A Special Edition on the 2026 SADC People’s Summit
Welcome to this special edition of The Weekly, dedicated to the 2026 SADC People’s Summit and the critical conversations emerging from Southern Africa’s people’s movements, communities and civil society.
Held under the theme “The People’s SADC: Strengthening People’s Solidarity in a Polycrisis of Debt, Inequality, Conflict, Extractivism and Climate Change,” the summit brought together social movements, community organisations, workers, women, youth, farmers, informal traders and other civic actors to reflect on the challenges facing the region and to advance a people-centred vision for Southern Africa.
This edition captures some of the key debates from the summit, with particular attention to natural resource governance, critical minerals, resource-backed loans, regional industrialisation, civic space and climate justice. At the heart of these discussions was a fundamental question: Who benefits from Southern Africa’s vast natural and mineral wealth?
As global demand for critical minerals grows, Southern Africa is increasingly positioned at the centre of the global energy transition. Yet communities living in resource-rich areas continue to face displacement, environmental degradation, loss of livelihoods and exclusion from decisions affecting their land and resources. The summit provided an important platform for challenging an extractive model that risks reproducing historical inequalities under the banner of a green transition.
The discussions also highlighted the importance of regional cooperation. Delegates called for local beneficiation, regional value chains, decent employment and industrialisation, while demanding greater transparency in mining contracts, beneficial ownership and resource-backed financing.
Civic space emerged as another critical concern. Across the region, communities and civil society organisations continue to face restrictions when demanding accountability from governments and mining companies. A people-centred SADC must therefore protect the voices of communities, activists, workers and other citizens who seek to participate meaningfully in decisions about their resources and future.
This special edition seeks to bring these conversations closer to our readers, not simply as a record of what happened at the summit, but as a reflection on the choices confronting Southern Africa. The region is rich in minerals, people and potential. The challenge is to ensure that this wealth is governed transparently, distributed fairly and used to build economies that serve people rather than deepen dependency and inequality.
We invite you to engage with this edition, reflect on the perspectives presented, and join the continuing conversation about building a more accountable, just and people-centred Southern Africa.