Analysing the Role of the MOU on Cooperation in Taxation and Related Matters as an Instrument for Coordination and Integration in SADC

Abstract

The origins of Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) lie in the Front line States, a group of Southern African countries that fought for independence from colonial rule. Their aim was to help liberate the entire region from colonial rule. During the 1960s and 1970s, these newly independent states supported national liberation movements in the region by coordinating their political, diplomatic and military struggle to bring an end to colonial and white minority rule. The idea was to secure international cooperation for economic liberation and collective self-reliance. At that time,according to the late President of Botswana, Sir Seretse Khama, 'economic dependence had in many ways made political independence somewhat meaningless'. An additional effort steered by former President Kaunda of Zambia was to establish a transcontinental belt of independent and economically powerful nations from Dar es Salaam and Maputo on the Indian Ocean, to Luanda on the Atlantic. The SADCC was formed in 1980 and was transformed into the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in1992 with a focus on both socio-economic cooperation and cooperation in matters of political security.