If anything, I have, in the words of British rock band Pink Floyd, “become comfortably numb”. My thoughts are miles away as I wander through the Victoria & Albert, or the V&A. No, not the V&A Waterfront, in Cape Town, but the V&A Museum, in London.

I am at the Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains exhibition on the history of this phenomenal band. As I wander through the mazelike exhibition halls, with fellow visitors gently, some not so gently, nudging me along, I step into a room with screens on almost every wall, with the song from the band’s all-conquering 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon, playing insistently. The album continues to sell more than 7 000 copies a week. The song is Money, which could well be an anthem for modern-day South Africa. Its lyrics are as follows: “Money, it’s a gas; Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash; New car, caviar, four-star daydream . . .; I’m in the hi-fidelity first-class travelling set; And I think I need a Lear jet . . .”

The mention of “jet” made me think of South Africa’s merchandise trade statistics. How so? Well, considering the price an aeroplane, if it were to be considered an import or an export every time it entered or left South Africa, the merchandise trade statistics would look quite different. This is not to say that this did not happen on occasion in the past.

Have you noticed a curiosity in South Africa’s merchandise trade statistics of late – especially, since South Africa started to report the merchandise statistics of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (the BLNS countries) separately? Suddenly, with little exception, South Africa now reports monthly trade balance surpluses. In other words, South Africa exports more than it imports. It is fair to say that, without the BLNS countries, South Africa would be consistently reporting trade balance deficits. Whether these exports are, in fact, of South African origin is quite another matter altogether.

But there is another layer to consider – South Africa is also a member of the oldest operational customs union in the world, the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu). Although it is said to have been officially established in 1910, it had been in existence for at least 30 years before that date. It is no coincidence that Sacu was officially established in the same year that the Union of South Africa came into being. It was also no coincidence when the 1969 Sacu agreement came into force. Can you recall when South Africa became a republic?

If you read last week’s instalment of this column, you would know that constitutional change in South Africa results in the fairly quick redrafting of the Customs and Excise Acts. Well, it used to in the past, but not so much in present-day South Africa.

The BLNS countries serve to provide South Africa with merchandise trade balance surpluses and are rewarded handsomely through the Sacu revenue sharing formula. In all my years in international trade, this figure has not been scrutinised. Why is it that economists trust statistics so easily, without understanding them, without interrogating them? It is as if economists are generally most willing to state the obvious. As an economics professor of mine would retort: “Sir (if you are politically correct, you could also read ‘Madam’), you have a knack for the obvious.”

Just how handsome is the BLNS reward? In 2015, the then newly appointed South African Finance Minister, Nhlanhla Nene, announced that R51.7-billion of the total R80-billion Sacu revenue pool would be transferred to the BLNS countries. It was understood that this amount accounted for roughly 50% of Swaziland’s revenue, 44% of Lesotho’s, 35% of Namibia’s and 30% of Botswana’s.

So, South Africa’s trade balance surplus is, to a large extent, really much ado about nothing. It is collected to handsomely reward the BLNS countries through a formula renegotiated in 2002.

“Everything goes swimmingly”, as my mother would remind, until the lean years approach. So, in a paradoxical way, South Africa records trade balance surpluses but also reduces the rates of customs duty and enters into preferential tariff and trade agreements, which all play a part in marginalising customs duty revenue. If I am not mistaken, the 2002 revenue sharing formula guarantees each of the BLNS countries a certain amount.

Could it be that the chickens have come home to roost? Considering the great South African chicken debacle, this might not be the most astute of references.

Could this explain the headline of a story published in Business Day on September 12: ‘Sars has a R13bn shortfall, and these are the culprits’? In essence, tax revenue for the first quarter of the current financial year was R13.1-billion less than the published estimate, with customs duty and excise duty accounting for around R3-billion. Apparently, the “customs duties were lower mainly because of shrinking contributions by clothing and footwear as well as cereals”. Really? South Africa had imported less clothing, footwear and cereals? These are hardly high-value commodity articles in anyone’s frame of reference – and the reduction occurred notwithstanding a weak South African rand! “Tell it to the marines because the sailors won’t believe you”, as my father would remind.

I am not having it either. There are bigger issues at play, the least of which are the value – the customs value of the goods – and the goods’ classification. In respect of the latter, if a person does not know the difference between a tariff heading and a tariff subheading, that person cannot classify goods correctly. Not a week goes by without the incorrect use of these terms being observed. A more challenging aspect is that of origin.

As I ponder the privilege to see the very being of a band that opened a floodgate of university memories, of dreams that could and should have been, I enter the final hall of the exhibition, just in time to catch the last of the Comfortably Numb lyrics: “Your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re saying; … Now I’ve got that feeling once again; I can’t explain you would not understand; . . . I have become comfortably numb.”