The story of Africa’s engagement with the world is as old as our resources and as complicated as our politics. This week, President Emmerson Mnangagwa led Zimbabwe’s delegation to the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), Japan. On the surface, this is yet another international summit. But beneath it lies a question that cuts deeper: What kind of partnerships do we, as Africans, wish to build in this new century? Will we continue to approach these engagements as supplicants, grateful to be included at the table, or will we approach them as equal partners, determined to shape our own destiny? Japan is an industrial titan whose rise from the ashes of the Second World War to the world’s third-largest economy remains one of the most remarkable development stories in modern history.

That journey was not fuelled by resources; Japan has very few natural endowments compared to Africa. It was instead powered by strategic vision, technology, discipline and, above all, a deliberate eff ort to leverage knowledge and partnerships to accelerate development. Japan was not re-inventing the wheel, it was refi ning it, mastering it and eventually producing a new generation of wheels altogether, whether in the form of Toyotas, Hondas, Sony televisions or Hitachi turbines.

For Zimbabwe, standing in the corridors of Tokyo at TICAD, this should be a reminder and an inspiration. We cannot afford to re-invent the wheel in our quest for industrialisation and economic transformation. The world has already moved forward; others have already paid the costs of experimentation and error. What is left for us is to adopt, adapt and accelerate — to take the lessons from those who have walked this road before us and shape them to our own context. The challenges before us are immense. Climate change is already reshaping agriculture, food security and energy security across Southern Africa.

Debt burdens weigh heavily on almost every African economy, Zimbabwe included. Global inequality is widening, with new geopolitical rivalries threatening to leave the Global South as collateral damage in disputes among the giants of Russia, China and the US. Yet within these challenges lies an opportunity. TICAD is not just another donor’s conference; it is a platform born in 1993 out of Japan’s recognition that Africa’s development is essential for the future of the global economy.

It is a recognition that Africa is not a basket case but a frontier of opportunity. When Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube speaks of debt sustainability being “an albatross to Africa’s economic growth and development”, he is not exaggerating. For too long, debt has been the chain that binds our economies, draining resources from schools, hospitals, infrastructure and innovation into cyclical debt servicing.

This is not to dismiss the responsibility of African governments in contracting and managing debt wisely. But it is to say that the structures of global finance remain skewed, locking countries like ours into cycles of vulnerability. Engaging with Japan off ers an avenue to rethink that cycle, to f i nd innovative ways of investment that are not merely extractive or exploitative. Accompanying the President are some of the country’s most strategic minds: Foreign Aff airs Minister Professor Amon Murwira, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, Energy Minister July Moyo, Attorney-General Virginia Mabiza and senior offi cials like George Charamba. It is a delegation that refl ects how seriously Harare takes this engagement. As Minister July Moyo observed after touring Hitachi Energy’s facilities, the interest is there. Japan’s companies, from Hitachi to Toyota, from Sony to Toshiba, are global giants because they mastered the art of scaling knowledge and manufacturing capacity.

Zimbabwe’s energy sector, with its abundant solar potential, untapped hydro power, and critical lithium reserves, is crying out for precisely that kind of investment. But the question is: Will these investments be structured in a way that truly develops Zimbabwe? Japan, lacking in natural resources, invested in human capital, in innovation, in technology. Instead of exporting raw materials, it imported them and exported finished goods. We have the resources; what we need are the skills, the infrastructure and the technology to ensure that we are not exporting wealth and importing poverty. This is why TICAD matters.

Japan understands industrialisation not as a slogan but as a lived reality. When the conference highlights infrastructure development, industrialisation, health, agriculture and food security, these are not abstract words, they are the very foundations on which Japan built itself. And they are the areas in which Zimbabwe must accelerate if Vision 2030 is to be sustainable. Consider the role of artifi cial intelligence (AI) and new technologies.

The world is already racing ahead with AI, robotics and digital platforms. Zimbabwe cannot aff ord to be left behind. At TICAD, with more than 80 engagement points on the agenda, our delegation must not only seek fi nancial assistance but also push for technology transfer, for research collaborations, for partnerships that put Zimbabwean universities and research institutes in conversation with Japan’s.

Just as we send our best students abroad, why should they not be embedded in Japanese laboratories, learning and bringing back the knowledge to drive our own industries? But partnership must not be blind! The danger is always that Africa is courted as a source of raw materials and cheap labour. We must refuse to be seen as mere suppliers of lithium for Japanese batteries, iron for Japanese steel or land for Japanese investors. Instead, we must negotiate as equals: If Zimbabwe’s lithium is powering the world’s green transition, then Zimbabwe must also host the factories, the battery plants, the research hubs.

The Japanese story itself provides a model of how to demand respect. After the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan could have resigned itself to dependence. Instead, it redefined its relationship with the West, insisting not on aid but on opportunity, on the transfer of skills, on opening markets for its products. Within a generation, it was producing cars and electronics that rivalled and surpassed those of its former occupiers. Zimbabwe, too, must insist on a partnership of equals. The world today is multipolar. No single nation dominates. For Africa, this is both a challenge and an opportunity.

We are courted by China, wooed by Russia, engaged by the US, and now, once again, being recognised by Japan. The temptation is to see these relationships as alternatives; to align with one at the expense of the other. But the real opportunity is to balance them, to extract the best from each, to insist on terms that serve our people rather than the interests of foreign capitals. Agreements signed in Tokyo should not be benefi cial in the short term but sustainable in the long run.

Memoranda of Understanding should not be reduced to ceremonies but followed through with clear implementation timelines. Japanese companies are renowned for effi ciency and discipline; Zimbabwe must mirror that same seriousness if these engagements are to bear fruit.

By Mthokozisi Mabhena

The Patriot