Free Movement of Persons and Cross‐Border Trade in Southern African Development Community (SADC): The Zimbabwean Example

Rejoice Rumbidzai Musakaruka, Yaya Deome Hamadjoda Lefe and Epo Boniface Ngah

African Development Review, 2025, vol. 37, issue 3

Abstract: This study investigated the effects of the free movement of persons on cross‐border trade in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), using Zimbabwe as the case study. Adopting an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model on data from 1990 to 2021, findings reveal that (a) free movement of persons, both in terms of the SADC's protocol and the volume of the actual movement of persons, has a statistically significant short‐run negative and long‐run positive impact on cross border trade in Zimbabwe; and (b) governance quality, financial access, gross savings and net inflows of foreign direct investment have a statistically significant short‐run negative and long‐run positive influence on cross‐border trade in Zimbabwe within the SADC region. Policy‐wise, the Zimbabwean government and the SADC region should strengthen their commitment to the SADC's free movement of persons protocol and abolish regulatory and customs procedures limiting cross‐border trade.

Date: 2025
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