Regional Integration in Southern Africa can be thought of as a train journey; post independence African countries enthusiastically embarked on this journey with the aim of achieving many milestones on the way to the final destination of continental integration. However this journey has proved to be complex and difficult for many African countries and for many of the regional economic communities. Many deadlines have not been met; for example the member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) agreed to establish a customs union by 2010. This was not achieved and these member states are still consolidating the SADC Free Trade Area. This testifies to the challenges of integrating unequal partners on Africa's integration journey.