Africa Must Craft Policies to Benefit from Natural Resources :AFREWATCH

The African Natural Resources Watch (AFREWATCH), a regional nongovernmental organization promoting equal access to natural resources has called on African countries to craft policies that will see the continent benefiting from its resources.

The AFREWATCH Executive Director Emmanuel Umpula Nkumba said that the continent stands to benefit from the natural resources that it has if it adopts policies that promotes value addition rather than exportation of raw materials as well as putting in place measures to curb illicit flow of resources.

“The current economic model does not allow Africa to benefit from its wealth of natural resources such as lithium. We need a model involving local processing of minerals and the production of battery precursors to boost our economies. That requires effective measures against corruption, as well as better labour conditions, contributions to community development and environmental protection,”he said.

African countries like Zimbabwe are currently in the the midst of a scramble for lithium following the discovery of vast Lithium deposits in the country.

Rather than benefitting its citizens, the discoveries are fuelling corruption and leaving a poisoned legacy of pollution and human rights abuses.

A report by the Global Witness in 2022,revealed that an estimated 5,000 local miners were found to be working in unsafe conditions at Sandawana Mine in Mberengwa. There were reports of child labour, sanitation issues and workers being buried by a mine collapse.

In early 2023 it was reported that miners had been evicted, their minerals confiscated, and the mine taken over by companies with close links to Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party and the military, including entities facing US or EU sanctions.

Africa is at the center of a geo-political powerplay for the minerals used in clean energy technologies that will fuel a global, green energy transition.

Lithium or ‘white gold’ is one of the most sought-after transition minerals, used in electric vehicles and wind turbines.