Namibia, SA eye green corridor
South Africa and Namibia are looking to deepen cooperation on green hydrogen, critical minerals, energy and infrastructure as part of efforts to build regional value chains and accelerate industrialisation in Southern Africa.
Cyril Ramaphosa said the two countries had an opportunity to move beyond exporting raw materials and instead develop industries that process resources locally, create jobs and retain more value within the region.
Opening the Fourth Session of the South Africa-Namibia Bi-National Commission in Pretoria recently, Ramaphosa said the focus should be on building industries capable of producing finished goods rather than continuing to export unprocessed resources.
“The question before us is not whether Africa possesses these resources. The question is whether Africans will capture the value they create,” he said.
“Our objective should be to build regional value chains that produce finished products, rather than merely exporting raw materials.”
The comments come as Namibia and South Africa seek to position themselves within a wider Southern African push to develop green industries, including green hydrogen, renewable energy and the processing of critical minerals.
Ramaphosa specifically identified green hydrogen as an area where the two countries could develop cross-border industrial infrastructure.
Collaborative efforts
He pointed to South Africa's Boegoebaai Deepwater Port and Green Hydrogen Development Programme, close to the Namibian border, as an opportunity to establish what he described as “a globally competitive green industrial corridor linking our two countries”.
The proposed cooperation has wider implications for the Southern African Development Community (SADC), where countries are seeking to use renewable energy resources, mineral wealth and regional infrastructure to support industrial development rather than relying predominantly on exports of raw materials.
Namibia has positioned green hydrogen and associated green industries as a potential new industrial sector, while South Africa is developing green hydrogen projects alongside its established industrial base and mineral-processing capacity.
Ramaphosa said the broader objective should be to change the structure of African economies.
“For too long, Africa has exported opportunity while importing prosperity. We have exported raw materials and imported manufactured goods. We have created industries elsewhere while unemployment has remained one of our greatest challenges at home,” he said.
“The days when our minerals leave our shores simply as rock and dust must steadily come to an end. Instead, we should increasingly process, refine, manufacture and innovate here in Southern Africa, creating value for our own economies and opportunities for our own people.”
Critical minerals and beneficiation
Critical minerals are another potential area for regional industrial cooperation.
Ramaphosa said finalising a memorandum of understanding on geology and mining would provide a framework for joint exploration, scientific research and downstream beneficiation.
He also highlighted cooperation between the countries' geological institutions as a way of identifying new investment opportunities.
The focus on beneficiation reflects a broader push in Africa to move mineral processing and manufacturing closer to the source of raw materials.
For SADC, greater cooperation in mineral processing could help establish regional supply chains for minerals required in renewable energy, electric vehicles, batteries and other technologies associated with the global energy transition.
