90% of Africa’s Mining Workers Are Casual, a Continental Strategy to Keep Mineworkers Disposable and Unions Weak— Kwesi Pratt Jr.

Kwesi Pratt Jr. urged African mining unions to fight casualization and strengthen labor solidarity, warning 90% of workers remain casual under a deliberate continent-wide strategy.

By Solomon Boakye

Mar 27, 2026

At the opening of the 3rd Executive Council Meeting of the African Federation of Miners and Mineral Wealth (AFMMW) in Accra, Kwesi Pratt Jr., General Secretary of the Socialist Movement of Ghana, highlighted what he described as a deliberate, continent-wide strategy to keep mineworkers disposable and weaken unions, telling union leaders: “Ninety percent of workers in our mining sector are now casual… This is a continental strategy.” 

According to him, this is a coordinated effort by multinational companies and global economic powers to fragment labour, prevent union strength, and ensure that African workers do not share in the wealth of the continent’s mineral resources.

Speaking under the conference theme, “Strengthening Unity and Solidarity Among the African Unions of Mines to Confront the New Global Order and Attempts to Control Natural Resources and Rare Minerals,” Pratt emphasized that casualization is not a local problem but a continent-wide tactic, designed to keep labor weak and disposable while profits flow abroad.

To illustrate his point, Pratt pointed to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), home to $24 trillion in untapped mineral reserves, where 74 percent of the population lives on less than two dollars a day. Despite massive exports of copper, cobalt, and other critical minerals, the majority of Congolese see little benefit. 

He also cited human costs of extraction, including child labor, unsafe working conditions, and deaths in mining disasters, such as the Kalando mine collapse in Lualaba province and the starvation of 78 miners in South Africa. Meanwhile, multinational companies like Glencore report billions in profits.

Pratt traced the roots of exploitation to colonial and neocolonial economic structures, noting that today’s scramble for minerals, driven by green energy demands like electric vehicles and solar technology, follows the same extractive logic: Africa digs, while profits and processing occur elsewhere.

He praised the AFMMW’s decision to establish a union-owned investment company to acquire and manage mining assets, framing it as a practical step to give workers ownership and control over the value they create. Pratt urged unions to fight casualization as a continental class struggle, demand value addition on African soil, and enforce safety standards across all operations.

The 3-day meeting, held at La Palm Royal Beach Hotel from March 26–28, 2026, brings together union leaders, policymakers, and industry representatives to discuss continental solidarity, labor empowerment, and strategies to reclaim Africa’s mineral wealth from exploitation, reinforcing Pratt’s call that workers must not remain disposable but instead share in the wealth they help create.