In the shadows of Africa’s mineral empires – from Congolese cobalt fields to Nigerian oil terminals, Glencore operates like a colonial power in a business suit. Backed by Swiss banks, aided by British legal impunity, and protected by Western silence, Glencore has plundered Africa’s wealth for decades. And yet, the West still calls this “development.”
In 2022, the United States and the United Kingdom forced Glencore to admit it paid bribes in multiple African countries. In one case, it rerouted over $75 million in royalties meant for the Congolese people into the pockets of sanctioned billionaire Dan Gertler. In another, it choked Zambia’s copper sector through tax avoidance. In Chad, it locked the country into an oil-for-debt trap so severe that 90% of the nation’s oil income was swallowed by repayments.
Africa isn’t poor. It is being looted in real time.
This report — built from court records, NGO exposés, UN data, financial audits, and leaked documents — unpacks Glencore’s operations across the continent and names the politicians, traders, banks, and enablers making it possible. We also highlight the resistance: a new generation of African leaders like Ibrahim Traoré, rising to break the chains of neo-colonialism and take back control of their nations’ wealth.
This is not a scandal. This is a system. And it’s time to name it for what it is: economic terrorism.
Congo: Cobalt fuels your phone, and Glencore owns it
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the world’s top supplier of cobalt, a critical mineral powering electric cars, smartphones, and the renewable energy future. But the price of this mineral boom is corruption, toxic pollution, and stolen futures.
Glencore owns two massive mines in the DRC, Katanga Mining (KCC) and Mutanda, supplying Apple, Tesla, and other Western brands. But the real story begins with its corrupt alliance with Dan Gertler, an Israeli oligarch sanctioned by the US Treasury for using his ties to former president Joseph Kabila to obtain “opaque and corrupt mining deals”.
Global Witness revealed that Glencore:
- Secretly loaned Gertler US$45 million, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), to secure access to Congolese mining rights
- Continued paying him royalties after US sanctions by routing money through loopholes
In 2022, Glencore pleaded guilty in US and UK courts to paying $27.5 million in bribes in the DRC alone. And yet, the DRC remains among the poorest countries on Earth, with 72% of people living on less than $2 a day.
So where did the money go?
Follow the flow:
→ Mining rights secured through bribes
→ Royalties funneled offshore
→ Swiss banks receive deposits
→ Glencore reports profits in Zug, not Kinshasa
This is not commerce. This is colonialism with spreadsheets.
Zambia: Copper stolen, taxes dodged
In Zambia, Glencore owned Mopani Copper Mines for over a decade. What it left behind is a masterclass in transfer pricing, pollution, and mass layoffs.
- Underpriced copper exports to its own subsidiaries
- Overcharged for inputs like “freight” to shift profits abroad
- Paid almost no taxes for years
Zambia lost billions in revenue. Glencore denied wrongdoing — until a Supreme Court ruling in 2020 forced it to pay back taxes.
Meanwhile, Zambian workers faced mass layoffs in 2019 when Glencore suddenly shuttered operations and fired over 2,000 employees.
And pollution?
In Mufulira, sulphur dioxide emissions from Glencore’s smelter reached levels 10 times the legal limit, leading to respiratory illnesses, acid rain, and even a court-confirmed death by poisoning.
Glencore - Exploitation of Raw MaterialsNigeria: Glencore bribed its way into the oil trade
Glencore’s guilty plea in the UK included admissions of bribing officials at Nigeria’s state oil firm NNPC to get preferential oil deals.
One trader, Anthony Stimler, confessed to paying over $300,000 in cash bribes per cargo to ensure access.
While Nigeria exported over $400 billion in oil, according to the World Bank, its poverty rate climbed, with over 40% of Nigerians living in extreme poverty.
This is the paradox of African oil: We export wealth. We import misery.
Chad: Glencore’s oil loan ate the nation
In 2014, Glencore loaned Chad $1.45 billion, as published in the Wall Street Journal, secured against future oil sales.
By 2017, 90% of Chad’s oil income was going to Glencore in debt repayments, leaving the government unable to pay salaries or import medicine.
African Development Bank - EMERGENCY FISCAL CONSOLIDATION SUPPORT PROGRAMMEIMF called it “unsustainable.” But Glencore got paid.
This is resource-backed debt — a neo-colonial trick that’s turning African countries into modern indentured states.
IMF called it unsustainable - GlencoreCameroon: Bribes again. And again.
Glencore admitted paying $11 million in bribes to officials at Cameroon’s state oil firm SNH.
The UK Serious Fraud Office prosecuted Glencore in 2022, but, according to the Business in Cameroon website, no Cameroonian officials were jailed.
The money vanished. The oil flowed. And Western courts collected the fines.
Africa: exploited.
The West: enriched.
Burkina Faso: Ibrahim Traoré is rewriting the rules
Burkina Faso doesn’t host major Glencore assets. But it hosts something more powerful: a revolution. A political earthquake led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the 35-year-old interim president, waging war on neo-colonialism and reclaiming national sovereignty, especially in the gold mining sector.
But since taking power in 2022, Traoré has:
- Nationalized two major gold mines in 2023 — Wahgnion and Boungou — previously owned by Endeavour Mining.
- Created a state-run gold company (SOPAMIB) to control future extraction.
- Banned raw gold exports to build a domestic refinery for the first time ever.
His bold move: “We will mine it ourselves.”
Traoré’s actions resonate across Africa, especially in nations still ruled by foreign mining licenses, unequal contracts, and offshore profit flows. He has expelled French troops, cut ties with Paris, and aligned Burkina with Mali and Niger under the Alliance of Sahel States — a bloc rejecting Western economic control.
In speeches, he calls out Western hypocrisy:
“Africa’s youth are drowning in the Mediterranean, while our gold feeds Paris,” said Ibrahim Traoré.
He is not wrong.
Burkina produces 50–60 tonnes of gold a year, yet remains one of the poorest countries on Earth. That is not development. That is mineral looting.
South Africa: Glencore, the Guptas, and the hijacking of a mine
South Africa’s saga with Glencore isn’t about cobalt or oil — it’s about coal, corruption, and corporate surrender.
In 2012, Glencore acquired the Optimum Coal Mine, which supplied coal to state utility Eskom, according to Bloomberg. When Eskom imposed a crushing fine over alleged poor-quality coal, Glencore tried to renegotiate.
Instead, they were strong-armed out.
Behind the scenes? The Gupta brothers — billionaire cronies of former President Jacob Zuma — colluded with Eskom executives and government ministers to force Glencore to sell Optimum at a loss.
Highlights from South Africa’s Zondo Commission on State Capture:
- Eskom hit Glencore with a R2.1 billion penalty.
- Minister Mosebenzi Zwane flew to Switzerland to “negotiate” (i.e., threaten) Glencore‘s CEO.
- Eskom gave the Guptas R659 million in prepayments to fund their takeover.
Glencore caved. The Guptas got the mine. South Africa got looted.
While Glencore played the victim, the broader picture is murkier. Some allege Glencore resisted too little, too late, unwilling to battle the Zuma state in court. And prior to the scandal, Glencore had its own history of cozy relationships, including a former stake held by Cyril Ramaphosa, now president.
But the Guptas were worse. They pillaged South Africa’s institutions and looted billions before fleeing to Dubai.
Lesson? Even multinational giants can be crushed when the state is captured.
Mauritania: The iron ore deal that went nowhere
Mauritania, rich in iron ore, partnered with Glencore in 2014, as published in Reuters, to launch the Askaf project, aiming to produce millions of tonnes a year.
Glencore promised jobs, infrastructure, and shared growth.
Then prices fell. Glencore walked.
Mauritania was left with:
- A stranded mine.
- No new railway.
- Lost years of development.
Meanwhile, existing state-owned mines exported ore to Europe and China, but like everywhere else, the value-add stayed abroad.
Mauritania remains a Least Developed Country. One-third of its people live on under $1.90/day despite exporting gold, iron, and now gas.
Sub-Saharan Africa - Macro Poverty OutlookThis is the illusion of development: foreign investment that exits when profits dip, while locals are left behind.
How the West enables the looting of Africa
You cannot steal billions from African nations without help. And Glencore had plenty of it, not just from African officials, but from Swiss bankers, UK accountants, offshore secrecy jurisdictions, and the regulatory blind eye of Western governments.
This is not just a story of one company. It’s about how global capitalism is wired to suck resources out of Africa and flush the profits into European banks.
Capital flight: Africa’s wealth doesn’t stay in Africa
According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the continent loses $88.6 billion per year in illicit financial flows (IFFs), mainly from extractive sectors like oil, copper, gold, cobalt, and iron.
A 2020 report by Global Financial Integrity found that commodity misinvoicing alone cost African governments over $88 billion annually in lost tax and customs revenue.
Where does the money go?
- Swiss banks: Glencore is headquartered in Baar, Switzerland, where corporate taxes are minimal and banking secrecy laws have historically shielded billions.
- UK offshore territories: British Virgin Islands, Jersey, and the Isle of Man are, according to ICIJ, frequent destinations for Glencore subsidiaries.
- US and UK property markets: Bribe money paid in Nigeria, DRC, and Cameroon has ended up in London penthouses and Manhattan condos, with no questions asked.
These jurisdictions are not passive. They are active enablers of looting. They provide:
- Shell companies with no transparency.
- Legal loopholes for tax evasion.
- Political cover under the guise of “investment freedom”.
This is the Western end of the criminal supply chain.
Swiss complicity: The Glencore-Gertler scandal
Glencore funneled tens of millions in royalties to Dan Gertler, the Israeli billionaire sanctioned by the US for “corrupt mining deals in Congo”, through non-USD transactions routed via Swiss bank accounts and legal structures.
Even after Gertler was sanctioned in 2017, Glencore:
- Continued paying him through offshore entities.
- Denied wrongdoing until international pressure forced a reversal.
- Claimed it acted on “instructions from Congolese authorities”.
Swiss regulators never punished Glencore.
So let’s be blunt: Switzerland enabled Congo’s looting by giving Glencore and Gertler a haven for laundering bribes as “royalties.”
UK silence: Fines, not justice
The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) charged Glencore with 7 counts of bribery in Africa, covering Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Equatorial Guinea.
The result?
- Glencore paid £280 million in fines.
- Not one executive went to jail.
- Not one African government received compensation.
Nigeria’s government asked to speak in court as a victim. The judge said no. Cameroon’s parliament demanded names. Glencore refused.
This is legal theater, not accountability.
The UK takes the fines. Africa gets the scars.
Corporate tax evasion: The great profit shift
Glencore’s Mopani Copper Mines in Zambia underreported profits by selling copper to its own subsidiaries in Switzerland at below-market prices.
This scheme, known as transfer mispricing, allowed Glencore to:
- Declare low profits in Zambia (a high tax country).
- Re-sell copper at full value from Switzerland (a low tax haven).
- Pay almost zero tax where the copper was actually mined.
This is not “smart business.” It is industrial-scale theft dressed as accounting.
The OECD admits such schemes cost Africa tens of billions annually. But no Western government has seriously cracked down.
Global Outlook on Financing for Sustainable Development 2025Final tally: Who profits from African poverty?
| Entity | How they profit |
|---|---|
| Glencore | Buys cheap, pays bribes, underreports profits |
| Swiss banks | Hold illicit funds, protect client secrecy |
| UK legal firms | Set up offshore companies, avoid liability |
| European refiners | Process African ore into high-value exports |
| Wall Street | Invests in Glencore and others via “ESG” funds |
| IMF/World Bank | Push loans after the damage, with austerity strings |
| African elites | Accept bribes, sign unfair deals, funnel wealth abroad |
| African people | Lose land, health, futures — and gain nothing |
Continuing now with the section on Africa’s rising resistance, where bold leaders, public movements, and even state reforms are fighting to break the colonial supply chain powered by Glencore and its Western backers. This is the new anti-colonial wave, and it’s just getting started.
Africa is fighting back
The age of silent extraction is over. Across the continent, citizens are rejecting the economic logic that has kept Africa rich in minerals but poor in wealth. Governments — once beholden to foreign capital — are awakening. And the corporate traders? They are watching their grip weaken.
This is not just a backlash. It is a renaissance in sovereignty.
Ibrahim Traoré: The new Sankara?
Few leaders have become as symbolically potent as Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traoré, who took power in a 2022 military-led revolution that overthrew the French-backed elite and vowed to return the country’s wealth to its people.
Since then, he has:
- Expelled French troops and shut down all military bases.
- Nationalized gold mines from Canadian and European firms.
- Announced a domestic gold refinery to end raw export dependence.
His speeches echo Thomas Sankara, Burkina’s legendary anti-colonial icon, assassinated in 1987 by Western-backed interests. Traoré’s message is simple:
“Africa will never be free until it controls its resources.”
Young Africans have adopted him as a revolutionary symbol. But he’s not alone.
Tanzania: Magufuli’s war on gold
Before his sudden death in 2021, President John Magufuli of Tanzania shocked global markets when he accused Acacia Mining, a Barrick Gold subsidiary, of massively under-declaring gold exports.
- Slapping Acacia with a $190 billion tax bill.
- Forcing renegotiations of all mining contracts.
- Rewriting Tanzania’s mining laws to favor the state.
This was no small country protest. This was a sovereign act of economic war, and it paid off. Barrick eventually caved, paid $300 million, and gave Tanzania a stake in all future profits.
Magufuli died soon after. Officially: heart failure. Unofficially: suspicions still linger.
Congo: Tshisekedi vs. the old elite
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Félix Tshisekedi has pledged to audit all mining contracts signed under his predecessor, Joseph Kabila, many of which involved Glencore and Dan Gertler.
Key moves:
- Suspended the controversial cobalt deals of Congo.
- Investigated $880 million in missing royalties.
- Renegotiated terms with Chinese infrastructure-for-minerals partners.
It’s a cautious process, Tshisekedi is not a revolutionary, but the direction is clear: resource nationalism is back.
Mali & Niger: Breaking the Western chain
Like Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have both ousted pro-Western governments and joined the Alliance of Sahel States, vowing to:
- Remove French troops.
- Nationalize uranium, oil, and gold contracts.
- Reject IMF and World Bank conditionality.
Niger is especially critical: it supplies 20% of France’s uranium, yet 80% of its own people lack electricity.
That’s the colonial equation. And it’s being rewritten.
Colonialism never died. It changed clothes.
The West did not end its grip on Africa. It privatized it. It replaced armies with mining giants, replaced governors with bank loans, and replaced flags with fines.
Today, firms like Glencore:
- Control what’s under the soil.
- Shift wealth abroad via legal trickery.
- Pay fines in London instead of taxes in Africa.
- Leave behind pollution, job losses, and ghost towns.
And the West calls this “free markets.”
It’s not. It’s neo-colonialism by spreadsheet.
Colonialism never died. But resistance is alive.
From Ouagadougou to Kinshasa, from Dar es Salaam to Bamako, a new Africa is rising. One that will mine its own gold, refine its own cobalt, and dictate its own destiny.
And if the West doesn’t like it, too bad.
A line in the sand
This is not just a story of Glencore. It is the story of how the global economic system is designed to extract from the South and enrich the North. A system where:
- Africa provides cobalt for EVs, yet children in Congo mine it barefoot.
- Chad pumps oil for Europe, yet can’t afford basic medicine.
- Zambia exports copper to Switzerland, yet it sits under IMF debt.
- Niger powers France with uranium, yet its people live in darkness.
This is economic apartheid, and Glencore is one of its biggest architects.
But the tide is turning. Africa is not waiting for permission. From Ibrahim Traoré’s gold revolution, to Tanzania’s Magufuli moment, to grassroots protests across the Sahel, the continent is reclaiming control. Colonialism ends when the money stops flowing to Zurich and London.
And The Eastern Herald will remain the voice of that fight – unapologetic, documented, and globally resonant.
