Assessing domestic resource mobilisation within the Southern African Development Community countries of South Africa and Zambia.

Abstract

The focus of this research paper is on unpacking what is hindering the implementation and utilisation of Public Domestic Resource Mobilisation (DRM) for development financing within the South African Development Community (SADC) countries. The research paper occupies a growing space of research into DRM in Africa to better understand what would make a DRM development financing strategy work long-term on the continent. The research uses a comparative case study approach to study the two SADC countries of South Africa and Zambia to unpack public DRM through national-level analysis. The research also includes an assessment of SADC to introduce the dimension of inter-governance and highlight the role that joint governance plays in fostering sustainable development. The research uses as its theoretical framework, the theory of dependency and looks particularly at the frameworks of capacity development, good governance, and African solutions to African problems. This research begins by assessing SADC institutionally through a descriptive analysis of SADC’s institutional ability and capacity to incentivise a DRM strategy within its member states. The research finds that SADC needs to review its commitment to reducing economic dependency and strategies such as DRM development financing could rekindle the commitment to the manifesto. The findings show that by building on the already existing foundations of development in these countries and focusing on fostering a holistic Africanist approach to development financing that considers each economy as unique; the SADC region could flourish, the organisation could meet its goals, and DRM could rise to meet the need for an alternative sustainable development financing strategy in the region and the broader continent.