Programme Director,
The Group Chief Executive Officer of Absa, Mr Kenny Fihla,
HE Ms Lerato Mataboge, AU Commissioner on AU Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy,
Mr Wamkele Mene, Secretary General of the AfCFTA,
Heads of Mission and Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Distinguished Business Leaders,
Senior Government Officials,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning.
Malibongwe!
Igama lamakhosikazi!
Programme Director,
I am going to start off by revisiting some words from Chinua Achebe, who is widely regarded as the father of modern African literature.
In No Longer at Ease, one of the novels that forms part of the African Trilogy, Achebe writes:
“A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving. They all have food in their own homes.”
He continues:
“When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so.”
Our setting today is obviously quite different. We are meeting around a breakfast table rather than on a moonlit village ground. I am certain most of you could have had a good breakfast at home.
But Achebe’s words resonate, nonetheless.
You honoured the invitation to this feast because you recognise that it is important to come together in fellowship and dialogue. To think together. To look ahead together.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I see my slot as an opportunity to offer a few points of reflection to anchor what I am sure will be a stimulating panel discussion.
Africa holds an ace in its hand!
Those are not my words – they belong to words of Zainab Badawi, who brings us a rich volume of Africa’s untold stories boldly titled – An African History of Africa.
What does Badawi mean by this?
This declaration can be interpreted in at least two ways.
We are the continent with the youngest population in the world. The median age across Africa is 19 years. Nearly 60 percent of our population is under the age of 25. And by 2030, within the next four years, one in four young people in the world will be from Africa.
This is in sharp contrast to populations elsewhere, particularly Europe and parts of Asia, where population ageing is a serious reality. At approximately 1.4 billion people, we are also the fastest-growing continent in the world.
This means our economies and level of job creation must be at the same par with population growth.
Secondly, Africa is home to an extraordinary concentration of the world’s mineral wealth.
Between South Africa and Zimbabwe lie over 90 percent of the world’s platinum group metals.
Over 70% of the world’s cobalt comes from the mines of the DRC.
The world’s largest bauxite reserves are in Guinea, And Gabon is the world’s second-largest producer of manganese.
Mozambique and Madagascar are among the top five global producers of graphite.
As experts and investors in mining, many of you here already know this story. But let me underscore it.
Our continent has many of the minerals that are critical to the global energy transition. These minerals are essential to technologies ranging from solar panels and wind turbines to electric vehicles and energy-storage systems. Africa is therefore central to the transition to a low-carbon future. This holds enormous promise for Africa’s industrialisation and development.
Africa is growing. Africa is young. Africa is richly endowed with mineral resources.
But this promise also carries peril.
The promise is that young people can become a powerful source of creativity, innovation, productivity and economic growth. But whether this promise is realised will depend largely on our ability to provide employment and meaningful opportunities to participate in the economy.
As matters stand, our continent creates approximately 3 million formal jobs each year, while between 10 million and 12 million young people enter the labour market.
Related to this is whether we are building capable states that can meet the growing demand for public services, particularly education and healthcare.
The answers that young people are giving are not positive. Many are restless where they are. As many as 6 in 10 young Africans want to relocate to another country on the African continent. They tell us they have lost faith in the economic prospects in their countries of birth.
Our mineral wealth presents a similar test. Mineral abundance does not automatically produce prosperity.
Too often, our minerals leave the continent unprocessed, while the value, technology, jobs and wealth associated with them are created elsewhere. To illustrate this imbalance, even though nearly three-quarters of global cobalt comes from Africa, 60 percent of the processing takes place in China.
The rising demand for critical minerals can usher in a new era of shared prosperity. It can also accelerate extraction, plunder, conflict and instability. The warning signs are already visible.
As United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has warned, without decisive action from governments, this rush for critical minerals could very well trample on the poor.
It is encouraging that governments across our region, including South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, are taking bold policy steps to break with the old patterns of extraction and plunder.
African governments are not passive onlookers as a new scramble for the continent’s resources gathers pace. These steps bode well for the implementation of the African Green Minerals Strategy and the G20 Critical Minerals Framework.
Within the context of the G20 our presidency also highlighted in intra-Africa payment systems as critical area of cooperation. We have moved to implement some of these outcomes, South Africa has added to Angolan Kwanza as a cross-border regional payment system. This is how we improve intra-Africa trade.
How we manage the promise and peril of this moment will determine whether we realise Agenda 2063’s vision of a peaceful, integrated and prosperous Africa anchored in the ideals of Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance.
As Chairperson of the Ministerial Follow-Up Committee on Agenda 2063, I have had the opportunity to reflect closely on our continent’s progress.
The picture is mixed. We are making encouraging progress in strengthening public institutions and empowering our people. But integration, connectivity and peaceful resolution of conflicts continue to lag.
Half of Africa’s largest companies are from South Africa which means we are the biggest investor in our continent and stand to gain more from regional efforts.
Let me conclude by placing three questions before you.
First, how do we close the public awareness gap?
Afrobarometer’s African Insights 2026, released this week, carries some good and bad news.
The good news is that more than 6 in 10 Africans believe that making it easier to trade with other countries will benefit their economies. The bad news is that only 13 percent have heard of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
This gives us a foundation on which to build support for deeper regional and continental integration. But we also know that citizens cannot rally behind a project they barely know exists. So, how do we translate this openness to trade into greater public awareness and understanding of the AfCFTA?
Second, how do we answer the scepticism about who benefits from integration?
How do we demonstrate that regional integration is not the preoccupation of political and economic elites, but a project that can expand opportunity for ordinary people?
Third, what responsibility does business carry for social cohesion?
South Africa is a leading destination for migrants on the continent. Many of our migrants come to South Africa from the region and beyond in search of work and a better life.
There is, however, an unsettling pattern of some employers exploiting irregular migration to evade labour and immigration laws. This conduct is unlawful. It is unfair to responsible businesses, erodes labour standards for everyone and damages social cohesion.
We are aware that while the continent has the immense potential, it faces challenges in the near term. The economies in most countries have not enjoyed solid growth for some time. Fortunately, there are positive changes on the horizon. The IMF forecasts the sub-Saharan Africa growth at 4.5 percent this year, and at similar levels in the coming year. Still, these growth figures are from a lower base and the living conditions in many countries are still low. This is one of the sources of migration; economic anxiety.
It is for this reason that the business community must collaborate with us to think about ways to accelerate growth in the continent through mining, agriculture and manufacturing. In a same way as the mineral deposits, the continent has vast arable land. But studies show that roughly 90 percent of this land has informal land rights, which constrain agricultural development. We must fix this, together.
In essence, in a period of economic hardship, business practices that violate immigration laws also feed tensions between South Africans and migrants from the continent. Those tensions can also spill into other countries and harm the interests of South African businesses elsewhere on the continent.
Here is the question: Is there room in the business community for a frank conversation about this?
Ladies and gentlemen,
Africa’s development cannot be achieved by governments acting in isolation, nor by business pursuing profit without regard for broader developmental outcomes.
Our collective success depends on stronger partnerships, greater economic integration, and a shared commitment to sustainable development.
Malibongwe!
Igama lamakhosikazi!
Thank you.
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