President Mnangagwa calls on Africa to promote value addition, mineral beneficiation

HARARE, Zimbabwe — President Emmerson Mnangagwa has called for an immediate end to the “counter-productive legacy” of exporting Africa’s raw minerals, demanding an urgent transition toward local value addition and mineral beneficiation to power the continent’s economic independence.

Speaking at the official opening of the Africa Skills Week 2026 at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC) yesterday, Mnangagwa said that African nations must desist from exporting primary commodities.

He said that local value addition is no longer an option but a matter of continental survival under Agenda 2063 and the Action Plan for the Accelerated Industrial Development for Africa.

The prestigious five-day continental summit, convened by the African Union Commission and hosted by Zimbabwe, runs until 16 October 2026 under the theme “Skills for Resilient and Competitive African Industries: From Training to Value Creation.”

“Our continent’s vast reserves of minerals, including lithium, platinum, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements, should never be extracted and exported as primary raw commodities. This counter-productive legacy should end,” Mnangagwa said.

Following his address, the President toured various exhibition stands showcasing innovations from higher learning institutions, the private sector, and industrial players, highlighting the practical link between technical training, home-grown solutions, and industrialisation.

He was guided by the Minister of Skills Audit and Development, Hon. Dr. Jenfan Muswere, who has been instrumental in aligning technical education frameworks with the operational demands of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

To support this industrial shift, Mnangagwa called for deep regional cooperation to cultivate a highly technical workforce capable of managing advanced processing supply chains.

“Through regional cooperation, we must as Africa establish regional centres of excellence to train the workforce that will power Africa’s green transition, broader industrialisation, and modernisation.”

He said that skilled African workers must be able to move seamlessly across borders to maximise continental growth, urging member states to accelerate the implementation of the African Continental Qualifications Framework to harmonise educational and technical standards across the region.

Muswere highlighted that this continental event comes at a strategic time following Zimbabwe’s first comprehensive Critical Skills Audit, aiming to shift national focus from paper qualifications to actual competencies.

The summit brings together policymakers, youth delegates, industry leaders, and development partners like the International Labour Organisation (ILO) across 11 thematic tracks tackling critical modern economic pillars, including Digital Transformation and AI, green skills, and financing for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

For Zimbabwe, hosting this continental event directly reinforces its Vision 2030 objectives and its transition toward Heritage-Based Education 5.0, a policy prioritising innovation and industrial output over theory.

The summit is expected to conclude on Friday with the adoption of the historic Harare Declaration and an implementation matrix—a framework which will serve as Africa’s operational blueprint to transform technical training into decent jobs, ensuring the continent finally reaps the true financial rewards of its natural resources.

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