Southern Africa customs link up for trade data

Customs administrations from Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe have agreed on a joint roadmap to interlink their systems and enable trade information to move ahead of cargo, in a move aimed at accelerating clearance, strengthening revenue collection and tackling illicit cross-border trade.

The agreement was reached during a three-day meeting held in Pretoria from August 24–26, 2026, where senior customs, legal and ICT officials adopted a joint Roadmap and Action Plan for the development and rollout of Customs-to-Customs (C2C) data exchange across the region.

Hosted by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and convened by TradeMark Africa (TMA), with participation from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat, the meeting focused on improving cooperation and digital connectivity among customs administrations.

The five countries reaffirmed C2C data exchange as a tool to support pre-arrival processing, strengthen risk management and revenue assurance, improve transparency and facilitate the faster movement of compliant cargo along regional trade corridors.

Beyers Theron, SARS Director for Customs and Excise, said customs administrations must balance trade facilitation with revenue protection and compliance enforcement. He called for a shift towards an assurance-based model in which borders serve as points of confirmation rather than sources of delay.

He said C2C data exchange would help make legitimate trade more predictable while strengthening customs authorities’ ability to identify and combat illicit trade across the region.

“When neighbouring customs administrations exchange trusted information securely and efficiently, the benefits extend beyond our institutions. Traders experience faster and more predictable processes, governments strengthen revenue assurance, border agencies make better-informed decisions, and our region becomes more connected and competitive,” Theron added.

TMA Regional Director for Southern Africa, Hope Situmbeko, highlighted the impact of border delays on regional manufacturing. Unpredictable border transactions increase costs, tie up working capital and make it more difficult to build regional value chains compared with exporting raw commodities. Situmbeko stressed that trade information must move ahead of cargo and that the success of C2C should be measured by its operational impact rather than its technical implementation.

The potential impact is significant. Southern Africa accounted for around 41% of intra-African trade, valued at approximately $192 billion, in 2023, according to Afreximbank. The figures highlight the potential benefits of making cross-border trade faster, safer and more predictable. The participating countries committed to implementing the roadmap on schedule and continuing regional cooperation to improve the efficiency of key trade corridors.