Claude Kabemba, Executive Director of the Southern Africa Resource Watch, has urged African countries to strengthen their capacity to negotiate contracts and assert control over the prices of their natural resources.
Speaking on the continent’s mineral wealth, Kabemba highlighted that while Africa possesses abundant resources, many countries lack the tools to transform these minerals into value-added products. “We have got a lot of minerals but we don’t have the basic tools to help us turn those minerals into some useful use of some goods practically,” he said.
He emphasized the importance of maximizing immediate benefits from resource extraction while building long-term industrial capacity. “In the shorter term, we need to quickly ensure that because we don’t have the capacity to add value now, we expand our capacity to negotiate contracts and collect significant revenue from these resources,” Kabemba added.
Kabemba stressed that African nations are in a strong position to influence global markets if they develop negotiation and policy frameworks that allow them to determine the value of their minerals. “We are in a position of power with our resources. How do we negotiate because the market is good? How do we become the people who impose the price of these minerals so that we can collect enough revenue?” he asked.
According to Kabemba, revenues from natural resources could then be strategically invested in other sectors to foster industrialization, economic diversification, and sustainable growth. He urged policymakers to combine immediate revenue collection with long-term strategies to add value to raw materials and transform the continent’s economic landscape.
