OPINION
Free movement in Africa is desirable , but how to realize it ?
by Mandla Lionel Isaacs
Mandla Lionel Isaacs Director of Research at the Ministry of
Home Affairs in South Africa .
Protests coordinated on social media have emerged in recent weeks throughout the country addressing national issues
Free movement is back on the continent ’ s policy agenda and within its integration discourse . Such discourse has also been buttressed by several encouraging developments over the last year or so , notably the launch in early 2016 of a new Africa Visa Openness Report ; the move by several African countries to offer visas on arrival to citizens of AU member states ; and the July 2016 launch of the African passport . Underpinning all of these developments , and particularly the launch of the African passport , is the African Union ’ s Agenda 2063 , which calls for visa-free travel by all Africans in Africa by 2018 . These are encouraging developments which move us closer to the point when Africans move as freely across the continent as European Union citizens move across Europe , and American citizens move across the United States .
Unfortunately , though , wanting free movement is not enough to make it happen . Regional integration in Africa has long been an extraordi- narily promising and frustrating policy area . Promising , because most experts and policymakers agree that integration will yield enormous economic and social benefits for African countries and citizens . Frustrating , because despite treaties , agreements and public statements of support by
African leaders over the decades , real progress towards regional and continental common markets in which people , goods , services and capital move freely , has been slow and is incomplete .
Accordingly , I would like to make four suggestions on how to advance
18 Business Times Africa | 2016