Southern Africa activists demand economic justice at SADC People’s Summit

Southern Africa must organise for economic justice, debt relief, climate justice and greater public control of natural resources, the chairperson of the Southern African People’s Solidarity Network said on Friday, opening the 2026 SADC People’s Summit.

Mike Banda criticised an economic system that allows the region to export vast quantities of gold, platinum, lithium, diamonds, copper, cobalt, oil and gas while leaving many communities struggling with poverty, unemployment and debt.

“We must organise for economic justice, debt justice, climate justice and democratic control of our natural resources,” Banda said, arguing that the region’s mineral wealth should benefit its people rather than primarily serve external interests.

Banda said the summit was also a gathering shaped by the region’s history of xenophobia and Afrophobia, the deaths of mine workers at Marikana in South Africa and victims of the Kariba disaster in Zimbabwe.

He expressed solidarity with people affected by conflicts in Sudan, Palestine and Iran, as well as communities elsewhere suffering the consequences of war, imperialism and geopolitical competition.

Banda said Southern Africa faced a critical moment as global demand for critical minerals increased, warning that Africa risked becoming a source of raw materials for industrialised economies without developing sufficient local value chains.

The region exports minerals but continues to face high unemployment, particularly among young people, while many workers struggle to secure decent livelihoods, he said.

Women also remain excluded from ownership and economic decision-making, while future generations face the burden of rising debt, Banda added.

He criticised what he described as an economic order in which wealth was privatised while the costs of poverty and environmental damage were borne by communities.

Extractive industries, he said, had left polluted rivers, displaced families and unfulfilled promises, while corporations were able to operate across borders more freely than African citizens.

Banda also criticised the global financial system, saying African countries were repeatedly required to impose austerity measures while creditors and political and economic elites continued to benefit.

He called for a regional economy based on human needs rather than private accumulation, with greater emphasis on public ownership and democratic management of natural resources.

Banda said the alternative would require organised regional action on economic, debt, climate and gender justice, alongside stronger workers’ rights and public control of strategic resources.