Online Reporter
Mukudzei Chingwere in JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
VICE President Dr Constantino Chiwenga has called for a collaborative effort and an aggregation of strengths in the Global South to achieve prosperous economic outcomes.
His call came in the wake of the Global North having boasted, at the just-ended G20 leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg, of accruing up to 60 percent in value from strategic minerals mined out of the South.
Notably, the United Nations told the summit that last year alone, of the US$266 billion generated from rare earth minerals, only about two percent was returned to the Global South, thus effectively curtailing efforts to drive economic growth from these innovations.
VP Chiwenga’s call was further buttressed by host President Cyril Ramaphosa, who emphasised that despite having doors opened by major economies, South Africa will not prosper without the rest of the African continent and the Global South at large.
“What is now clear is that the Global South needs to integrate its economic activities; we have to work together if we are to develop fast,” said VP Chiwenga.
“One thing which President Ramaphosa repeated in all his speeches is that if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go further, go with others and this is very important for us countries in the Global South”.
He said developing nations need to join hands and employ specialities in different countries.
“On Friday, South Africa signed an agreement with the European Union, one important agreement, which says that resources are going to be beneficiated at the site of extraction and I think that was a game changer.
“If we all do that, whatever we extract in whatever form, should be value added at the site of extraction,” said VP Chiwenga.
The general sentiment that the Global South, particularly Africa, receives a disproportionately small fraction of the value from its mineral resources was a major theme of the summit.
“On the last day of the summit in the plenary, speaker after speaker was saying raw materials are not benefitting where they are extracted.
“In fact, some were very clear that the countries that have resources are only getting up to 40 percent and so, in other words, the rest, in terms of employment, job creation, after value addition, are accrued elsewhere.
“So, what we are saying is that what has been said and agreed must be implemented practically,” said VP Chiwenga.
The Vice President engaged in several bilateral meetings at the summit, as enshrined in economic diplomacy championed by President Mnangagwa, and many countries are expected to work with Zimbabwe.
To initiate this collaboration, VP Chiwenga invited the South African government to Zimbabwe to refine co-operative modalities, with Deputy President Paul Mashatile expected to lead the delegation.
The Vice President also held discussions with the president of the African Development Bank, Dr Sidi Ould Tah, on the sidelines of the summit.
