Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema called on mining companies to prioritise jobs, skills training and contracts for local businesses over traditional corporate social responsibility projects, saying these would deliver greater benefits to communities.
Speaking at the Zambia Mining and Investment Insaka 2026 in Lusaka on Monday, Hichilema explained that the government was already investing in schools and other social infrastructure, and wanted mining companies to contribute more directly to local economic opportunities.
“Personally, I don’t like this thing we have been cherishing called social corporate responsibility. Creating more jobs and more business opportunities for the supply of goods and services is stronger than building one clinic or two clinics and a school there,” he stated.
The president stressed that mining benefits should reach communities “through jobs, through training, training, training jobs, and appropriate skills.”
The call for greater local economic participation was echoed by Botswana’s Minister of Minerals and Energy, Bogolo Joy Kenewendo, who urged African countries to focus on what they could produce and build from their mineral wealth.
“Success will no longer be measured simply by what we can extract from beneath the ground, but what we can create above it: the industries that we build, the jobs that we create and the opportunities that we leave for future generations,” Kenewendo emphasised.
Democratic Republic of Congo Minister of Mines Louis Watum Kabamba also called for greater regional cooperation and more mineral processing within Africa, noting that much of the value generated by the continent’s resources was being captured elsewhere.
“Our ambition is clear: to transform our resources into industries, our industries into jobs and our jobs into prosperity for our people,” Kabamba declared, outlining priorities including regional value chains, shared prosperity and empowering communities.
The five-day Insaka, running from October 19 to 23 at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka, focuses on regional mineral value chains, shared prosperity and community empowerment.
Zambia is also seeking to increase annual copper production to three million metric tonnes by 2031 and strengthen local participation in the mining supply chain. The government plans to raise local content requirements for mining companies from 20 percent to 40 percent.
Source: Viory
