Sanctioning Apartheid - KORA

Zimbabwe in the Frontline
Third, even though successes in disengaging have been
achieved, under present and expected future cirarmstanaes
Zimbabwe's ability rmbstantially to reduce further its dependence
on South Africa is going to continue to be difbdt not only
because of South African action to prevent or slow down the
process but also because contradictions between this and other
different policy objjves will continue to manifest themselves.
Perhaps I can preface my discussion of thse different ideas
with a few remarks on the critical role of Zimbabwe in understanding
South Africa's overall links with its neighbors.
Although Zimbabwe contains only 12% of the total SADCC
population and covers only 8% of the total surface area of the
SADCC countries, its economic significance is far greater. It is
mponsible for 21% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the
nine --member countries, 20% of all the qrts of the SADCC
countries, and 17% of the total imports of the SADcc countries
And of total trade between the dilferent SADCC countrks, over
half of all exports originate in Zimbabwe while Zimbabwe
purchases over a quarter of intra-SADCC imports. As for the
direct trade links with South Africa, Zimbabwe provides South
Africa with over half of all products SADCC countries export to
South Africa while it absorbs 10% of all the eqorta of South
African goods to s~~cc c~untries.~ The various fi- from
which these percentage contriiutions are derived are shown in
Table 1.
South African Policy and Practice and Its Effects
on Zimbabwe
There would appear to be an array of political, military and
economic reasons why South Africa would wish to increase its
control over Zimbabwe and, more particularly, to maintain and
even increase the dependent relationship. At the political level,
South Africa is challenged in the ideological debate among South
Africa's white electorate to the extent that Zimbabwe succeeds in
its stated objective of establishing a flourishing multiracial and
multiethnic society and prosperous economy so close to home