South African Affairs

South African Affairs

In today's world, everything moves at an extreme pace. Countries are trying to become global powers in the business world. Globalization is the topic of international affairs, and it is either having a positive or negative effect on developing nations. Globalization can be defined as, "the integration of economic, cultural, political, religious, and social systems through international and localization. (Dictionary)" A country that is being effect by these trends is South Africa. South Africa has many different problems including AIDS and HIV, nontariff trade barriers, and also finding skilled workers to help with the demand of a growing business environment. All of these topics are having serious effects on how South Africa's economy is being run.

South Africa has a serious problem when it comes to AIDS and HIV. This disease is a killer and is feared throughout the world. When you are diagnosed with this disease, it is all but a death sentence. South Africa will continue to be one of the countries worsted affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. According to UNAIDS 2006 Global AIDS report, "39.5 million people in the world have HIV and 28 million of them live in South Africa." With such a large number of individuals affected by this horrible disease it is having a serious effect on the population of the area due to so many deaths caused by AIDS and HIV. An industry that is being impacted by the AIDS virus is the construction industry in particular. With the large impacts of deaths in the industry it is limiting the production level. In South Africa the construction industry is rapidly growing due the growth of new businesses coming into the area and also all the new workers coming in from different area of the world looking for housing. The construction sector is vulnerable to this AIDS epidemic and there is no statistics showing how much this is affecting the economy. "While inward migration from neighboring country populations in search of economic opportunities will continue to bolster its workforce, it will take another generation, until about 2030, before the damage caused by HIV/AIDS starts to fade. (ten year growth rate)"

Nontariff trade barriers are becoming a concern economically for South Africa. A recent study of how nontariff trade barriers are affecting South Africa was commissioned by the South African Institute for International Affairs. Gregory Mthembu-Slater an independent economist and political analyst who was hired by South African Institute for International Affairs said that, "although specific sectors of national economies can, and do, benefit from nontariff barriers, economies as a whole end up suffering as other countries also impose nontariff barriers, which pushes up the costs for everyone. (nontariff)" The South African region used to get a quarter to a third of their revenue through trade tariffs. In richer countries like the United States the revenue that they acquire from similar tariffs is around two percent. However with liberalization, they lost these taxes that brought in much of the income for the country. To counter act these losses, nontariff barriers were brought in to replace this lost income. But since these were brought in, prices have rose which is hurting everyone.

There are also more problems that are caused by nontariff barriers. Since these tariffs have been brought into effect it has caused major delays and huge losses. "According to data gathered between September 2005 and June 2006 by the Federation for East and Southern African Road Transport Associations, it took between 63 and 83 hours for heavy commercial vehicles seeking multiple entry permission to cross Beit Bridge on the northbound route from South Africa to Zimbabwe. (nontariff)" There are similar delays on alternate routes entering and leaving South Africa. This is a major problem that is facing the area. Many of the commercial vehicles are taking alternate routes if it is possible, but if not they are waiting in these long lines causing delays on products