Durban Industrialization Week Focuses on Control Over Africa's Mineral Resources

During the opening of the ninth annual South African Development Community (SADC) Industrialization Week in Durban, held at the Durban International Convention Centre on Monday, it was emphasized that industrialization remains the most effective path to economic transformation.

Central Theme of the Summit

This week, Durban hosted the ninth SADC Industrialization Week. Although the event outwardly resembled a standard regional summit where government officials, business delegates, and investors gather for five days of panel discussions and exhibitions, the organizers chose a theme at the heart of one of the continent's most significant economic debates: industrialization based on infrastructure, agriculture, and critical minerals. This debate concerns who will process Africa's minerals and where this processing will take place.

Calls for Raw Material Processing

Trade Minister Parks Tau used his opening address to call on the region to move away from raw material exports and begin investing in deep processing, advanced manufacturing, and regional value chains. This idea reflects current debates across the continent. Just two weeks before the event in Durban, African ministers met in Abidjan at a similar forum organized by the African Development Bank, where the message was almost identical: Africa holds about 30% of the world's reserves of vital minerals such as cobalt, lithium, graphite, rare earth metals, and platinum group metals, yet continues to export most of them in an unprocessed form, receiving only a small share of the profits.

Significance of SADC and Regional Integration

The SADC position is particularly important as it is geographically central to solving the problem. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia possess cobalt and copper, while Zimbabwe has some of the largest lithium reserves on the continent. South Africa has a unique advantage—established chemical processing infrastructure, research institutes, and a partially developed battery materials industry that most of its neighbors lack. No SADC country possesses the complete set of resources—mines, energy, transport, processing capacity, and financing—to independently transform raw materials into finished battery products. It is this gap that regional value chains are intended to fill, which explains the constant mention of 'regional integration' in Africa's mineral strategic documents.

Role of the African Continental Free Trade Area

The mechanism that analysts believe can realize these plans is the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It creates a market with a population of over 1.3 billion people and is projected to increase intra-African mineral exports by approximately 6% by 2035. This will happen mainly due to the ability to move minerals between countries without tariffs, such as cobalt mined in the DRC and processed at a facility in South Africa, instead of each country trying to create its own isolated processing industry.

Takeaways from Industrialization Week

The real test of the Durban Industrialization Week is not the exhibitions or the opening ceremony. More important is whether the panel discussions on infrastructure, agriculture, and critical minerals will lead to something more concrete than what was presented in Abidjan two weeks ago. Over the past year, African ministries have repeatedly stated the need for deep processing, but there have been far fewer actual cross-border investments to translate these statements into functioning regional supply chains. If Durban can transform the consensus reached in conference rooms into signed agreements, it will be significant; otherwise, it will join the growing number of forums repeating the same theses.

iol.co.zaJuly 27, 19:30

Regional Summit Leaders State Industrialization is Key to Economic Transformation in SADC

Regional leaders emphasized that industrialization remains the most effective path to achieving economic transformation. This was the main message delivered on the opening day of the ninth annual Southern African Development Community (SADC) Industrialisation Week at the Durban ICC on Monday.

Opening of the SADC Industrialisation Week

The week, which serves as the SADC's flagship platform for promoting regional industrial development, investment, and economic transformation, was officially opened by the mayor of eThekwini, Cyril Shaboe. The keynote speech was delivered by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Tau.

According to information from the eThekwini municipality, the current event focuses on strengthening regional trade, expanding production capacity, and creating sustainable jobs. The municipality noted that this event supports the implementation of the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap for the period 2015–2063, which is based on three pillars: industrialisation, competitiveness, and regional integration.

Goals and Objectives of the Event

The city stated that the main goals of the week are to promote the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap 2015–2063, centered around three areas: industrialisation, competitiveness, and regional integration. These objectives are planned to be achieved by empowering women and young entrepreneurs through innovation and digital transformation.

Mayor Shaboe expressed his honour in hosting this important gathering, calling Durban a strategic gateway to Africa and a city committed to stimulating regional industrialisation, investment, and economic growth.

Leaders' Views on Development

SADC Executive Secretary Elias Magosi noted that the week provides an opportunity to discuss the future of industrial development, stressing that talk about change alone does not lead to action. He stated that this platform allows for sharing experiences, forming effective partnerships, creating opportunities, and finding innovative solutions, as aspirations alone are insufficient for transformation; real implementation and creation of opportunities for industries and businesses are necessary.

Minister Tau asserted that industrialisation lays the foundation for increasing productivity, diversifying the economy, technological progress, and greater resilience to external shocks. He urged stakeholders to consider strategic vulnerabilities and focus on achieving measurable and visible results. Tau added that there is growing industrialisation and trade in the countries, and the focus of the SADC Industrialisation Week should be on addressing production capacity and logistics issues, anticipating increased industrial trade between SADC countries.

Infrastructure and Investment

Tau specifically highlighted the importance of resolving infrastructure issues for industrialisation, noting that this is critical not only for South Africa but for the entire SADC. He stressed the need to work on ports, roads, and railway networks, as trade is hindered without such infrastructure. Furthermore, Tau mentioned that the region needs to improve agricultural land and increase yields, and that the week is an important platform for dialogue between business and government to identify policy problems and their implementation.

Tau concluded that the outcomes of the SADC Industrialisation Week will be presented at the Sixth Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of SADC, which will take place in Durban in August, contributing critically to the decision-making of heads of state.

Khulekani Mate, Chairman of the SADC Business Council and CEO of Business Unity South Africa, stated that businesses require confidence to invest. He emphasized that companies want to see a decent return on investment when building factories and facilities, so the region must be made attractive for investment and its openness declared. Mate reminded that SADC unites 16 countries, and the ability of these 16 countries to discuss the same issues allows for finding common solutions, and the ongoing discussion will help convey business problems to various SADC governments.

iol.co.zaJuly 27, 17:01

Planned roadworks in Durbanville and Bellville: information for residents

The City of Cape Town's Directorate of Urban Mobility has announced planned roadworks in several areas, including Langeberg Ridge, Langeberg Village, Shoongzicht, Valmari Park, Vierlanden, Wygeboom, Wellview Park East, and Welgemud.

Project Timeline and Objective

The works are scheduled to start on Monday and will continue until November 12th, taking place on weekdays from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM, provided weather conditions are favorable and no unforeseen delays occur. Rob Quintas, a member of the Mayor's Committee on Urban Mobility and advisor, emphasized that these improvements in Durbanville and Bellville represent an important investment in maintaining a safe, reliable, and sustainable road network.

According to him, regular maintenance not only improves driving quality and road safety but also extends the lifespan of the infrastructure, preventing the need for more expensive repairs in the future. He expressed gratitude to residents and road users for their cooperation during these critical upgrades aimed at ensuring smooth traffic flow throughout Cape Town.

List of Affected Streets

The roadworks will affect the following sections: in Durbanville, on Langeberg Ridge—Ridge Road, Pine Wood Crescent, Patula Crescent, Jut Crescent, and Maritime Street; in Durbanville, on Langeberg Village—Pioneer Road, Crescent Street, and Mary Rocks Close.

Works are also planned in Shoongzicht (Durbanville): Noordsig Road, Kodyu Road, Vergesig Road, De Tiger Road, and Oribi Road; in Valmari Park (Durbanville): Jacaranda Avenue, Panorama Drive, and Moreson Avenue. Murray Street in Vierlanden (Durbanville) will be repaired.

In Wygeboom (Durbanville), work will take place on Tugela Road and Maroela Street, while in Wellview Park East (Durbanville)—Tamboti Crescent, Primula Avenue, Lobelia Road, Dahlia Close, Cyclamen Road, Camellia Way, and Tamarisk Street. In Welgemud (Bellville), the repairs will affect Reid Street, Van de Graaf Street, Jansen Street, Craig Street, Da Gama Street, and Plettenberg Street.

Scope of Work and Warnings

The project scope includes rehabilitation, resurfacing, and sealing of existing roads. The removal of damaged curbs and installation of new ones is planned, as well as the replacement and leveling of selected damaged drains where necessary. Furthermore, gravel roads will be upgraded to asphalt, and all road markings removed during construction will be restored.

Temporary disruptions and traffic congestion are expected during the works, along with noise from construction equipment during working hours. Road users are advised to allow extra travel time, use alternative routes where possible, and exercise increased caution.