Industrialisation remains the most effective pathway to economic transformation; this was the key message at the opening day of the 9th annual Southern African Development Community (SADC) Industrialisation Week, at the Durban ICC on Monday.
This week, Durban hosted the 9th SADC Industrialisation Week, and on paper it reads like fairly standard regional-summit fare, where government leaders, business delegates and investors gather at the Durban International Convention Centre for five days of panels and exhibition stands. But the theme organisers chose this year, industrialisation built around infrastructure, agriculture and critical minerals, lands right in the middle of one of the most consequential economic fights happening on the continent right now: who gets to process Africa's minerals, and where.
Trade Minister Parks Tau used his opening address to push the region to stop exporting raw materials and start investing in beneficiation, advanced manufacturing and regional value chains. That's not just a talking point, it's the exact debate playing out across the continent this year. Just two weeks before Durban's event, African ministers gathered in Abidjan for a similar forum hosted by the African Development Bank, where the message was nearly identical: Africa holds around 30% of the world's most critical mineral deposits, cobalt, lithium, graphite, rare earths, platinum group metals and more, yet continues to export most of it unprocessed, capturing only a sliver of the value. The frustration is the same everywhere: raw ore leaves the continent, gets refined elsewhere, and the profits stay elsewhere too.
