Oct 9, 2026 · 58 min · 13 segments
As the African Union's Agenda 2063 reaches its midpoint, the continent's industrialisation ambition appears to have come face to face with mounting pressure from energy deficits and infrastructure…
John Bosco KalisaGuestChikotinaka EzeHostA ribbon of steel running the length of Africa, connecting the Mediterranean to the Cape of Good Hope.
It was called the Cape to Cairo Railway and it was celebrated as one of the great engineering projects of the age.
But look closer.
Look at where the railway ran.
Look at what it connected.
accelerating resource extraction, expanding commerce, projecting imperial power.
Its design did not center African people.
It bypassed linking African communities, facilitating trade between African towns, and bringing goods to African markets.
That is the colonial template.
Infrastructure built for extraction, not for industrialization.
think about what a railway does it moves things people goods resources from one place to another but the direction matters the purpose matters who benefits matters the cape to cairo railway was designed to move copper from katanga gold from the vit waters rand cotton from sudan and other raw materials from the African interior to the ports.
The railway's purpose was extraction, connecting African farmers to African markets, moving African manufactured goods to African consumers, and powering African industry lay outside its design.
It was the model.
In the Belgian Congo, copper from Katanga was taken to the port of Libeto in Angola.
In Nigeria, the railway connected the tin mines of Joss and the coal mines of Enugu to the ports of Lagos and Port Harcourt.
These lines, and dozens more like them, were designed to serve interests other than African peoples.
As one historian puts it, they were built simply to transport minerals from mines to ports.
with little benefit to communities on the way.
A ribbon of steel running the length of Africa, connecting the Mediterranean to the Cape of Good Hope.
It was called the Cape to Cairo Railway and it was celebrated as one of the great engineering projects of the age.
But look closer.
Look at where the railway ran.
Look at what it connected.
accelerating resource extraction, expanding commerce, projecting imperial power.
Its design did not center African people.
It bypassed linking African communities, facilitating trade between African towns, and bringing goods to African markets.
That is the colonial template.
Infrastructure built for extraction, not for industrialization.
think about what a railway does it moves things people goods resources from one place to another but the direction matters the purpose matters who benefits matters the cape to cairo railway was designed to move copper from katanga gold from the vit waters rand cotton from sudan and other raw materials from the African interior to the ports.
The railway's purpose was extraction, connecting African farmers to African markets, moving African manufactured goods to African consumers, and powering African industry lay outside its design.
It was the model.
In the Belgian Congo, copper from Katanga was taken to the port of Libeto in Angola.
In Nigeria, the railway connected the tin mines of Joss and the coal mines of Enugu to the ports of Lagos and Port Harcourt.
These lines, and dozens more like them, were designed to serve interests other than African peoples.
As one historian puts it, they were built simply to transport minerals from mines to ports.
with little benefit to communities on the way.
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