This chapter examines skills development with a focus on mining and mining beneficiation in Southern Africa (Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe). First, the chapter presents the region’s educational outcomes to assess the overall skill supply. Second, the chapter examines the mining sector’s economic impact, workforce and outlook in the face of changing global demand for minerals, as well as how these relate to the demand for skills in industries that are downstream of mining. Third, it examines the region’s current policies that seek to equip workers with in-demand skills and makes recommendations for how to improve those policies.
Africa's Development Dynamics 2024
Skills, Jobs and Productivity
Africa’s Development Dynamics
Chapter 3. Skills for mining in Southern Africa
Abstract
In Brief
Southern Africa’s supply of well-educated and skilled workers is above the African average. The region’s educational outcomes are on par with other African regions. A larger share of workers in Southern Africa are in skilled occupations, and more are overeducated while fewer are undereducated than elsewhere in Africa.
Mining is a priority sector for the region, as it supports economic development and government revenues. However, Southern Africa continues to export mostly mineral resources in raw form. Skill needs in mining and in downstream industries vary by mineral value chain. For example, in South Africa, workers’ education levels are lower in non-ferrous than in ferrous ore mining. Yet, in manufacturing, the country’s workers in non-ferrous metals tend to have higher education levels than those in ferrous metals.
Most of the sector’s workers are in artisanal and small-scale mining, where many jobs are informal and for subsistence, resulting in low levels of social protection and high levels of vulnerability. Mining sector employment is overwhelmingly male-dominated, while women are better represented in artisanal and small-scale mining. Still, female mining workers are often poorer and more vulnerable to exploitation and danger than male workers.
Southern Africa has developed specific industries downstream of mining, such as diamond cutting, steel production, cobalt refining and electric vehicle manufacturing. Yet, the relative lack of skilled workers inhibits the region’s development efforts, leading to an underutilisation of capacity in mining-related manufacturing.
Southern African policy makers can prioritise three policy actions:
1. Ensure that sound national mining policies and legislative frameworks are well harmonised with regional standards and global best practices.
2. Adapt formal mining education to country-specific technical, business and digital skill needs.
3. Target education and training programmes more directly towards women and other marginalised groups.
Skills for mining in Southern Africa (infographic)
Southern Africa regional profile
Figure 3.1. Vulnerable employment, labour productivity and education spending in Southern Africa, 2000-22
Note: Vulnerable employment includes formal and informal self-employed (own-account) workers and contributing family members but excludes informal salaried employees. As an approximation of informal employment, it is used here to show long-term trends, as time series data on informal employment are missing for most African countries. Labour productivity is measured as the constant gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017 international USD at purchasing power parity (PPP) prices, divided by the population of employed people in thousands.
Source: Authors’ calculations based on ILOSTAT (2023[1]), ILO Modelled Estimates (database), https://ilostat.ilo.org/fr/; World Bank (2023[2]), World Development Indicators (database), https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators; and IMF (2023[3]), World Economic Outlook (database), https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO.
Figure 3.2. Breakdown of working population by type of occupation in Southern Africa, 2021
Note: “Technicians” include associate professionals, “Skilled elementary occupations” include skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers, and elementary occupations, and “Operators and assemblers” include plant and machine operators and assemblers.
Source: Authors’ calculations based on ILOSTAT (2023[1]), ILO Modelled Estimates (database), https://ilostat.ilo.org/fr/.
Southern Africa can further raise educational outcomes
Educational outcomes in the region are on par with other African regions, while many highly educated Southern Africans leave the region
Southern Africans spend more years in school than the average for Africa but fewer than in other world regions. On average, Southern Africans complete 7.5 years of schooling. The estimated learning-adjusted years of schooling (see Chapter 1) across Southern Africa was 5.4 in 2020 (Figure 3.3). This is slightly higher than for Africa as a whole but lower than the global average of 7.8. Zimbabwe has the region’s highest number of learning-adjusted years of schooling (7), approaching the global average.
Figure 3.3. Average years of schooling and learning-adjusted years of schooling in Southern Africa, 2020
Note: LAC = Latin America and the Caribbean. Learning-adjusted years of schooling merge the quantity and quality of education into one metric, reflecting that similar durations of schooling can yield different learning outcomes. See Filmer et al. (2020[4]) for the detailed methodology.
Source: Authors’ calculations based on World Bank (2023[5]), Education Statistics – All Indicators (database), https://databank.worldbank.org/source/education-statistics-%5E-all-indicators.
Math achievement scores for Southern Africa are slightly lower than the African average, with slightly higher scores for girls and a large rural-urban divide (Figure 3.4). The average percentage of adolescents achieving proficiency in math for Botswana, South Africa and Zambia is lower than the average for all reporting African countries for both males and females and in both rural and urban areas. The percentage of Southern African students achieving proficiency in math is marginally higher for females than for males, and it is twice as high in urban as in rural areas. The percentage of the region’s adolescents in upper secondary school achieving math proficiency is slightly lower than that for Africa as a whole, but the average for the world is nearly three times as high.
Figure 3.4. Percentage of adolescents in upper secondary school achieving proficiency in mathematics in Southern Africa, most recent year observed (2013-22)
Note: LAC = Latin America and the Caribbean.
Source: Authors’ calculations based on UNESCO (2023[6]), World Inequality Database on Education (database), https://www.education-inequalities.org/.
The share of highly educated people who immigrate to the region from outside of Africa is generally lower than the share of Southern Africans who leave the continent. For every extra-continental immigrant to Southern African countries with a tertiary education, six Southern Africans with the same education level leave Africa. Botswana and Namibia are two notable exceptions: both countries have managed to attract far more immigrants from outside of Africa with a tertiary education than the number of people with that education level leaving these countries.
Figure 3.5. Migrants with tertiary education, origin and destination (Southern Africa, 2020)
Note: Migrants per 1 000 inhabitants. Negative numbers show emigration.
Source: World Bank (2023[7]), Global Bilateral Migration (database), https://databank.worldbank.org/source/global-bilateral-migration and World Bank Group (2023[8]), World Development Report 2023, https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/102109.
Southern African countries have more workers in skilled occupations than the African average, but gender and rural-urban divides and educational mismatches exist
The share of workers in skilled occupations is higher in Southern Africa than the African average, and their numbers differ across countries and reflect gender gaps. The share of workers in skilled occupations in the region is 29%, compared with 22% for Africa as a whole (Figure 3.6). However, Southern Africa’s average hides enormous heterogeneity: the share ranges from 44% in South Africa to 14% in Malawi. While all Southern African countries have a lower percentage of the rural population in skilled occupations than of the urban population, the rural-urban gap ranges from 33 percentage points in Malawi to only 12 percentage points in South Africa. The share of workers in skilled occupations is higher for males than females in Southern Africa, but this gap also varies by country, with a low of 3 percentage points for Lesotho and a high of 35 for Angola. The discrepancy between the slight advantage for girls over boys in math proficiency (Figure 3.4) and the higher share of males in skilled occupations (Figure 3.6) suggests that women may face additional barriers to integrating into skilled labour markets.
Figure 3.6. Percentage of workers in skilled occupations in Southern Africa, by gender and place of residence, 2019 or latest year available
Note: Data are drawn from nationally representative demographic and health surveys (DHS) collected between 2010 and 2019. Occupational categories were divided into skilled and unskilled occupations as follows: skilled occupations include professional, technical, managerial, clerical and skilled manual work; unskilled occupations include sales, agriculture, household and domestic work, services and unskilled manual labour.
Source: USAID (2019[10]), Demographic and Health (DHS) Surveys (2010-19) (database), https://www.statcompiler.com/en/.
In Southern Africa, the education levels of a majority of workers do not match occupational requirements (Figure 3.7). Compared to African workers overall, Southern African workers – whether men, women, employees or self-employed workers – are less likely to have education levels below occupational requirements and more likely to have education levels above requirements. Self-employed workers in Southern Africa are far less likely to have education levels above requirements (13% of workers) compared with employees (22%) and more likely to have education levels below requirements (49% of workers vs. 29%). The education-occupation mismatch was slightly higher for female workers than male workers, for education levels both below and above requirements.
Figure 3.7. Percentage of workers who have an equal, higher or lower level of education than required for their occupation in Southern Africa, 2022 or latest year available
Note: (Mis)matches are assessed through the normative approach by comparing educational requirements set out in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) for each one-digit ISCO occupational group with the level of education of each person in employment. Calculations are based on data collected in national labour force statistics or other nationally representative household surveys with a module on employment.
Source: Authors’ compilation based on ILOSTAT (2023[11]), ILO Education and Mismatch Indicators (database), https://ilostat.ilo.org/.
Southern Africa’s mining sector can benefit from demand-oriented skills development
The mining sector is disproportionately important for Southern Africa’s exports, government revenue and development. In 2022, exports of fossil fuels and minerals from Southern Africa were 39% of gross domestic product – the highest amount since 2008 – compared to 23% for the rest of the world. Mining in Southern Africa is both an important source of government revenue and a driver of development in other sectors, such as construction, manufacturing and transportation.
The value chains of Southern Africa’s mining sector require skills beyond mining. The economic impacts of mining unfold along value chains, from fossil fuel and mineral extraction to mining beneficiation to mining-based manufacturing (Box 3.1). Increasing the value that the mining sector creates for the economy demands developing different kinds of skills:
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Technical skills unique to mining and mining beneficiation, such as mining engineering or the operation of mining and smelting equipment.
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Transversal skills that are relevant in mining and beyond. Many people within the mining workforce, especially informal workers in artisanal and small-scale mining, are vulnerable to economic precarity or poverty. They can benefit from obtaining some non-mining-related skills that would improve their resilience, such as soft, entrepreneurial and managerial skills.
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Skills for mining-related manufacturing and other industries, such as steel production from iron ore and coal, or jewellery production from precious metals and gemstones. These industries can use locally produced mining outputs for value addition if skill supply is available, for instance, workers trained in gem cutting or artisans and technicians in the metal manufacturing sector.
Box 3.1. Mining, beneficiation and mining-based manufacturing
The paths that economically useful minerals follow from the time they are extracted to when they reach the final consumers are long, complex and varied. These value chains of fossil fuels and minerals follow three main steps:
1. Mining refers to the extraction of fossil fuels and minerals from below the Earth’s surface (e.g. mines and oil wells). This is a sector that requires a specialised workforce, such as mining engineers or geologists.
2. Mining beneficiation refers to the transformation of fossil fuels and minerals extracted from below the Earth’s surface into materials of greater value that serve as inputs into other industries. Examples of beneficiation include oil refining, cobalt smelting and the production of coke and steel. Beneficiation can occur at mine sites, undertaken by the firms running the mines, or elsewhere, sometimes in other countries. Depending on the value chain, activities in beneficiation can vary greatly from those in mining and often require different equipment, occupations and skills.
3. Mining-based manufacturing refers to the part of the manufacturing sector that directly depends on the materials derived from mining and beneficiation, such as the manufacturing of steel car parts or copper pipes. While these activities rely on mining, they are almost always carried out by firms with different capabilities and in different locations.
Different mining-based value chains create different demands for skills
A diverse set of fossil fuels and minerals are mined in Southern African countries. Exports of fossil fuels and minerals, in crude, ore and processed forms, accounted for 66% of Southern Africa’s exports in 2022; they were also the top exports for all Southern African countries aside from Eswatini and Malawi (Table 3.1). The ten most valuable mined commodities from Southern African countries in 2022 were petroleum, gold, diamonds, copper, coal, iron, platinum, rhodium, palladium and aluminium.
Table 3.1. Top three exports for Southern African countries, 2022
Note: Shaded items are products of mining and beneficiation.
Source: IMF (2024[12]), World Economic Outlook (database), https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/SPROLLs/world-economic-outlook-databases#sort=%40imfdate%20descending for gross domestic product (GDP) data; CEPII (2024[13]), BACI: International Trade Database at the Product-Level (database), www.cepii.fr/CEPII/en/bdd_modele/bdd_modele_item.asp?id=37 for exports data; and various reports for the numbers of miners.
The education levels of miners vary greatly across different mining-based value chains and across their steps, as South Africa shows (Figure 3.8). Nearly half (47%) of the country’s workforce in mining industries have less than a secondary education, but the share differs by type of mineral. Fifty-four per cent of South Africa’s non-ferrous ore miners have less than a secondary school education compared with 21% of ferrous ore miners. Of the mining-related manufacturing workforce, 56% have less than a secondary education. Contrary to mining industries, in mining-based manufacturing, non-ferrous metal workers have higher education levels than ferrous metal workers.
Figure 3.8. Employment by education level in mining and mining-related manufacturing in South Africa
Source: Authors’ calculations based on Statistics South Africa (2010-23[14]), Quarterly Labour Force Survey (database), https://www.statssa.gov.za.
Shortages of workers with the necessary skills represent a key obstacle to the development of beneficiation and downstream industries in Southern Africa. Despite the potential of greater development of industries based on mining (Table 3.2), many of the fossil fuels and minerals produced in Southern African countries, outside of precious metals, are exported as ores or as crude oil, rather than feeding into local transformative industries that are downstream. According to a survey of South African mining experts conducted in 2015, the most cited factor in generating a sustained beneficiation industry was the availability of a workforce with the required technical skills (Tom, 2015[15]). Anglo American, the country’s second-largest mining company, involved in coal, diamond and platinum mining, also identified skill shortages as one of the challenges to their efforts to develop a mining beneficiation industry in 2017 (AngloAmerican, 2024[16]), followed by an unreliable power supply, lack of local markets for locally beneficiated products and infrastructure constraints. This issue of skill shortages has persisted in recent years, despite new opportunities for mining beneficiation arising from efforts to decarbonise the global economy (Fabricius, 2023[17]).
Capacity is underutilised in South Africa’s mining-related manufacturing as a result of numerous factors, including a limited supply of skilled labour. Data suggest that the country’s manufacturing capacity is underutilised across different products (Figure 3.9). This is mostly due to factors unrelated to skills, such as lack of raw materials, low demand, maintenance problems, productivity, or seasonal issues. However, for manufacturing metal products, lack of skilled labour is a significant factor.
Figure 3.9. Capacity underutilisation in mining-related manufacturing in South Africa, 2021-23 average
Note: Capacity underutilisation is calculated from the responses to a quarterly survey of large South African manufacturing enterprises. Respondents were asked about the degree of capacity constraint they experience, along with the main causes of this constraint. Their responses were used to calculate a percentage difference between productive output with and without each given factor affecting capacity utilisation.
Source: Statistics South Africa (2023[18]), Manufacturing: Utilisation of Production Capacity by Large Enterprises, https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P3043/P3043February2023.pdf.
For manufacturing iron and iron products, capacity underutilisation due to lack of skilled labour has historically been significant in South Africa, while lack of semi- and unskilled labour has remained far less important (Figure 3.10). The recent drop in South African under-capacity attributed to skilled labour shortages results from economic difficulties in the post-COVID-19 era in the country that have decreased manufacturing output, such as strikes, floods and power cuts (IMF, 2023[19]). A rebound in regional manufacturing could provoke a return of skilled labour shortages that limits Southern African economic growth.
Figure 3.10. Capacity underutilisation in mining-related manufacturing in South Africa due to labour shortages, 2004-23 (% of total capacity)
Source: Statistics South Africa (2023[18]), Manufacturing: Utilisation of Production Capacity by Large Enterprises, https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P3043/P3043February2023.pdf.
The demand for skills in the mining sector includes foundational, soft and digital skills
Before looking to enhance the pool of highly skilled workers, Southern African countries may need to ensure that elementary education infrastructure is accessible to miners. Many mining workers, including those in artisanal and small-scale mining, have not completed elementary education and may lack foundational skills such as literacy, numeracy and basic civic education. A standardised achievement test taken by 873 workers from 3 mines in South Africa showed that close to 99% of miners were functionally innumerate (Christoffel Smit and Mji, 2012[20]). Although such skills might not always be necessary for specific tasks, such as digging or sluicing, they are important for workers to improve their situations. Such skills are also necessary for acquiring other technical and soft skills which could help them move to new positions and improve their productivity.
More soft skills can benefit miners. These skills, in particular interpersonal skills, self-awareness, as well as managerial, clerical and legal skills, are generally missing. Both large mining operations with complex structures that operate in international legal environments and artisanal and small-scale mining operations in the informal economy suffer from soft skill shortages. According to Molek-Winiarska and Kawka (2022[21]), soft skills training in communications, team building and self-management skills has succeeded in reducing the stress levels of workers in a large mine. A study of employers in the South African mining sector showed that “generic skills” (e.g. people skills and communication, leadership and teamwork, problem-solving and adaptability, accountability, honesty and integrity, emotional intelligence, and resilient thinking) were regarded as “crucial to the learning process of mining engineering students” (Dipitso, 2023[22]).
Digital skill training can equip workers for new job requirements within the mining sector and beyond. The rise of digital technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and blockchain give mining enterprises ways to enhance efficiency, productivity and safety at work sites. Practical applications include automated drilling, driverless trucks, predictive maintenance with sensors and scanners. Yet, AI and automation may also reshape the task composition of jobs and fully displace some of them. While data on Southern Africa is missing, a study by Acemoglu et al. (2022[23]) on the impact of AI on online jobs and job vacancies in the United States shows that an increase in AI exposure is associated with more AI job vacancies. Increased investment in training for mining-related and transferrable digital skills can both support productivity in mining and improve the employability of mining workers within and outside of the sector.
Skills development for diamond beneficiation, cobalt refining, steel production and minerals for renewable energy could strengthen mining value chains in Southern Africa
Downstream activities in mining value chains could be supported by targeted skills development, in alignment with product complexity. Products made downstream in mining value chains range in complexity from copper wires and sheet metal to motor vehicle parts. Each of the fossil fuels and minerals that are important to Southern Africa is associated with particular beneficiation and production opportunities, with skill demand emerging from the potential employment growth.
Table 3.2. Beneficiation and downstream activities and in-demand occupations for important mineral value chains in Southern Africa
Source: Authors’ compilation of in-demand occupations based on online job listings.
Southern Africa, particularly Botswana, has potential for skills development in diamond beneficiation
Southern Africa leads the world in the extraction of raw diamonds, while its beneficiation activity is limited. Five of the top ten raw diamond-producing countries are in Southern Africa,1 and together they represent nearly two-thirds of the value of global production (Damarupurshad, 2023[25]). However, little of the far more lucrative and labour-intensive beneficiation activity, such as diamond cutting and polishing, occurs where the diamonds are extracted. For instance, 90% of the world’s cut diamonds are cut and polished in Surat, India, due both to India’s history as a former major producer of diamonds and to strong investments from the De Beers corporation (a British corporation with historical ties to South Africa that dominates the global diamond trade). India hosts a workforce of 800 000 highly skilled diamond technicians to serve the demands of a USD 21.3 billion diamond cutting and polishing industry (Polaris Market Research, 2023[26]; Mandal, 2016[27]).
In Botswana, the diamond beneficiation workforce has grown and increased its skill levels, driving up demand for skills development. Since the late 1990s, Botswana has advanced on its priority of creating a diamond hub in Gaborone. Opportunities for employing local semi-skilled labour were identified in the intermediate stages of processing (sorting, aggregation, cutting and polishing), as these stages require neither the substantial long-term capital investments necessary in mining, nor the network of retail outlets and commercial knowledge of the retail step of the value chain. Since 2008, the entirety of the diamonds extracted in Botswana has been sorted and valued in Gaborone in the world’s largest sorting and valuing facility that employs 400 people. A Diamond Academy was put in place to train sorters and valuing staff. By 2013, 21 diamond cutting and polishing companies were established in Botswana, employing 3 500 people; with the number of companies reaching 50 in 2023 (Maramwidze, 2023[28]) Success factors of the Botswanan case include the government’s strong relationship with De Beers as a global lead firm, government commitment to the sector, a strong focus on capacity building, and political and regulatory stability (Korinek, 2013[29]).2 Yet, the question remains of whether employment growth in diamond cutting can continue. As the industry expands its use of lasers and computer-assisted cutting and design, it will reduce the labour intensity of the process (Gaywala, 2015[30]).
Zambia is set to exploit the value of cobalt mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Southern African countries are beginning to exploit the strategic potential of cobalt as a vital mineral for electric vehicles (EVs). In 2023, the EV market accounted for 46% of the demand for cobalt in 2023, which was an increase of 22% over 2022. With the further growth of the global EV industry, cobalt demand is set to double by 2030 (Cobalt Institute, 2023[31]). Zambia is seeking to develop local cobalt activities. For instance, the Kobaloni Energy firm aims to build a cobalt sulphate refinery in the country, which will be Africa’s first (Bloomberg News, 2023[32]). The refinery would be constructed near the world’s eighth-largest cobalt mine, across Zambia’s border in the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) (Mining Technology, 2023[33]).3 With the gradual depletion of cobalt oxide deposits in DR Congo, and as a mineral used in battery manufacturing, cobalt sulphate will play a major role in sustaining the region.
Developing a competitive cobalt industry will require upgrading both technical and green skills. While the Kobaloni project promises a potential 1 000 jobs in Zambia, the jobs hinge on a workforce with advanced technical skills such as in chemical, mechanical and metallurgical engineering. In particular, pyrometallurgy, which uses high temperatures to separate target metals from waste, is required for processing cobalt sulphides (OECD, 2019[34]) but is a notably polluting activity. There are rising concerns on the global cobalt market around environmental sustainability and safety in its value chains, which is driving further demand for green and health-related skills (Cobalt Institute, 2023[35]; Harvey et al., 2022[36]).
South Africa’s and Zimbabwe’s legacy in steel production could be revitalised through skilled workers
Due to international carbon pricing, South Africa is shifting towards greener steel production. South Africa’s historically well-developed steel industry suffers from the increasing demand for green steel, notably from the European Union. This follows the introduction of the European Union carbon border adjustment mechanism, which will effectively raise taxes on the relatively carbon-intensive South African steel (Yermolenko, 2023[37]). In 2023, the country launched the South Africa Just Energy Transition Investment Plan to invest in both sustainable infrastructure and skills for the green transition. South Africa aims to invest in ”green steel” (decarbonising steel production), which would increase green skill demand in the sector, as well as the need to upskill local workers (South Africa, 2022[38]).
While South Africa dominates Southern Africa’s steel production, Zimbabwe seeks to regain its former status as a major steel producer. In the post-independence era, Zimbabwe’s ZISCO Kwekwe District boasted the largest steelworks in Africa, which used iron ore and limestone from nearby mines to make steel for export to Asia and Europe (Mahove, 2016[39]). The factory stopped all operations in 2008, but in 2024, a new steel plant was built in Manhize by the Chinese-owned Dinson Iron and Steel Company. The plant aims to produce 5 million tonnes of iron and steel annually and employ 10 000 workers (Kutchner, 2024[40]). The new steel plant has already increased the demand for workers and skills in Zimbabwe. To build the plant, 1 500 on-site construction workers were hired (The Zimbabwean, 2023[41]). To enable the launch of its operations in 2024, the plant is recruiting technical staff to work on data capture and in laboratories (Kutchner, 2024[40]).
The green transition will create new demand for skills to use critical minerals in renewable energy, including solar panel manufacturing
Southern Africa has important resources of minerals that are critical for the green transition. These include copper, platinum, manganese, chromium, cobalt, graphite and nickel. By weight, copper is the critical mineral most used in offshore wind and solar photovoltaic panels and the second most used in onshore wind energy after zinc (IEA, 2021[42]). Platinum group metals are crucial for decarbonising the industry. Both manganese and chromium are used in renewable energy technologies. Graphite and nickel are key components in the production of batteries used in electric vehicles (Mo Ibrahim Foundation, 2022[43]). In addition, refining some of these ores within Southern Africa could be cost-competitive with the People’s Republic of China (hereafter “China”). For example, according to a study, lithium carbonate in Namibia and manganese sulphate in South Africa should be cheaper to produce per ton than in China (SEforALL, 2023[44]). Due to the abundance of these minerals in Southern Africa, the region has potential for sustainable development by supporting renewable energies through the mining sector and can support the global transition to a greener and sustainable economy.
While the prices of certain critical materials have faltered in recent years, employment in renewable energy and demand for green skills have increased (World Bank Group 2024[24]). In South Africa, the prices of copper, zinc, natural graphite and nickel have dropped; however, between 2022 and 2023, direct employment in renewable energy surged by 10% (IRENA/ILO, 2023[45]). Accordingly, the mining sector anticipates an uptick in demand for skills in green procurement (i.e. the purchasing of goods that minimises negative environmental impacts), environmental management and regulation, operations, and maintenance to support the transition towards a greener economy (ILO, 2018[46]).
SolarAid, a charity devoted to rural electrification through solar energy, trains Zambians to become solar panel technicians and to repair old solar lights, extend their life cycles and reduce electronic waste. Currently, over 250 000 solar lights are installed in Zambia, but only 10% of their components can be reused (BMZ/GIZ/KfW, 2024[47]).
Southern African countries have yet to achieve their potential as manufacturers of solar panels. While China continues to dominate the global production of solar panels, South Africa has the capacity to manufacture them due to its high manufacturing added value, good infrastructure and competitive industrial base (SEforALL, 2023[44]). One existing manufacturer in the country is able to produce solar panels on a large scale (Oirere, 2023[48]). In February 2023, a second solar panel assembly plant opened in Cape Town, with an all-woman workforce and a focus on making smaller solar panels using aluminium purchased locally (Cape Business News, 2023[49]). Due to Southern Africa’s slow uptake of solar panel manufacturing, the vast majority of the region’s jobs in solar energy tend to be in deployment, rather than manufacturing, where significant efforts in skills development are needed (SolarPower Europe, 2023[50]).
Harmonised mining policies and better-targeted education and training can improve skills development for Southern Africa’s mining sector
Policy interventions for skills development in the mining sector and related downstream activities cut across three levels. First, policy makers can more directly target mining strategies on skills development in downstream industries in value chains. Second, countries can use the complementarity of private and public sector-led skills development for inclusive creation of productive jobs in Southern Africa’s mining sector and in sectors associated to mining. Finally, policies can extend mining-related education and training to under-represented groups, especially women.
National mining strategies can further emphasise downstream value chain potential, in alignment with existing regional frameworks
Southern African countries can more directly focus on developing industries downstream in mineral value chains. Countries in the region that depend on mining have established a number of mining policies and strategies, including on skills development (Table 3.3). However, with the exceptions of Botswana’s and Namibia’s diamond legislation and Zimbabwe’s chromium ore export ban, most policies and strategies do not target skills development in specific mineral value chains. A more strategic focus on developing technical skills needed for occupations in the value chains (Table 3.2) could support the expansion of downstream industries.
Table 3.3. Examples of mining sector policies and strategies in Southern Africa
Source: Authors’ compilation based on mining policy documents.
Policies and strategies to develop the mining sector, including its downstream activities, require sufficient legislative support and resourcing. Beyond formulating targeted policies and strategies, implementing them requires the government agencies concerned to have sufficient resources. In Malawi, for example, agencies suffer from inadequately skilled personnel, insufficient training facilities, and poor collaboration with training research institutions (Republic of Malawi, 2023[51]). In response, the country’s Mines and Minerals Bill of 2023 introduced new measures to boost skills development and mandated medium- to large-scale mines to submit an employment and training plan, emphasising the participation of women. Although this encourages private sector investment in skills development, the government continues to directly allocate a limited budget for this purpose.
In South Africa, the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 and the Skills Development Act 97 of 1998 establish a comprehensive framework for targeted skills development initiatives. The Skills Development Act incorporates the National Skills Authority and Fund (a levy-grant scheme), Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs), labour centres, and the Skills Development Planning Unit.
Regional and international co-ordination on mining strategies and international partnerships have compensated for the absence of a global framework. In the absence of a comprehensive global framework for mining development, Southern African countries have sought to align their policies at continental and regional levels, namely through the Africa Mining Vision and the Protocol on Mining of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). At the global level, Southern Africa’s leading mining countries, like Botswana and South Africa, have used their influence in international co-ordination through non-legal fora. In collaboration with development partners, global partnerships have strengthened mining sector governance in Southern African countries. For instance, DR Congo, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia have joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which supports accountability in the management of mineral resources by requiring the disclosure of information along mineral value chains (AFRODAD, 2023[52]).
At the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, alongside Canada, successfully advocated for the creation of a global platform aimed at enhancing the development of the mining sector. This initiative led to the formation of the Global Dialogue on Mining/Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF). Subsequently, member countries sought assistance from UNCTAD to establish a more structured, member-driven intergovernmental forum, resulting in the launch of the IGF in 2005 with 25 founding members. Upgrading the IGF’s status within the UN’s partnership framework could facilitate easier and more organised mobility of skilled workers, thereby reducing skill shortages.
Policy harmonisation under the SADC Protocol on Mining can more directly emphasise regional skills development. In 1997, SADC signed the Protocol on Mining, which entered into force in 2000. Article 4 of the protocol calls for member states to co-operate in upgrading the technological capacity of human resources and providing training facilities (SADC, 2006[53]). To operationalise the protocol, SADC and the Southern Africa Office of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa developed a framework laid out in the publication Harmonization of Mining Policies, Standards, Legislative and Regulatory Frameworks in Southern Africa. The initiative harmonises mineral industrial policies, standards and legal frameworks in the region. In addition to its direct fiscal benefits, the framework seeks to enhance skills training in the mining sector. However, its implementation has been criticised as piecemeal, with only slow progress in mineral resource governance across Southern Africa (AFRODAD, 2023[52]).
Public and private education and training in technical mining skills are complementary in achieving inclusion and forward-thinking skills development
The private sector can be quick in creating a skilled workforce for industries downstream of mining. The example above of diamond cutting in Botswana showed that opening licensing to private mining companies, in collaboration with foreign multinationals, can quickly generate downstream industry activity. However, the example also demonstrated that, without specific government intervention, multinational enterprises can locate production sites anywhere in the world, depending on cost and scale efficiency. In addition, private companies may not be proactive in equipping local workers for technological change, such as the advent of lasers and automation in diamond cutting, and they may bring skilled workers in from abroad when local supply is missing.
Publicly-provided education and training in mining is needed to ensure inclusion and anticipate the upskilling of local workers. Public education and training programmes at tertiary and research institutions can be more easily aligned with a country’s priorities for skills development as well as with those of the local population, while aiming to respond to market demand. Zimbabwe, for example, has targeted the development of skills for a critical set of mining-related occupations and has been encouraging the establishment of tertiary institutions with education and training that focus on mining (Table 3.4). Mining-specific public education and training, though perhaps insufficient to make a country a world leader in mining production, is essential for targeting the long-term upskilling of workers and offering talented informal workers, including women, opportunities to pursue specialised technical careers in mining.
Table 3.4. Tertiary education and training institutions teaching technical mining skills in Zimbabwe
Source: Zimbabwe Policy Research Unit (2015[54]), “In-depth training needs assessment surveying the Zimbabwe mining sector”, https://zepari.co.zw/sites/default/files/2018-03/Policy%20Brief%20in%20depth%20training%20needs%20assessment%20survey%20policy%20brief%20new.pdf.
Mining qualifications authorities (MQAs) can promote training led by the private sector, as is the case in South Africa. MQAs are responsible for the administration and development of mining sector training programmes. For instance, mining companies in South Africa are mandated to pay 1% and 5% of their payrolls as a skills development levy to the MQA and the Mining Charter, respectively. They are also obliged to submit skills development plans and annual training reports to the MQA. Between 2016 and 2020, South African mining companies invested more than USD 360 million per year in developing skills for the country’s mining sector (Mineral Council South Africa, 2022[55]).
Entrepreneurship training, school infrastructure near mines and work-integrated training can increase foundational and transversal soft skills for miners. Working in mining, especially for people who start at a young age, can disrupt education and reduce educational outcomes. It is therefore important to provide miners with foundational and soft skills that are relevant in other sectors and can improve their economic prospects. Entrepreneurship training for workers in artisanal and small-scale mining can be an essential tool to do so (Mkubukeli and Tengeh, 2016[56]). Constructing schooling infrastructure where miners can access it, such as at mine sites, can also help. The company Royal Bafokeng Platinum was obliged under the South African Mining Charter to build an elementary school near its mines (Government Gazette, 2018[57]; Basic Education, 2024[58]). Work-integrated learning, where engineering students spend time in mining companies while working on individual projects, is another effective way to obtain soft skills (Dipitso, 2023[22]).
Education and training can more directly focus on under-represented groups of mining workers, especially women and artisanal miners
Programmes in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) targeting women can be expanded to ensure women and men graduate from universities not only in similar numbers but with comparable technical skills. Increasing female participation in STEM education is a key means of attaining greater gender parity in management and technical positions in the mining sector, such as engineers, managers, overseers and engine drivers (Cooper, Goliath and Perkins, 2022[59]). In Zimbabwe, the share of females graduating from STEM-focused institutions is lower than the share graduating in humanities (ARUD-CIASA, 2024[60]). Introducing mining-related programmes (e.g. electronic, mining and chemical engineering and renewable energy-related sciences) at women’s universities could help women acquire mining skills. One possible university is the Women’s University in Africa, created in Zimbabwe to directly tackle the problem of women’s restricted access to university education. Policy makers can also contribute by encouraging mining companies to invest in scholarships, vocational training and entrepreneurship support for women.
In Botswana, the Debswana Diamond Company launched the Mining Suppliers Development Programme in 2020. By improving mining value chain skills such as sales operations and financial management, the programme seeks to develop the capacity and competitiveness of women-owned companies to improve their access to markets and ensure sustainable enterprises (MmegiOnline, 2020[61]).
In South Africa, the Sasol Women in Mining Incubator Programme focuses on promoting women-owned mining businesses through leadership development, intensive entrepreneurial support, financial coaching, and idea and business incubation (WomHub, 2023[62]).
Education and training curricula, national policies and qualifications frameworks can be better tailored towards artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). According to estimates by DELVE (2024[63]), most mining sector workers in Southern Africa are informal, but the majority of training programmes focus on formal jobs in mining or in public service. Most national mining policies in the region recognise the importance of skills development for ASM; however, only a few have well-defined policy frameworks covering ASM. The Zimbabwe School of Mines (ZSM), provides ASM courses, but Zimbabwe does not provide mining qualifications authorities (MQA) similar to those in South Africa. Government qualification authorities, like South Africa’s MQA, can help develop education curricula for both formal and non-formal basic education, as well as formal technical vocational education and training in mining. In addition, governments can provide pools of professionals to offer technical assistance to small-scale mining operations that do not have the scale to be able to hire professional help on their own. South Africa has a Small-Scale Mining Division that assists ASM miners with applying for mining licences, for example, in identifying mineral deposits (Jansen, 2017[64]).
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Notes
← 1. In terms of 2022 production: Botswana (USD 5.0 billion), Angola (USD 2.0 billion), South Africa (USD 1.5 billion), Namibia (USD 1.2 billion) and Zimbabwe (USD 0.4 billion) out of a global production of USD 16.3 billion.
← 2. Specificities of Botswana – e.g. the monopolistic structure of the diamond sector, the market size and quality of diamonds, and the country’s historical, political and demographic characteristics – make it difficult to draw lessons for peer countries.