Southern Africa must accelerate investment in transport corridors, ports and cross-border trade while expanding regional manufacturing to strengthen supply chains and retain more value from its natural resources.
Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau made the call on Monday at the opening of the 9th SADC Industrialisation Week (SIW) in Durban, where he said regional industrialisation depended on stronger logistics infrastructure, greater private-sector investment and the removal of barriers to trade.
"For too long we have exported raw materials and imported manufactured products.
"This has limited industrial development, job creation and the value retained in our economies. Industrialising our critical minerals gives us a chance to change that trajectory. It means moving from extraction to beneficiation, advanced manufacturing and integrated regional value chains."
Tau said SADC needed to accelerate investment in transport corridors, energy reliability, port infrastructure, water and digital connectivity while creating pipelines of bankable regional infrastructure and logistics projects.
He also called on member states to reduce their reliance on donor funding and mobilise regional capital to finance infrastructure that supported trade and industrial development.
Intra-SADC trade had increased to 20.2% in 2025, while regional GDP growth was projected to rise to 3.9% in 2026 from 3.2% in 2024, Tau said.
Speaking on behalf of the SADC Secretariat, Executive Secretary Elias Magosi said deeper regional integration remained essential to building productive capacity and improving the region's competitiveness.
"Industrial transformation remains our primary pathway toward job creation, enhanced competitiveness and shared prosperity across Southern Africa."
SADC Business Council chairperson and Business Unity South Africa chief executive Khulekani Mathe said governments needed to work more closely with the private sector to remove operational bottlenecks and improve cross-border trade.
"Industrialisation will not happen through policy declarations alone; it requires targeted private-sector investment and a relentless focus on removing non-tariff barriers that slow down regional commerce.
"Our focus must be on unlocking tangible opportunities across high-impact value chains – from agro-processing and critical mineral beneficiation to seamless logistics corridors – so that businesses across Southern Africa can compete globally and drive inclusive growth," said Mathe.
The five-day summit, which runs until July 31, is focused on advancing the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap through investment in regional value chains, infrastructure and trade facilitation ahead of the 46th SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government in Durban next month.
