Harare -
The dream of southern African countries finally beneficiating their own minerals, and having their diamonds cut locally as opposed to in foreign countries such as Belgium, Israel and India, is coming ever closer to reality.
Mineral beneficiation is key to the region’s industrial development, and was one of the issues tackled at Wednesday’s SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government in Harare.
The summit approved the Regional Strategy and Roadmap for Industrialisation, which was drafted by the region’s ministers of Trade following the SADC summit in Victoria Falls last August.
What this means in practice, is that regional governments have agreed to find concrete ways to diversify trade, beneficiate their own minerals, add value to their agricultural products, and create regional value chains.
“Just as Airbus has its parts manufactured in different European countries in a value chain, so can various SADC countries produce different parts of a final product, creating a regional value chain,” Minister for Trade and Industry Rob Davies, who led the South African delegation to the summit, said.
According to KPMG, Italy makes more out of the production of gold jewellery than South Africa does out of mining its gold.
This has to be reversed even in South Africa, considered the most industrialised of the SADC countries.
South Africa is set to unveil its industrial policy action plan in the next few weeks, which should shed light on how the government plans to move ahead with beneficiation.
This is important both for South Africa and SADC countries as the bulk of the region’s products are exported in raw form.
Botswana already has a jewellery industry and is cutting its own diamonds.
“While South Africa does cut and polish diamonds, a major breakthrough would be the capacity for small diamond cutting, instead of sending diamonds to India, and other countries,” Davies said.
President Jacob Zuma said at the summit: “Mineral beneficiation will lead to job creation and enhanced economic development. Infrastruc-ture development will also contribute towards regional integration.”
Concerns that the xenophobic attacks in South Africa would overshadow the agenda of the summit were unfounded. Zuma briefed the gathering on the causes of recent attacks on foreign nationals and what action the government had taken. The SADC commended the South African government on the measures taken, and pledged to work together.
Independent Foreign Service