Africa - Wholesaler, Exporter and Distributor:Swaziland and Lesotho

Sep 2
18:53

2011

Max Muller

Max Muller

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Swaziland is land locked on three sides by South Africa and to the North by Mozambique. To the East it is a sub tropical to tropical country, while to...

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Swaziland is land locked on three sides by South Africa and to the North by Mozambique. To the East it is a sub tropical to tropical country,Africa - Wholesaler, Exporter and Distributor:Swaziland and Lesotho Articles while to the West it rises to the cooler Lebombo Mountains.Lesotho is land locked right in the centre of South Africa, situated in the high mountains ranges, the Drakensberg and the Malutis.  The climate here is cool in summer and very cold in winter.  The high summer rainfall and winter snows are soaked up by the mountains, giving Lesotho its most lucrative exports to South Africa – water and hydro electricity.  The official languages of Lesotho are Sesotho and English, while the languages spoken in Swaziland are Siswati and English.  Some of South Africa’s official languages are also frequently spoken in Swaziland, for example, Zulu, Afrikaans, and Xitsonga.The country also mines diamonds at Letseng, high in the mountains. A sizeable percentage of the male population are migrant workers to the gold mines of South Africa.Lesotho has an export agreement with the United States of America and has become the largest exporter to the US of clothing in sub Saharan Africa.  This provides work for more than 50,000 employees, more even than are employed by the Lesotho government.Although Lesotho is extremely poverty stricken with about 40% of the people living below the international poverty line, and has an appalling 30% Aids figure, it also has one of the highest education statistics in Africa.It is believed that at least 85% of the adult population is literate.  The government grants 12% of its budget towards education.  Unlike almost anywhere else in Africa, the female population has a higher literacy rate than the male.Swaziland’s economy is of two parts.  One part consists of 75% of the population in subsistence farming on government land.  The other part is a small sector involved in high productivity industrialised agriculture (sugar, citrus and forestry) and textile manufacturing.  The country has extremely low GDP growth, high inequality and unemployment.  On the positive side, domestic debt is negligible and external debt has rapidly shrunk.  The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) has been responsible for rapid revenues growth.  This is causing the country’s fiscal position to improve, with a sizable surplus.Lesotho and Swaziland are both members of the SACU, which eliminates tariffs on goods traded between the member countries.  The other countries that are members of this union are South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.Both these countries, developing slowly as they may be, are moving inexorably towards the economic upswing that is sweeping across Africa, and the local people are getting more and more involved with trade and the import and export of local arts and crafts, clothing, business accessories and all kinds of household goods.Newly fledged business people are moving into corporate life all the time. Some are already involved in company training, media, advertising and opening their own businesses.  For most of them, promotional items, corporate gifts, and corporate clothing are beginning to be part of the day’s work. To get these items, they have to research and find the best of wholesaler companies in Africa  which export, import and distribute these to them according to their requirement at an affordable rate without compromising on quality