By King’s Correspondents
CAPE TOWN, SA – The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) is conducting a comprehensive survey to identify viable infrastructure and industrial projects for funding in Eswatini, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and South Africa.
The projects will be funded through its envisaged Development Fund, according to South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana when addressing a post-9th SACU Summit press conference yesterday (Friday).
The initiative aims to translate the bloc’s commitment to deeper integration and resilience into concrete investments that benefit all member states.
Minister Godongwana stressed that Eswatini and other partners must proactively develop project proposals to take full advantage of the fund’s objectives.
“Furthermore, we have agreed to support infrastructure projects throughout the region,” the minister said. The summit resolved to intensify cooperation with regional development finance institutions and to mobilise more internal resources to accelerate infrastructure and industrial programmes.
The strategies outlined at the summit focus on faster growth, deeper integration and long-term resilience against external shocks. In this context, SACU reaffirmed its commitment to establishing a subregional innovation fund mechanism with initial capitalisation.
Working in partnership with regional DFIs and institutions such as the African Development Bank, the fund aims to adopt a laboratory-style approach to develop priority projects, ensuring they are fully prepared for execution within the next 12 months.
Progress on establishing the framework for these projects will be reviewed when the relevant body meets in December in Botswana. The team has been tasked with evaluating existing flagship projects within the customs union and ensuring that internal data and capacity are used effectively. By December, SACU expects to identify which projects are ready for advancement.
The fund traces its origins to the 2023 SACU Summit in Eswatini, where members agreed on a mechanism to be capitalised through contributions from the common revenue pool with each country contributing according to an agreed formula.
Minister Godongwana highlighted examples of transformative projects under consideration, such as the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which is currently raising funding for a pipeline to transport water more than 700 kilometres from Lesotho to South Africa. Such initiatives, he noted, would multiply economic activity across participating economies and support a shift toward industrial growth rather than relying on tariff sharing alone.
