While addressing the 2026 Mining Skills Lekgotla held at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, UJ (University of Johannesburg) chancellor Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka highlighted the importance of women in African mining and the dangers of "mineral colonisation".
University of Johannesburg chancellor Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka addressing the 2026 Mining Skills Lekgotla held at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand. Image supplied.
Focusing on opportunities for women in mining and the future of transformation in the sector, her message moved beyond representation to a deeper call for capability, strategic positioning, and continental self-determination.
Mlambo-Ngcuka also highlighted that the pathway to meaningful transformation in mining begins and ends with skills.
Reflecting on her longstanding association with the institution as the former Minister of Minerals and Energy, she commended the Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA) for maintaining focus on its mandate to equip South Africans with the skills required to participate meaningfully in the mining economy over the last 30 years.
Shifiting global context
She also cautioned that the country cannot afford to lose the struggle to build a capable, technically proficient workforce.
Her remarks situated mining within a rapidly shifting global context in which climate change, the green transition, technological disruption and geopolitical instability are redefining the sector.
The minerals produced in Africa are essential to clean energy systems, battery technologies and advanced manufacturing.
She warned of the growing risk of what she termed “mineral colonisation”.
She described it as a renewed scramble for Africa’s resources driven by intensifying global competition.
With Africa holding approximately 48% of global cobalt reserves, alongside significant deposits of manganese and copper, including around 12% of global copper concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, the continent occupies a strategic position in the global economy.
Need for women at the centre
She emphasised the importance of coordinated policy approaches across African states to avoid fragmentation that diminishes collective bargaining power in global markets.
“However, mineral abundance has not translated into shared prosperity.
“Poverty persists across much of the continent, and women disproportionately bear its burden.
“This disconnect underscores the urgency of placing skilled African women at the centre of the mining value chain,” said Mlambo Ngcuka.
She challenged young women to see themselves in every dimension of the structures, including ownership, engineering, finance, law, policy, and environmental management.
Mining, she stressed, requires formidable engineers, financially literate leaders, legal experts, and policy specialists who understand both domestic regulatory frameworks and the complexities of international trade.
Transformation must therefore be anchored in deep technical competence.
Mlambo-Nguka remarked that Africa must move beyond extraction to beneficiation and downstream manufacturing to capture greater value and create sustainable employment.
Women should not be confined to peripheral roles but must be actively involved in shaping and running these operations.
Moral imperatives
Beyond economics, Mlambo-Ngcuka addressed the moral imperatives facing the sector.
While acknowledging significant progress in safety standards, she underscored that vigilance must remain uncompromising.
Similarly, environmental stewardship must be treated as a core competency.
Post-mining wastelands and polluted communities represent failures of governance and technical planning.
Skills in environmental protection and rehabilitation, she argued, are not optional add-ons but central to mining’s social licence to operate.
Mlambo-Ngcuka also appealed to the younger generation by emphasising that mining remains foundational to modern life as everything we consume is either mined or planted, bringing both responsibility and opportunity.
She urged students to use their youth strategically, acquire skills aligned with future industry needs and raise the bar of leadership and innovation.
“If Africa is to avoid repeating the patterns of its past where vast mineral wealth coexisted with poverty and limited local beneficiation, it will do so not through rhetoric, but through a generation of highly skilled women and men that are prepared to shape the mining industry on their own terms,” concluded Mlambo-Ngcuka.
