Addressing delegates at the official opening of the Eighth Meeting of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Regional Committee for the Africa Region in the resort city of Victoria Falls on August 26, Mnangagwa emphasised the continent’s strategic role in the global energy transition. The post Mnangagwa champions Africa’s green energy shift appeared first on newsday .
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has urged African countries to swiftly convert their vast solar potential into active projects, jobs, and tangible economic growth as the continent seeks to address chronic energy deficits and accelerate sustainable economic transformation.
Addressing delegates at the official opening of the Eighth Meeting of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Regional Committee for the Africa Region in the resort city of Victoria Falls on August 26, Mnangagwa emphasised the continent’s strategic role in the global energy transition.
The high-level assembly, which ran from August 25 to 27, 2026, gathered energy ministers, senior government officials, and industry stakeholders from across 47 African member and signatory states.
“We remain deeply committed to advancing Africa’s critical role in the global energy transition agenda,”Mnangagwa told the gathering.
“We commend Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and President Emmanuel Macron of France for their ongoing commitment to strengthening solar energy partnerships with Africa. Africa possesses some of the world’s richest natural endowments”.
The president maintained that Africa’s abundant sunlight must no longer remain an untapped resource, but should instead be harnessed as a catalyst for sweeping regional modernisation.
“Our solar resources must be viewed as vital instruments to industrialise, modernise, and scale up access to essential services in line with the African Union Agenda 2063,” he said.
To achieve these goals, Mnangagwa called for increased co-operation across continental financial institutions and energy grids.
“We must deploy greater leverage around regional and continental financing platforms, maximising regional electricity markets and shared infrastructure,” he urged.
He stressed that the transition must be equitable, saying, “Our transition must be just, inclusive, and leave no one and no place behind.”
Highlighting the social dimensions of the green transition, the president added that women and youth must be positioned at the centre of the solar economy as technicians, engineers, and investors.
He welcomed technical capacity-building initiatives such as the Solar Technology Application Resource Centre (STAR-C) to facilitate training and skills transfer for young people.
The summit marked a major milestone with the signing of Country Partnership Frameworks for Zimbabwe, Senegal, and Seychelles.
Additionally, the ISA launched its Solarising Africa strategy, an implementation blueprint aiming to scale the continent’s solar capacity from 20–22 gigawatts (GW) today to an ambitious 150–200 GW by 2030, eventually targeting 1 terawatt (TW) by 2050.
Energy and Power Development minister, July Moyo, echoed the president’s sentiments, emphasising that sustainable power is the bedrock of domestic economic reforms.
“As Zimbabwe advances food security, industrial development, and value addition across mining, agriculture, and other natural resources, reliable and sustainable energy is a critical enabler of our economic transformation,” Moyo said.
He added that Harare is eager to deepen partnerships through the ISA to secure investments.
The conference also saw the operationalisation of the Africa50 Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) Fund, sponsored by the ISA. This specialised financing platform is engineered to mobilise concessional, institutional, and private capital to build bankable project pipelines for rural communities, smallholder farmers, and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Further boosting financial support, ISA director general Ashish Khanna announced the launch of three Africa-focussed platforms, including the Africa Solar Facility, which will operationalise a US$200 million fund.
“Africa is ready to move from megawatts to gigawatts of solar,” Khanna observed, pointing to rising political will, stronger partnership alignment, and falling technology costs.
He noted that aligning development partners around ‘Mission 300’ offers a golden opportunity to accelerate grid connectivity and energy access across the continent.
Addressing the assembly, the Chair of the meeting and Seychelles’ Environment, Climate, Energy and Natural Resources minister, Marie-May Jeremie, pointed out that while momentum is growing, actual solar deployment remains far below potential. She stressed the need to “translate Africa’s abundant sunlight into bankable projects and measurable development outcomes, moving from ambition to implementation.”
Geopolitical co-operation remained a central theme, with India’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, Bramha Kumar, reiterating New Delhi’s commitment to sharing its domestic energy transition experiences.
“The International Solar Alliance carries this spirit forward through climate action, energy access, and global partnership,” Kumar said.
A crucial outcome of the Victoria Falls meeting was the attestation of the “Zimbabwe Declaration” by Zimbabwe, Uganda, The Gambia, Ghana, Senegal, and Rwanda, uniting these countries in their commitment to advancing solar water pumps and agrivoltaics.
To support this, the ISA launched the Community of Practice on Solarisation of Agriculture, alongside the Rwanda Agrivoltaics Rapid Outlook and a Solar Water Pump e-Learning Programme for farmers.
Established at COP21 in 2015 by India and France, the ISA has grown to encompass over 120 member and signatory countries. Headquartered in India, the alliance operates on four strategic pillars: unlocking investment via a catalytic finance hub, enhancing capability through digitisation, driving regional engagements, and formulating technology roadmaps.
As delegates departed Victoria Falls, the consensus was clear: Africa’s solar era has officially begun, and the blueprint for implementation is finally in place.
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