Cape Town – Southern African Customs Union leaders have handed newly appointed Executive Secretary Dumisani Masilela a mandate to lead the reforms of the union by implementing the re-imagined SACU Agenda, founded in Eswatini in June 2023.
The directive came during the 9th Summit of SACU Heads of State and Government held on 26 June 2026 in Cape Town, chaired by outgoing Chairman President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa.
King Mswati III was among the regional leaders present, alongside incoming Chairman Advocate Duma Gideon Boko of Botswana, Namibian President Dr Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and Lesotho Prime Minister Samuel Ntsokoane Matekane. 
Leaders surveyed a global landscape troubled by rising protectionism, unilateralism and ongoing conflicts that had disrupted supply chains and driven up food and energy prices across their economies.
Masilela, who becomes the first Liswati to substantively hold the role in the history of the world’s oldest functioning customs union, was congratulated by leaders on his appointment and tasked with helping navigate these challenges.
At the centre of deliberations was a vision for a re-imagined SACU. Leaders reviewed progress on the Strategic Plan covering 2022 to 2027, which they agreed to extend to the 2028/29 financial year.
A major outcome was the approval of a SACU Regional Innovative Funding Mechanism, initially capitalised at E5 billion to support development projects across all member states under the Finance and Resource Mobilisation pillar of the strategic plan.
Leaders also set their sights on manufacturing together as a region, discussing regional value chains in the automotive sector and the potential for green mineral beneficiation under the Industrialisation, Export and Investment Promotion pillar.
On trade protection, the summit celebrated joint enforcement operations that seized approximately E479 million worth of illicit tobacco products and committed to working towards seamless non-stop border trade environments.
Looking beyond SACU’s borders, leaders called for the full leveraging of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement to build regional resilience against global supply chain disruptions. They also called for a 15-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act to ensure trade continuity, and committed to engaging with China, India and the United States as a unified bloc under the Unified Engagement with Third Parties pillar.
The SACU Strategic Plan rests on six pillars: Industrialisation, Export and Investment Promotion; Trade Facilitation and Logistics; Implementation and Leveraging of the AfCFTA; Unified Engagement with Third Parties; Finance and Resource Mobilisation; and Effectiveness of SACU Institutions.
Leaders set a July 2027 deadline to finalise the total re-imagination of the union and thanked President Ramaphosa for his stewardship as he prepared to hand over the chairmanship to Botswana.
