Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa has called on African countries to stop exporting raw minerals. He made the appeal in Harare this Monday, addressing guests at the African Union's Africa Skills Week 2026. His argument is that the continent ships out unprocessed ore cheap and buys back finished goods at a premium. Local processing, in that logic, would keep more value and more jobs at home. He tied the shift directly to skills, since mines and processing plants need trained workers to function. The week of events in Harare is built around exactly that question of workforce development. The plea also fits a wider African Union agenda of pushing member states toward industrialisation. For mineral-dependent economies like Zimbabwe's, the message works as both policy direction and political positioning.