PEOPLE VS POWER: AS SADC SEEKS ENERGY AND INDUSTRY TRANSITIONS, PLUNDER AND PILLAGE ARE ON GOVERNMENT CARDS, BUT THE PEOPLE WANT JUSTICE AND EQUITY

African leaders at the 45th SADC Summit in Madagascar

As Southern Africa marked the 45th Ordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government in Antananarivo this August, a very different gathering unfolded in Antsirabe. The SADC People’s Summit 2025, convened by social movements, trade unions, youth, and frontline communities, offered an alternative vision rooted in justice, sovereignty, and ecological sustainability. In this article that uses the symbolism of traffic lights to drive the point home, Power Shift Africa’s KUDAKWASHE MANJONJO argues that a comparison of the two communiqués reveals stark divergences in the region’s energy, industry, and infrastructure pathways. 

🔴 Red lights: Where governments and people diverge 

The first and sharpest divergence on the visions for SADC’s energy, industry and infrastructure future lies in energy transition and extractivism. The People’s Summit called for an immediate moratorium on new fossil fuel projects, a rejection of the extractivist development model, and a just transition centred on communities and workers. Their communiqué warned against the “new scramble for critical minerals,” describing it as green colonialism that displaces people while enriching global powers. By contrast, the Heads of State communiqué doubled down on industrialisation and energy transition framed around mineral exploitation, embedding Southern Africa more deeply into global supply chains. Rather than challenging extractivism, governments reaffirmed it as the foundation of economic resilience. This tension highlights the region’s fault line: governments see industrial growth through resource extraction, while people see ecological destruction, displacement, and dependency. 

🟠 Amber lights: Partial alignment, different emphasis 

Infrastructure and finance provide spaces of partial alignment. Both sides agree on the urgency of regional infrastructure to connect economies, expand energy access, and drive industrialisation. But while governments emphasise state-led and investor-driven projects, the People’s Summit envisions community-owned renewable grids, railways, and public infrastructure that prioritise equity and ecological sustainability. Similarly, both recognise the centrality of the energy transition, but clash over how to finance it. The People’s Summit demands grants, reparations, and feminist climate finance, while governments continue to court loans and investment flows, risking further debt dependency. 

🟢 Green lights: Shared ground in regionalism 

The one strong area of convergence is the commitment to regional integration and industrial transformation. Both communiqués highlight the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 as platforms for advancing industrialisation and trade. Yet even here, values diverge. Governments frame integration around competitiveness and growth, while people call for sovereign, ecological, and redistributive justice-led integration. 

Beyond Madagascar: What this means for Africa 

The divergence between state and people’s visions in SADC mirrors a wider continental debate. As the Second Africa Climate Summit (ACS2), held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the start of September 2025, positioned Africa as a “solutions provider” in global climate and energy transitions, the question remains: whose solutions? Governments increasingly align with global capital, pitching Africa as a source of minerals and renewable energy potential. Social movements, however, demand a deeper rethinking; one that confronts debt, ends extractivism, and centres justice, care, and sovereignty. 

The contrasting communiqués from Antananarivo and Antsirabe show the urgent need for dialogue between governments and civil society. Without centering people, the energy transition risks reproducing old patterns of plunder under the guise of green growth. If Southern Africa is to build resilience, it cannot do so on extractivist foundations. True resilience will come only from solidarity, equity, and justice, and these are the values that the People’s Summit continues to champion.