A new scramble for Africa is underway. It is not marked by warships or colonial flags, but by battery supply chains, green transition targets, and high-level trade delegations. The race is for lithium, cobalt, graphite, manganese, platinum group metals and rare earth elements — the minerals powering electric vehicles, renewable energy systems and digital infrastructure.
This scramble is quieter than the 19th-century version. But its implications could be just as profound.
The difference today is that Africa is not politically fragmented in the same way. The continent possesses regional economic blocs with the institutional capacity to shape outcomes — if they choose to act strategically rather than competitively.
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The Southern African Development Community (SADC) sits at the epicentre of the global energy transition mineral map. The Democratic Republic of Congo dominates cobalt. Zimbabwe holds significant lithium deposits. South Africa controls vast platinum and manganese reserves. Zambia remains central to copper supply. Yet despite this concentration of strategic resources, value addition remains limited. Raw exports continue to dominate.
If SADC acts collectively, it could coordinate beneficiation policies, harmonise royalty regimes, and develop cross-border battery precursor industries. If it does not, member states will undercut one another in a race to attract foreign capital — weakening Africa’s negotiating power.
In West Africa, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) faces a different but equally critical test. Guinea’s bauxite, Ghana’s lithium prospects, and widespread gold reserves position the region as a mineral heavyweight. Yet governance instability and political fragmentation risk turning opportunity into vulnerability. Without regulatory harmonisation, multinational corporations will engage states individually, exploiting policy gaps and asymmetries.
Meanwhile, the East African Community (EAC) holds emerging strategic minerals such as graphite and rare earth elements. The EAC’s relative progress in customs integration and common market protocols provides a foundation for coordinated industrial policy. The question is whether that framework will extend beyond trade facilitation into strategic mineral processing and regional manufacturing.
Above them all, the African Union has long articulated the African Mining Vision — a blueprint for resource-based industrialisation. But visions require enforcement. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) offers a platform to transform mineral extraction into continental value chains. Without alignment between regional blocs and continental strategy, however, AfCFTA risks becoming a trade corridor for raw exports rather than a catalyst for industrialisation.
The new scramble is not violent. It is contractual. It unfolds through memoranda of understanding, infrastructure financing agreements and strategic partnership summits. Europe seeks supply chain security. China secures long-term offtake agreements. The United States and Gulf states are increasing engagement. None of this is inherently exploitative. But absent coordination, Africa may again supply the raw materials while importing the finished products.
Regional blocs must therefore move beyond declarations. They should establish common mineral pricing principles, mandatory regional beneficiation targets, transparent contract registries, and sovereign mineral funds to capture intergenerational value. Infrastructure corridors must be designed to serve industrialisation — not merely extraction.
The stakes are clear. Critical minerals could anchor Africa’s structural transformation. Or they could entrench dependency under a greener banner.
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This time, Africa is not without institutions. The question is whether its regional blocs will act as passive gateways for extraction — or as strategic architects of a new industrial era.
History is watching.
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Daniel Makokera is a renowed media personality who has worked as journalist, television anchor, producer and conference presenter for over 20 years. Throughout his career as presenter and anchor, he has travelled widely across the continent and held exclusive interviews with some of Africa's most illustrious leaders. These include former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former South African presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and presidents Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He currently is the CEO of Pamuzinda Productions based in South Africa.
