Programme Director and Member of SA Foreign Service, Mr Nelson Kgwete and your delegation,
University of Zululand, the Vice Chancellor and Principal, Prof Kunene and your esteemed delegation,
Dr Nomalungelo Gina, Honourable Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation,
Palestine Deputy Ambassador and Political Counsellor, Excellency Mr Bassam Elhussiny,
BRICS Student Commission, Mr Sibusiso Nene and your delegation,
Members of the Student Body, SRC President Awande Mkhize and your delegation,

Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly found, and given and transmitted from the past (Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, 1852 Karl Marx).

It is a privilege to address the faculty and students at the University of Zululand on the theme: Securing South Africa’s Future – From Critical Minerals to Critical Knowledge: Student Leadership, Science Diplomacy and Higher Education Resilience in an Era of Global Trade Fragmentation.

Students at this University have already been debating South Africa’s balancing act between non-alignment, BRICS cooperation and a fragmenting international trading system. That is precisely as it should be. Universities must be places where power is questioned and new possibilities imagined.

Your generation is coming of age as trade becomes an instrument of geopolitical power, technology an arena of national-security competition, AI transforms economies, and the green transition redraws industrial power. The developing world therefore confronts an old question in a new form: will we merely supply the resources that enable the prosperity of others, or acquire the knowledge, technology and productive capacity to build prosperity ourselves?

Antonio Gramsci aptly described the current geopolitical and geo economic landscape that we find ourselves in when he wrote:

“The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.”

Those words speak powerfully to our time. The old order is under strain and the new has not been settled. We see an expanding BRICS, a more assertive Global South and demands for reform of global institutions; but also, war, protectionism, technological blockades, erosion of international law and intensifying competition for strategic resources.

We are witnessing a struggle over the character of the order that will follow.

South Africa does not seek a world in which one hegemon is merely replaced by another. We seek a democratic, equitable order based on sovereign equality, international law and multilateralism — multicultural and multi-civilisational in character, multipolar in its distribution of power, and pluri-versal in its recognition of diverse knowledge systems and paths to development.

Pluriversality matters because no single country, civilisation or worldview should claim an exclusive right to define humanity’s future. For Africa, multipolarity must create agency, while pluriversality must create political and intellectual space for our own ideas, knowledge systems and developmental priorities.

Amílcar Cabral understood the deeper meaning of this struggle. He argued that national liberation had to restore a people’s capacity to develop its own productive forces. Political sovereignty without productive capability can leave a country formally independent yet structurally dependent.

And in his exact words: “National liberation is necessarily an act of culture.”

In the twenty-first century, political sovereignty must therefore be accompanied by economic sovereignty, technological sovereignty and knowledge sovereignty. Sovereignty is no longer measured only by territory and a flag, but also by whether a nation possesses the scientific, technological and productive capacity to determine its own future.

THE GEOPOLITICAL LANDSCAPE — A WORLD REORDERING AROUND NATIONAL INTERESTS AND RESOURCES

Ladies and gentlemen,

The multilateral system — and the trading system in particular — that governed the global economy for seven decades, anchored in the WTO, is fracturing. We have entered an era of geoeconomic competition in which trade policy, industrial subsidies, technology restrictions and supply-chain architecture are deployed as instruments of strategic rivalry.

The United States, China, the European Union and other major centres of power are investing enormous political and financial resources in securing the technologies, manufacturing capabilities and strategic inputs upon which future economic power will depend.

Artificial intelligence may appear weightless, but it depends upon semiconductors, data centres, energy systems and specialised materials; so, do batteries, renewable energy, advanced manufacturing and defence. The contest for technological leadership is therefore inseparable from the contest over the physical foundations of technology.

Yet even as the international order fractures, the world has just been reminded of what is at stake.

Three days ago, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, the South African jurist and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “for her efforts to promote peace and international law” — the fifth South African to receive that honour, after Chief Albert Luthuli, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Presidents Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk.

Justice Pillay’s words speak directly to this moment:

“We are living through an era when international law and human rights are under significant political attack… This recognition has strengthened my conviction that we must stand together in defence of the rule of law, in defence of independent courts, and an international legal order based on principle.”

South Africa’s defence of multilateralism is therefore a defence of law over raw power. At the same time, critical minerals are increasingly embedded in national-security and industrial strategy.

THE NEW SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA 2.0

We should speak candidly about what this means for our continent. There is a new scramble for strategic resources underway.

The nineteenth-century scramble for Africa involved territorial conquest, political domination, slavery and the extraction of raw materials and agricultural products for food, water and energy security etc.

The twenty-first-century scramble is more sophisticated. It concerns who secures access to strategic critical and rare-earth minerals for digital, AI and green technologies; who finances extraction; who controls processing, refining and transport corridors; who owns the technology and intellectual property; who sets standards; and ultimately where the greatest share of value is captured.

The United States understands this. China understands it. Europe, India, Japan and other important economic powers understand it. Africa must understand it too. It would be naïve to regard the global surge of interest in Africa’s critical minerals as an act of generosity. Countries pursue narrow national interests.

As we reflect on this question, we are reminded that October is OR Tambo month.  And OR as he was affectionately known was our for most diplomat, and internationalist. We should therefore ask: what would OR Tambo demand of us in confronting this new scramble for Africa? Surely, he would insist that Africa act with unity, strategic discipline. patience and confidence in its own agency — mobilising international partnerships not for dependency, but for liberation, development and the advancement of our people’s interests.

Our responsibility is therefore to become considerably more effective at pursuing our own. Africa must not become a pawn in a geopolitical contest between major powers, nor should it be compelled to choose between competing external centres of power.

South Africa’s strategic autonomy means that we engage all partners, cooperate where our interests converge, disagree where necessary, and retain the sovereign right to determine our developmental path.

This is not passive non-alignment. It is active strategic autonomy. Africa needs markets, finance, technology and partnerships. The question is: on what terms? Partnerships must industrialise, transfer technology, build skills and infrastructure, strengthen research and manufacturing, and deliver development to communities. Africa must not exchange an old dependency for a new dependency painted green or digital.

Karl Marx famously wrote that great world-historic facts appear twice: “the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.”

Africa knows the tragedy of the first scramble. We dare not allow history to return as farce. It would be an unforgivable historical irony if Africa were again reduced to supplying the raw materials for somebody else’s industrial revolution — this time under the banners of artificial intelligence, digital transformation and the green transition.

If Africa digs while others process, exports while others manufacture and bears environmental and social costs while others capture technology, intellectual property and industrial value, then the underlying relationship has not changed sufficiently.

The response to this new scramble must therefore be a Pan-African programme of economic liberation.

SOUTH AFRICA’S STRATEGIC POSITION AND THE CRITICAL MINERALS STRATEGY

Ladies and gentlemen,

Our mineral wealth is not simply significant — it is irreplaceable. Mining contributes approximately 7% of GDP, accounts for 84% of export sales, and provides employment for hundreds of thousands of South Africans directly, with many more in downstream and upstream industries.

In May 2025, the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources released its Critical Minerals and Metals Strategy.

It recognises that South Africa’s minerals are no longer merely commodities, but strategic assets in a global contest for technological supremacy, clean-energy security and economic dominance.

The Strategy identifies 21 strategic minerals, with platinum-group metals, manganese, iron ore, coal and chrome among the high-criticality group.

It promotes local beneficiation and advanced manufacturing, electric vehicles, battery storage and green hydrogen, job creation, skills and cross-border value chains through AfCFTA and regional integration.

Beneficiation is not simply processing a rock one additional stage before export. It is building an industrial ecosystem of energy, infrastructure, finance, science, markets, intellectual property and universities across South Africa, the region and the continent.

Mineral sovereignty and knowledge sovereignty are therefore part of the same project. Knowledge sovereignty does not mean isolation. It means possessing the capability to define our own research priorities and participate in international knowledge systems as co-creators, not permanent consumers.

Thus, research partnerships, university networks, technology agreements, standards, student exchanges and intellectual-property governance are increasingly diplomatic instruments, together regarded as science diplomacy.

Noting the above, South Africa’s foreign policy remains grounded in a principled commitment to a rules-based, transparent and non-discriminatory multilateral global economic system.

It is the same conviction that shaped our G20 Presidency in 2025 and one we will carry into our BRICS Chairship in 2028.

We are also engaging on the development of a critical-minerals diplomacy strategy premised on our critical minerals strategy that advances South Africa’s developmental objectives and mineral sovereignty.

FROM BENEFICIATION TO A PAN-AFRICAN INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

South Africa cannot pursue this agenda in isolation. The scale of contemporary industrial competition means that our strategic horizon must be Southern African and continental.

What we require is not disconnected national strategies competing to export raw minerals, but an integrated regional industrial strategy built around complete Southern African value chains connecting resources, processing, research, manufacturing, energy and logistics.

South Africa currently chairs the SADC Council of Ministers, and beneficiation of critical minerals, stronger regional value chains and accelerated industrialisation are among the priorities of our regional agenda. SADC’s Industrialisation Strategy identifies mineral beneficiation and regional value chains as central to economic transformation.

Africa’s Green Minerals Strategy calls on the continent to move beyond unprocessed exports, while the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) provides a market framework for continental industrialisation.

The political task is implementation: infrastructure, energy integration, research cooperation, industrial finance and strategic coordination. When Africa coordinates around development, technology and value addition, our bargaining power changes. That is the difference between being the object of another scramble and becoming an agent shaping the new global economy.

Pan-Africanism must therefore be more than political solidarity. In this century it must also mean economic integration, technological cooperation and collective industrial power.

BRICS COOPERATION, CRITICAL MINERALS AND YOUTH LEADERSHIP

Ladies and gentlemen,

In 2026, it is nearly impossible to discuss critical minerals and the future global economy without BRICS.

Since South Africa joined in 2010, BRICS has expanded into an influential grouping of 10 emerging economies, representing approximately 49% of the world’s population and 40% of global GDP measured at purchasing-power parity.

BRICS countries collectively possess significant critical-mineral reserves, including approximately 72% of the world’s rare earths, 45% of graphite, 28% of nickel and 21% of lithium.

These resources position BRICS strategically within global energy and technology value chains and present South Africa with opportunities to advance beneficiation, industrialisation, technology transfer and sustainable development.

BRICS cooperation is structured around three pillars: political and security cooperation; economic and financial cooperation; and cultural and people-to-people cooperation.

On 12 and 13 September 2026, President Cyril Ramaphosa participated in the 18th BRICS Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi under the theme Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.

The Summit reaffirmed the importance of critical minerals to energy security, technological advancement and sustainable development.

The New Delhi Declaration emphasised responsible, diversified and resilient critical-mineral supply chains that promote benefit-sharing, value addition and economic diversification in resource-rich countries, while preserving sovereign rights over mineral resources.

This is particularly significant for South Africa and Africa. For too long, Africa has exported minerals in raw form and imported finished products at significantly higher prices. Almost 58% of South Africa’s exports to BRICS markets consist of iron ore, chromium ore, coal, manganese and diamonds.

But BRICS must not reproduce within the Global South the extractive patterns we criticise elsewhere. It would be a profound contradiction if Africa supplied raw materials to expanded BRICS economies while high-value manufacturing and technology remained concentrated elsewhere.

The purpose of BRICS cannot merely be to change the destination of raw-material exports while leaving the structure of dependency intact. While BRICS presents significant opportunities, structural trade imbalances remain a challenge.

In 2025, South Africa recorded a trade deficit of approximately R286.3 billion with BRICS countries. This reinforces the need to move towards beneficiation, industrialisation, technological innovation and value-added exports.

As President Ramaphosa emphasised at the 2026 BRICS Leaders’ Summit, beneficiation must take place at source to ensure inclusive growth. Our ambition must extend beyond mining towards processing, manufacturing and developing the technologies and industries that will drive future growth.

BRICS cooperation offers opportunities to pursue this ambition through investment, technology transfer, scientific research, skills development and stronger regional value chains, including through the AfCFTA.

But mineral wealth alone cannot secure prosperity. Our greatest resource remains our people — particularly our youth.

1976, 2026: FIFTY YEARS ON AND THE MISSION OF YOUR GENERATION

Distinguished students,

This year marked the 50th anniversary of the June 1976 student uprising. Those students confronted Bantu Education and transformed a struggle over education into a powerful chapter of national liberation. Their circumstances were different from yours, but the question of generational responsibility remains.

Frantz Fanon wrote in The Wretched of the Earth: “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it.” The students of 1976 discovered their mission. Fifty years later, what is the mission of the generation of 2026?

Surely part of that mission is the unfinished task of economic liberation: transforming political freedom into productive capacity, mineral wealth into industrialisation, universities into engines of African innovation, and regional integration into shared prosperity — while ensuring that Africa does not finance the next technological revolution and remain excluded from its benefits.

This is why youth participation within BRICS matters.  In this regard South Africa has consistently championed meaningful youth participation, including through the establishment of the BRICS Youth Council during our 2023 Chairship.

The 2026 New Delhi Declaration recognised young people as drivers of innovation, inclusion and sustainable development and reaffirmed cooperation through the Youth Council, Youth Summit, education, entrepreneurship, science and technology.

In early September 2026, the fifth BRICS Summer School at UNISA brought together students, researchers, government representatives and young professionals, reaffirming our commitment to the next generation of diplomats, researchers, scientists and policymakers.

But BRICS is not without challenges, yet South Africa remains confident in its relevance as we prepare for our 2028 Chairship.

To the students gathered here today: You cannot merely observe these transformations. Student leadership must mean more than campus representation.

The next generation of African leadership will require political consciousness and technical competence — the ability to connect geopolitics with engineering, AI, biotechnology, climate science and law. Your education is therefore a national and continental resource.

Ask difficult questions:

Why should a mineral-rich continent remain poor while exporting strategic resources and importing high-value technologies? And most importantly: What are you going to build differently? Cabral’s generation confronted political liberation. Yours must decide what we do with that freedom.

CONCLUSION

Ladies and gentlemen,

Let me conclude with a simple proposition:

The mineral beneath our soil and the knowledge within our minds must no longer be separated. Africa possesses many of the materials upon which the twenty-first-century economy will be built. But possessing resources is not the same as possessing power. Resources become power when combined with knowledge, institutions and productive capacity. And sovereignty becomes meaningful when a people possess the capability to determine the direction of their own development.

The first scramble for Africa was a tragedy. It dispossessed our people, extracted our resources and structured African economies to serve the industrial development of others.

We dare not allow the new scramble to become Marx’s farce — the same extractive relationship dressed this time in the language of artificial intelligence, digital transformation, green technologies and supply-chain security.

Africa’s answer must be different: Beneficiation. Integration. Technology transfer. Knowledge production. Industrialisation. Agency.

South Africa’s message to the world should therefore be clear. We welcome partnership, investment, trade and scientific collaboration with East and West, North and South.

But the era in which Africa’s role is simply to dig and ship must end. If you require our minerals, let us also build industries.  If you seek secure supply chains, let us also build secure African livelihoods. If you seek partnership, let those partnerships develop African technology, African skills and African productive capability. And if the world requires Africa for the industries of the future, then Africa must have a meaningful place in owning, designing and producing that future.

To the students at the University of Zululand: The most important critical resource in this room is not lithium, manganese, platinum or a rare earth. It is your knowledge, courage, intellectual independence, capacity to question, ability to innovate and your determination to build.

Fifty years ago, young South Africans demonstrated that students were not peripheral to history. They became makers of history. Your struggle is different, but the obligation to act remains.

The twenty-first century will be shaped by who controls technology, knowledge, productive capacity and the resources that make the future possible.

Africa must therefore enter the emerging international order not as a spectator, not as a quarry and not as a pawn in somebody else’s geopolitical contest. Africa must enter it as an author, an innovator, a producer and a sovereign participant.

That is the meaning of knowledge sovereignty. That is the purpose of beneficiation at source. That is the contemporary meaning of economic liberation. That is the promise of Pan-African integration. That is what multipolarity and pluriversality must mean for our continent.

And, fifty years after the students of 1976 answered history’s call, that is the mission now passing into the hands of your generation.

I thank you.

ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION

OR Tambo Building
460 Soutpansberg Road
Rietondale
Pretoria
0084