Despite its vast mineral wealth, Zambia continues to face challenges in leveraging copper revenues to ensure inclusive socio-economic development, particularly within mining-host communities. One of the central governance challenges lies in the disconnect between traditional authorities and the state, particularly in regions where land falls under customary tenure. As mining increasingly extends into these areas, the lack of alignment between customary leadership and statutory governance frameworks undermines local development efforts, exacerbates tensions and exclusion. Bridging this gap is essential for equitable resource governance and a necessary step toward overcoming the structural consequences of the Resource Curse and ensuring that mining…
Busisipho Siyobi
Busisipho Siyobi is the Programme Head of the Natural Resource Governance Programme at GGA. Prior to joining GGA, she headed up the Corporate Intelligence Monitor desk at S-RM Intelligence and Risk Consulting. Busisipho holds an MPhil in Public Policy and Administration from the University of Cape Town with a research focus on CSR within the South African mining industry. During her Masters, she worked as a research scholar at the South African Institute of International Affairs.
African governments aim to deliver reliable, safe, and affordable access to energy for all of the continent’s people as it drives economic growth, productivity, and industrialisation. Yet, reality shows otherwise. With an estimated population of 1.15 billion people in Africa, in 2020 more than 600 million people were living without access to electricity. Globally, 733 million people of the world’s eight billion people lacked access to electricity in 2020. While 733 million is an alarming figure, the African continent significantly remains the region with the lowest rates of energy access in the world, highlighting the severe energy deficit with which…
