A very important meeting on mining in Africa will take place from February 9 to 12, 2026 in Cape Town, South Africa. Dubbed, “Investing in African Mining Indaba,” the meeting shall, according to the organisers, dss+, bring together key stakeholders from around the world in order “to drive innovation, promote transparency and collaborate to create a more resilient and prosperous future for the African mining sector.”
Those are indeed, very noble aims but an equally key question remains. “Who benefits from Africa’s mineral resources?”
Industry experts agree that “Africa’s mineral wealth primarily benefits international markets, multinational corporations and local elites,” who are usually politicians or business moguls with high end connections.
The global automotive industry, electronics and energy sectors all rely on Africa’s 30 per cent share of global natural resources. Ninety per cent of the resources are exported raw with African nations capturing an estimated 40 per cent only of potential revenue. That happens while the potential for local development remains largely unutilised.
Indaba on the other hand, is now part of South African English. It is both a Xhosa and Zulu word that means an important meeting designed to bring together “the right people at the right time to discuss crucial issues.” It emphasises the value of meaningful conversation and recognises that everyone has something valuable to contribute.
A Zulu friend once told me that Indaba also meant “the shield,” the one object of battle in all human cultures that symbolises valour. I stand to be corrected, though.
However, informally, Indaba also means “one’s own problem or concern.” For example, “Africa’s poverty is our indaba and no one else’s.”
Thus, the mining indaba, whether conference or problem, is highly symbolic for the “prosperous future of the African mining sector.”
dss+ on the other hand, is a team of high-calibre consultants who focus on transforming corporate culture, enhancing operational efficiency, and ensuring sustainability for clients, particularly in high-risk industries. (emphasis is mine).
Again, I stand to be corrected but that is where I think the mining Indaba in Cape Town won’t primarily be about Africa and Africans unless they too are “clients in a high-risk industry,” which obviously they are not.
Yes, as usual, there will be icing on the cake with the participation of black faces in almost all events but that is not the point. Also, the issue is not about critical minerals but rather about “equitable sharing of the mineral resources” for mutual benefits in the global chain of wealth creation.
Short of that, and I concur with the experts, Africa’s mineral wealth shall continue primarily to benefit more the “international markets” and multinational corporations.
If I were in Cape Town next week, I would probably be drawn more to the Monday morning session on: “Strategic partnerships – The new model for mine financing.”
The panel discussion’s synopsis reads: “As capital markets tighten and risk aversion grows, traditional mining finance is evolving – with public-private partnerships (PPPs), development finance institutions (DFIs), and blended finance emerging as vital de-risking tools. This panel explores how these collaborations are transforming.”
I can promise the moon African interests are not part of that transformation because the emphasis is on “de-risking” investments!
A narrative often circulates that money is everything. Without money, the unpolished stones and raw metals in the ground would be nothing. But why can’t it also be the other way round – that money cannot buy what God never created and embed in the African soil?
Let me be not misunderstood. I am not saying nothing good shall come out of the African Mining Indaba 2026. The mere fact that Zambian President, Hakainde Hichilema, will deliver the keynote address and not President Cyril Ramaphosa, is in itself highly symbolic for Africa.
But, if there is any shift in sustainability trends, that shift should carry on board Africa’s interests as well.
The rich fear losing their money – capital. On the other hand, Africa too fears being left in poverty with nothing but gapping pits once the resources dry up under unfair exploitation.
The real mining kitchens here are the boardrooms of finance “collaboration modalities” in an environment of changing and “risk-averse” capital markets. Africa too should wake up. Extractive wealth is not infinite. It should be under win-win modalities.
One day there will be no more gold. If Africa can’t earn enough to enable it also transition to future technologies of wealth creation, then what goes on now shall be no different from daylight robbery.
In any case, evil can never be the virtue unless of course, man has lost all sense of morality.
