8 Driving socio-economic development and transformation in Southern Africa: Stimulating the Industrial and Economic Anchors Oliver Maponga Introduction From neoclassical economic theory, economic transformation, through production and a rise in productivity, derives from the combination of land, labour, and capital(including technology). e availability of land anchors all land-based productive activities, including agriculture, mining, forestry, animal husbandry and tourism. Labour provides the skills which combine with technology and capital for transformation and nancial capital resources that oil investment. For Southern Africa, the natural resources-based sector, mainly agriculture, mining and tourism, are key drivers of socio-economic transformation and development. e region’s comparative advantage lies in the natural resource endowments in land as well as the embedded potential. For example, the region hosts the world’s largest resources of platinum group metals, chromium, manganese, phosphate, and other base and industrial minerals key for industrialization. Agriculture and mining possess the potential to drive economic development and transformation in the region. at agriculture plays a strategic role in economic development and has historically made a signi cant contribution to the prosperity of advanced economies is well known. For example, the agricultural revolution preceded the industrial revolution in England and in the United States and Japan, prosperity of the agricultural sector underpinned industrial take-o. Similarly, the take-o of East Asian economies 179 Oliver Maponga