{"id":24224,"date":"2026-02-25T11:17:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/zambia-president-calls-for-african-ownership-of-economic-development\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:34:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:34:56","slug":"zambia-president-calls-for-african-ownership-of-economic-development","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/zambia-president-calls-for-african-ownership-of-economic-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Zambia President calls for African ownership of economic development"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has urged African countries to take the lead in unlocking the continent\u2019s economic potential, saying Africa already has the resources and capacity needed for sustainable growth.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the launch of the Kazungula Bridge Authority in Kasane, Botswana, the Zambian leader said African nations must prioritise homegrown development strategies rather than relying heavily on external economic models.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hichilema said the continent must take ownership of its development agenda, adding that stronger regional infrastructure, trade integration and policy coordination would help drive economic transformation across Africa.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He noted that Africa\u2019s future growth depends on leveraging its natural resources, youthful population and expanding regional connectivity to accelerate industrialisation and trade.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23533,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-24224","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has urged African countries to take the lead in unlocking the continent\u2019s economic potential","published_date":"2026-02-25 13:17:47","news_description":"Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has urged African countries to take the lead in unlocking the continent\u2019s economic potential","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/24224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/24224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26974,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/24224\/revisions\/26974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=24224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}