ABSTRACT

For many years Tanzania severed political relations with South Africa due to the apartheid policies practised by the former White minority government. Formal relations only resumed in 1992 following the release from jail of Mr. Nelson Mandela, and were fully restored after the landslide victory for the ANC in the first democratic South African election in 1993, when Tanzania nominated its first High Commission to South Africa. However, it must be emphasized that whilst the absence of political relations under Apartheid had not permitted the expansion of economic links between Tanzania and South Africa, it failed to destroy relations in some key economic sectors, notably mining, which had first been established in the 1940s. The advent of the new South Africa, with a government dedicated to co-operation within the sub-continent, augurs well for the regeneration of old and expansion of new relations on both the political and economic front. In particular, other countries of southern Africa are hoping that South Africa will utilize its comparatively advanced technology to boost the economy of the sub-continent in the spirit of regional co-operation. Her southern African neighbours, such as Tanzania, are fully aware of the giant economic status on the African continent of South Africa – a country classified as possessing an economy with characteristics both of advanced capitalist and underdeveloped societies. 1 Given the fall of Apartheid and the exigencies of GATT, South Africa needs to rapidly expand its market possibilities both regionally and internationally. However, the possibilities of it achieving that on its own are minuscule due to the fact that international trade is currently characterized by trade blocs each comprising a number of national economies. Given this context, the obvious choice for South Africa is not only to help forge a regional trading bloc within southern Africa, but also to help stimulate economic development in neighbouring countries in order to boost the economic significance of the bloc. The alternative is that South Africa and her southern African neighbours might soon become, in global terms, economically marginalized.