Editor,I wish to respond to Sindiso Ngwenya (the Secretary General of Comesa)’s article, “Tripartite Free Trade Area: An opportunity not a threat” (The New Times, November 14).Almost all of the East African Community partner states, except Tanzania, are members of Comesa, which among also includes a number of SADC states, the Indian Ocean countries of Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles, as well as Libya, Egypt and Ethiopia.Comesa has a tax-free intra-group trade regime that is really effectively helping to increase trade among its members.My view with regard to SADC, however, is that it is little more than a vehicle for the takeover of member state economies by South African capital or by non-African capital using South Africa as a launching pad to expand into Africa.When viewed in their totality, it is quite clear that both the EAC and Comesa are much better models for African integration than SADC, which was probably at the apogee of effectiveness as an organisational framework of African frontline states in the continent’s fight against apartheid and racial domination in Southern Africa.Mwene Kalinda, Kigali
