Powering the Future: Why SADC Must Embrace Regional Value Addition of Critical Minerals
On 17 August 2025, SADC heads of state will gather in Madagascar for a summit themed “Advancing industrialisation, agricultural transformation and energy transition for a resilient SADC.” The symbolism is striking: a region rich in critical minerals yet burdened by energy poverty.
Southern Africa is home to cobalt from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, lithium from Zimbabwe, manganese from South Africa, and platinum from Botswana, minerals that are powering the global clean energy transition. Yet, 100 million people in the bloc lack electricity, while millions endure relentless load shedding.
The Urgent Case for Regional Value Addition
The value addition of critical minerals in SADC means processing, refining, and manufacturing within the region, transforming lithium into battery cells, cobalt into EV components, and manganese into wind turbine parts. It keeps wealth, jobs, and industrial expertise within our borders.
No single country can dominate the value chain alone. Building processing plants and technology parks requires capital, infrastructure, and technical skills. Pooling resources, harmonising regulations, and sharing facilities is the only viable path.
The African Development Bank projects coordinated beneficiation could add billions to GDP and create over 2 million jobs by 2035. Revenues could finance universal electrification, ending the paradox of mineral-rich, energy-poor nations.
Time Is Running Out
The International Energy Agency predicts lithium demand will rise 40-fold by 2040. Without action, SADC will remain an exporter of raw ore while importing products it could have produced. A recent PWYP policy brief argued for linking extraction to social and energy goals, with local processing quotas, revenues for grid expansion, and investment in green skills.
Stories from the Ground
In Zimbabwe’s Bikita district, artisanal miners extract lithium for a few dollars a day, often without safety gear or access to stable markets. Their children walk past piles of ore on the way to schools with no electricity, even as that same lithium powers electric vehicles in Europe.
In Namibia’s Oshikoto region, copper exports light up factories in Asia, yet the nearest health clinic relies on a diesel generator that fails weekly. Villagers pay high prices for paraffin lamps while the nation’s mineral wealth flows out unprocessed.
In northern Mozambique, graphite mines have brought promises of jobs, but local fishermen say declining catches from industrial runoff have left them struggling. Communities want more than jobs; they want infrastructure, power, and investment that lasts beyond the mine’s life.
Regional value addition could change these realities, funding schools with computers, clinics with reliable solar power, and communities with affordable, clean cooking solutions. It could mean that the minerals leaving our soil first light up our homes.
Why Regional Collaboration Is Non-Negotiable
No single SADC nation can control the full mineral value chain. The costs of advanced refining, manufacturing plants, and logistics networks are too high for one country to bear.
Imagine a coordinated system: Zimbabwe hosts battery cell manufacturing, Namibia specialises in solar panel assembly, Zambia operates large-scale copper refining, and South Africa manages advanced research and development. Together, they form a unified supply chain able to compete globally.
Pooling infrastructure reduces costs, increases bargaining power, and allows the bloc to set fairer terms with multinational buyers. A united front could negotiate technology transfers, secure better prices, and enforce environmental and labour standards.
Harmonised taxation and export policies would end the “race to the bottom,” where countries undercut each other to attract investment. Instead, SADC could present a seamless regional market with predictable rules, attracting serious, long-term investors.
The economic payoff is enormous, but so is the political one. Acting as a bloc would elevate SADC’s influence in global trade negotiations, climate finance discussions, and renewable energy markets.
What SADC Leaders Must Do in Madagascar
- Adopt a Regional Strategy — unify financial, technical, and policy efforts.
- Establish Shared Industrial Hubs — each country plays to its strengths.
- Harmonise Policies — create a seamless regional market.
- Invest in Skills — train engineers, technicians, and entrepreneurs for the green industrial age.
- Prioritise Community Benefits — ensure local energy access is a non-negotiable outcome.
The Role of Civil Society
Civil society must monitor commitments, demand contract transparency, and push for community-first policies. This is a moment to speak out for industrial policy, but also for dignity, equity, and justice.
They must highlight stories like the mother in rural Zambia who pays more for firewood each month than her neighbour in Lusaka pays for electricity. Or the young graduate in Maputo trained in electrical engineering, but forced to work as a taxi driver because local industries don’t exist.
Conclusion
Southern Africa’s minerals can power the world, but they must first power its people. The value addition of critical minerals in SADC is more than economics; it is about rewriting the region’s development story, ending energy poverty, and creating industries that serve generations.
At the Madagascar summit, SADC leaders have a choice: to be custodians of raw exports or architects of a shared industrial future. The world is watching, and so are the communities whose futures depend on the decisions made in that room.
For them, this is not a debate about trade policy. It is about whether the lights will finally come on.
