Continent's external habit must go

South Africa's minister of international relations and cooperation has called for urgent acceleration of regional integration and intra-African trade, warning that the continent's heavy dependence on outside markets leaves it exposed to global economic shocks and geopolitical instability.

Ronald Lamola made the remarks on Tuesday while delivering the 2026/27 budget vote for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in Parliament, where he said South Africa's foreign policy remained firmly centred on advancing Africa's interests.

"We table this budget at a time when international cooperation is under sustained pressure from unilateralism, economic coercion, wars of aggression, deals of extraction and a winner-takes-all approach to global relations. South Africa cannot afford to shed the responsibilities that come with its history," Lamola said.

The minister said intra-African trade remained critically low, at 16% for the continent as a whole and 21% for the Southern African Development Community, far below Europe at 68% and Asia at 59%.

He said more than 50% of Africa's imports and exports were tied to just five economies, all outside the continent.

"This is the source of our vulnerability to external shocks. It is also why regional integration must move from aspiration to implementation," Lamola said.

He pointed to the African Continental Free Trade Area as a vehicle for change, saying the agreement had the potential to create a common market valued at 3.4 trillion US dollars and could provide a pathway to diversification and greater economic resilience across the continent.

Lamola said South Africa, in its capacity as chair of the African Union Ministerial Committee on the Follow-up and Implementation of Agenda 2063, was working to accelerate the continent's development agenda.