had to discuss bilateral issues between the neighbouring nations.“We had a very good meeting, a bi-national meeting. President Cyril was here and we discussed bilateral issues, including issues of the border. What is the problem of the Orange River,” he said.“Why doesn’t South Africa want to follow international law, which requires us to divide the river in the centre? Maybe there are resources. Tell us so we talk as brothers and sisters so that we can share [those resources]. We must resolve that problem.”According to a senior ministry official, the president’s remarks about South Africa’s conduct on SACU and the river are likely to invite a response from the southern neighbour.“Mark my words, the South African media will blow it out of proportion,” they said. jemima@namibiansun.com

Geingob tears into SA over SACU, Orange River

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-07

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Geingob tears into SA over SACU, Orange River

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-07

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