Abstract

The Southern African Development Community Investment Agreement (SADC IA) aims to harmonise Member States' laws, policies and practices concerning investments to develop the SADC into an integrated investment zone. However, in practice, the existence of the SADC IA does not prevent Member States from maintaining their domestic investment laws. As a result, the SADC IA coexists and applies simultaneously with investment laws of Member States. Some of these laws have better standards of protection than the SADC IA. This paradoxical situation generates divergences in the quality of foreign ...