LUNCEDO MTWENTWE: Lumbering Africa cannot afford more trade delays

Global trade is moving at lightning speed and geopolitical tensions are reshaping business flows, yet Africa continues to move at a snail’s pace. For most businesses, export competitiveness is a daily race against the clock and the realities are measured in lost revenue, missed opportunities and wasted resources. A 36-hour truck delay at the Beitbridge border is not just a minor inconvenience but a full-blown crisis.

At its core, competitiveness is about innovation and being able to deploy technologies that reduce costs, improve efficiency and allow businesses to scale. The world has entered a new industrial era dominated by artificial intelligence, automation and robotics, yet African businesses are still only scratching the surface of these opportunities.

According to the UN Industrial Development Organisation’s Industrial Development Report, developing countries lagged by 80 percentage points in meeting innovation-related targets for the sustainable development gGoals. The report clearly indicates that harnessing fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies is no longer optional. It is essential if we want to stay in the game.

I was reminded of this in my conversation this week with Andrew Kirby, CEO of Toyota South Africa and chair of the industrial transformation and innovation task force, at the B20 side event for industrial transformation and innovation for inclusive growth. He underscored a hard truth that Africa has talent, resources and ambition, yet it continues to punch below its weight. He urged SMEs to actively embrace new technologies to sharpen their production competitiveness — but technology adoption alone won’t close the gap.

We must also confront the continent’s widening skills deficit — and this is not a problem the government can solve alone or overnight. Private-sector players, together with universities and vocational institutions, must lead industry-driven initiatives that prepare workers for rapidly evolving technologies. Without addressing this human capital gap, Africa risks becoming a consumer of imported technology rather than a creator of value-adding industries.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was designed to shift this trajectory. By reducing costs, opening borders and building a single market of more than 1-billion people, it represents the most ambitious trade project in the continent’s history. The good news is that progress is being made, with intra-African trade rising by 12.4% in 2024. However, the pace remains far too slow.

As Busi Mabuza and the B20 trade and investment task force have warned, Africa must act much faster, with streamlined border regimes, stronger SME partnerships and fast-tracked trade integration as urgent, non-negotiable priorities.

The recent trade agreement between South Africa and Algeria shows what urgency looks like in practice. By creating new trade routes, reviving direct air links and forming business councils, the two countries are building practical trade corridors. For South Africa’s SMEs, this opens doors to North Africa’s markets. For Algeria, it creates entry into South Africa’s industrial and agricultural base. This is what AfCFTA should look like — less talk, more tangible connections.

Without efficient air travel, cargo movement is slow, business travel is prohibitively costly and AfCFTA’s promise risks being undercut by poor integration

Connectivity, however, cannot be reduced to trucks and customs clearance. As AfCFTA secretary-general Wamkele Mene has pointed out, it makes little sense that flying from Accra to Algiers is more expensive and time-consuming than flying from Accra to London. If Africa is serious about export competitiveness, then opening its skies through the Single African Air Transport Market is as important as tariff reductions. Without efficient air travel, cargo movement is slow, business travel is prohibitively costly and AfCFTA’s promise risks being undercut by poor integration.

The global trade environment is shifting around us. Trade rules are under strain, the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) is uncertain and major trading blocs are fortifying their own interests. Africa cannot pin its competitiveness on external goodwill. It must rely on itself — and South Africa must lead the fight. That means fixing our border inefficiencies, investing in infrastructure and forging partnerships that SMEs can access and exploit.

Export competitiveness is not about glossy policy papers. It is about ensuring that African goods reach markets on time, at scale and at costs that make sense.

The choice before us is stark. Either we move decisively, closing skills gaps, embracing new technologies and building integrated infrastructure, or we remain locked in the margins of global trade. Africa has the resources and resilience to compete as an equal. What it lacks is the urgency to move faster.

• Mtwentwe is MD of Vantage Advisory and host of the SAICA BIZ Impact Podcast