South Africa’s record $550M arms exports, Dangote’s $40B African industrialization plan, and the UK reparations visa threat reveal a pattern of African power being built — and challenged — in real time.
Germany couldn’t keep up with ammunition demand and turned to South Africa, which just posted its biggest arms export year ever — selling to 42 countries including France, Turkey, Kenya, and the UAE. What most people don’t know is that the vehicle concept that saved American lives in Iraq traces its design origins directly to African engineers decades earlier. Now that same industry is reshaping African defence partnerships from within.
Meanwhile, Aliko Dangote just unveiled Vision 2030 — a $40 billion plan to more than double Nigeria’s refinery capacity and quadruple fertilizer output, backed by Afreximbank, Africa’s own multilateral financial institution. This isn’t a promise. The refinery already runs. The fertilizer plant already runs.
And in London, Reform UK proposed visa bans on citizens of any country officially pursuing slavery reparations — naming Nigeria, Ghana, and 17 others just weeks after the UN passed a resolution recognising the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity.
Three stories. One week. One pattern underneath all of them.
Sources used in this video include: DefenceWeb, Business Insider Africa, the US Marine Corps official publication, Military.com, Afreximbank official press statements, The Nation Nigeria, Premium Times, Guardian Nigeria, Pulse Ghana, Accra Street Journal, and the United Nations General Assembly record.
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The content in this video is produced for informational, educational, and analytical purposes only. All claims are sourced from credible publications and official records referenced above. This video represents the analytical perspective of The Strategic Lens and does not constitute legal, financial, or political advice. We present multiple viewpoints on contested topics and encourage viewers to consult primary sources and form their own conclusions. We do not promote violence, hatred, or discrimination of any kind.
#AfricanGeopolitics #SouthAfricaArms #DangoteVision2030
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Asongwed Louis, your team should be working contracts with every Education Ministry on the continent for High School Classes to stream your channel and High School students required to write reports for their teachers using your channel and several others. The old history is bs now, apart from telling a few experts how we got here. To move forward, your work is much more useful. Do not compromise and bend to imperial dictates and propaganda. That should get your subscription into the 10M level….
STOP THE INFIGHTING SO THAT THEY'RE DEVIDE AND RULE HOLD NEVER HAVE NEVER POWER OVER US NO MORE,AFRICA WE MUST LIBERATE OURSELVES,IF NOT US,WHO WILL AS HUMANS
But can't fight corruption in police or judiciary…wonder why?
Danel is busy with the university of Pretoria developing a missile that can track its targets and if it miss it then will return and chase it. South Africa!!!
The majority of South Africa’s weapons export growth can be attributed to the private sector with companies such as, Jew South African founder of Paramount Group and German arms giant Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM) in sales partnership to Saudi Arabia causing the war in Sudan. The UK sanctioned these companies causing the war in Sudan. Also, South Africa is owned by Anglo America, they founded the first African Central Bank, the South African Reserve Bank as a private shareholder company.
Good, that you , Cyrus and Zack are covering this topic. I hope you can provide more detail on the companies leading military equipment manufacturing in South Africa, including their shareholders, the labor and the engineering if any.
It is concerning that, although South Africa has the capacity to produce military equipment, the country is facing an unprecedented security crisis. Firearm control appears to be increasingly ineffective, with people being killed in broad daylight and, in many cases, perpetrators not being traced or arrested. The proliferation of illegal firearms and smuggling seems difficult to manage, especially as neighboring countries such as Mozambique and the DRC are also facing security challenges. I hope that heavy military equipment is not being smuggled into these countries through South Africa!!!.
I also hope you will make it clear that you are not promoting the trade of military equipment with African countries!!!. We urgently need to silence the guns. While I understand that this is a large market and that many benefit from it, there is a pressing need to prioritize peace and security across the Africa continent.
Why ain't they built RSA made car and Moto bikes instead?
Stop fabricating information. The Casspir, Mamba and Hippo where all engineered by apartheid engineers during the Embargo arms that the UN forced onto South Africa. South Africa has been one of the top 10 exporters of arms since 1980, however the ANC government managed to bankrupt the state-owned enterprises and during 2014-2024 no or hardly any exports happened. The arms deal is part of a large mostly privately owned venture. Milkor was privately owned by a farmer Andries Piek, the current shareholders are majority owned by Turkish nationals. Their lead engineers are John Monk (Principal Aeronautical Engineer), Duncan Higgs (Lead Aircraft Performance Engineer), Jean-Pierre Serfontein (Aerospace Structural Engineer). Rheinmetall Denel Munition, 51% privately owned German company and 49% Denel state owned company where Rheinmetall took over most of Denel's ammunition manufacturing assets. Engineers: Alicia Naidoo: Senior Chemical Engineer, 'Bruce' Mhlanga: Engineer, Burger Dietrichsen: Mechanical Engineer, René Heise: Chief Engineer (Artillery Systems). Paramount group privately owned by Ivor Ichikowitz, headquartered in the UAE and their engineers are Marco Andreani (Lead Engineer), Eduard van Heerden (Mechanical Engineer), Andre Nepgen (Strategist and Technology advisor), Johan Swart (Technical).
And African journalists must stop trying hard to impress the western countries like they are excluded. Who cares where we buy or sell
Bro you are lying South Africa has never sold anything that has to do with army in 15 yrs
Weapons made by whites . Exporting our old equipment. 😂 South Africa is not an arms producer anymore. 😂😂😂😂
Blacks have not and can not develop on their own.
What did you say about REPARATIONS!!!??? That should be a FRONT, CENTRAL and FOUNDATIONAL issue having a direct bearing on diplomatic relations with any colonial or slave trading or aparthied Nation. The entitlement and arrogance of the colonizers is demonstrably very much alive. We will not forget or stop talking about the theft,genocide and landgrabbing which characterized slavery and colonialism,ever !!! The Colonizers feel they have sufficiently infiltrated and influenced descendants of what is essentially human trafficking to now become the gatekeepers of colonial legacy and whose duty it is now to 'protect' the colonizers? This public display of arrogance is usually the preserve of the French but its just beneath the skin of all guilty peoples,we certainly have not forgotten slavery on the Eastern part of Africa and very specifically the impact of forced religious conversion, some did that just to preserve family and bloodlines by the way. What about those human heads you have in europe, art pieces that sustain musuem and art galleries in europe and beyond. If you think the colonized peoples,the enslaved peoples will ever forget that,you have a surprise coming, your fifth columists are fairly obvious today too. That religious portion is wearing off and a good number of brainwashing measures. It would be a good thing to be more discreet and circumspect when talking about such matters.They may determine whether diplomatic relations will hold!!! If this was a trial balloon it worked, and now you know. In African literature, we have a saying. If you want to know what is in a nest High up a three,throw a pebble into it. There may be eggs or little birds or a reptile or nothing.
What did you say about REPARATIONS!!!??? That should be a FRONT, CENTRAL and FOUNDATIONAL issue having a direct bearing on diplomatic relations with any colonial or slave trading or aparthied Nation. The entitlement and arrogance of the colonizers is demonstrably very much alive. We will not forget or stop talking about the theft,genocide and landgrabbing which characterized slavery and colonialism,ever !!! The Colonizers feel they have sufficiently infiltrated and influenced descendants of what is essentially human trafficking to now become the gatekeepers of colonial legacy and whose duty it is now to 'protect' the colonizers? This public display of arrogance is usually the preserve of the French but its just beneath the skin of all guilty peoples,we certainly have not forgotten slavery on the Eastern part of Africa and very specifically the impact of forced religious conversion, some did that just to preserve family and bloodlines by the way. What about those human heads you have in europe, art pieces that sustain musuem and art galleries in europe and beyond. If you think the colonized peoples,the enslaved peoples will ever forget that,you have a surprise coming, your fifth columists are fairly obvious today too. That religious portion is wearing off and a good number of brainwashing measures. It would be a good thing to be more discreet and circumspect when talking about such matters.They may determine whether diplomatic relations will hold!!! If this was a trial balloon it worked, and now you know. In African literature, we have a saying. If you want to know what is in a nest High up a three,throw a pebble into it. There may be eggs or little birds or a reptile or nothing.
What did you say about REPARATIONS!!!??? That should be a FRONT, CENTRAL and FOUNDATIONAL issue having a direct bearing on diplomatic relations with any colonial or slave trading or aparthied Nation. The entitlement and arrogance of the colonizers is demonstrably very much alive. We will not forget or stop talking about the theft,genocide and landgrabbing which characterized slavery and colonialism,ever !!! The Colonizers feel they have sufficiently infiltrated and influenced descendants of what is essentially human trafficking to now become the gatekeepers of colonial legacy and whose duty it is now to 'protect' the colonizers? This public display of arrogance is usually the preserve of the French but its just beneath the skin of all guilty peoples,we certainly have not forgotten slavery on the Eastern part of Africa and very specifically the impact of forced religious conversion, some did that just to preserve family and bloodlines by the way. What about those human heads you have in europe, art pieces that sustain musuem and art galleries in europe and beyond. If you think the colonized peoples,the enslaved peoples will ever forget that,you have a surprise coming, your fifth columists are fairly obvious today too. That religious portion is wearing off and a good number of brainwashing measures. It would be a good thing to be more discreet and circumspect when talking about such matters.They may determine whether diplomatic relations will hold!!! If this was a trial balloon it worked, and now you know. In African literature, we have a saying. If you want to know what is in a nest High up a three,throw a pebble into it. There may be eggs or little birds or a reptile or nothing.
Hi that make us not safe any more, that will come To us , Remember ANGLO AMERICAN _ DE BEERS company
Do you we have other more advanced, when u sells our secret, think before you do did u asked the nation of Sauth African 🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦
U know trust no one, where is Rooifalk
And what is the EU going to do with all those weapons
They should not be selling that to the European nation nor should they sell it to America they will take those same weapon and destroy Africa
Where do they build these ammunition? Definitely not is SA! All the government companies who used to build scaled down tremendously or closed down. Proof the truth of your claims!!
This time … I feel really PROUD !! Burkina faso South Africa.. Dangote !! For the first time it's like Africa is to be taken SERIOUSLY !!
WOW !
WHAT A NEW FEELING !!
Africa and Africans don't need permission to be powerful!
Africans UNITE!
Africa UNITE!
So' tell us' what are' you'
Doing' Advetising? Supoting' S A' love' south Africa? The sale of weapons it was not Secret' Cameroon' bought some' not so long ago'
Other countries does not sale' weapons'? Are' you' a' South african' ? Who' Deploye you to advetize S A' weapon? Are' you repoting to ' who?
These vehicles were designed and built in the 1980s. Not something new SA created. Credit where credit is due.
Weapons Manufacturing shouldn't shift to Africa, technologies being studied Today for Humanitarian Purposes. With Africa Plus BRICS', minerals control negates advanced weapons exploration. Let's keep a Positive discussion about survival, this is CLOSE ENOUGH, WE CAN END THE
MADNESS, DISMANTLING FOR REUSE? WHO MANY BILLIONS?
They Came to Study in AFRICA. 😊
Its silly this misfinformation the company is the good old armscorp from apartheid era it always had the capebility go back iraqi war they had plaine / artilery / elephant tanks it just shift to other countrys who buy if they ( in anc era ) did enything about it they be selling biljons the market was there the turkish / iranian drones are based on armscorp his drones .. so mister who tells this you had to look up some more information and could have said SA was the biggest arms seller for decades its not something new and during apartheid it sold more then now if its not money wise its export products wise and wat i hear its not even close to the exports to the iraqi conflict were they invade there neightbor sa was the biggest arms export of that conflict excluding exports to india / iran etc etc
People should learn to differentiate between "the West", "Europe" and "colonial powers". Remember Europe is more than 40 countries, most of them smaller than a Chinese village, which had nothing to do with colonisation. Actually, Eastern Europe was itself colonised by Austria, Russia and Turkey through most of the colonial period.
Absolutely right, even the American Apache attack helicopter 🚁 is a copy of the South African "Rooivalk" helicopter…Plus South Africa developed the first fly by wire technology.. Africa must believe in its self
I'm sure they will be using it against them soon.
One time White farmers or west use to go around spray caremecal on air. To kill farming in black people farmers.2nd remove black people fertilizer land .. in order not produce not from the land.
Sooo that's why the police are winning every fight with criminals in south Africa 🇿🇦
But this is what I see. They sell the arms to other countries for little to nothing and yet they can take one weapon and resell it for the price of what they received for all of them. They better get smart Africa.
Make Dangote the new Mansa Musa. No more borrowing from outsiders with conditions. Time black peopl stop acting foolish 🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇺🇸