By King’s Correspondents
CAPE TOWN, SA – South Africa’s Finance Minister Enoch Gondongwana has stated that SACU will retain the existing revenue-sharing formula and common external tariff even as the bloc shifts away from over-reliance on customs duties.
Responding to questions at a post-9th SACU Summit press conference in Cape Town about the ultimate vision for the union, Minister Godongwana outlined a balanced evolution. He emphasised that SACU is not abandoning its foundational architecture but rather building upon it to foster genuine economic growth across all member states.
“Let me clarify: we are not abandoning the current architecture or eliminating the common external tariff. The revenue-sharing formula will continue to exist. What we are moving away from is dependence. No member state should have its national budget entirely dependent on volatile customs revenues to survive,” the minister said.
The reimagined SACU envisions a transition towards a more robust and diversified economic bloc. By successfully implementing industrial projects and expanding domestic tax bases, the contribution of the common customs pool to each country’s overall GDP is expected to diminish naturally over time. This would reduce vulnerability to fluctuations in global trade and tariffs while maintaining the solidarity mechanisms that have defined SACU for over a century.
In the next decade the union is aiming to function increasingly as a highly integrated trade and industrial block that leverages collective strengths in minerals, manufacturing and value chains.
The focus remains on growing all economies within the union by ensuring a shared prosperity rather than mere redistribution of tariff income.
This clarification comes as SACU advances plans for a new development fund for infrastructure projects and border modernisation, all of which aim to accelerate industrialisation and resilience. The vision aligns with the broader goals of transforming SACU into an advanced, modernised economic community less exposed to external shocks and better equipped to compete on the continental and global stages.
