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The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), is being implemented very slowly and President Mnangagwa has been pressing those countries that have not yet ratified the Free Trade Area Protocol, the first step towards AfCFTA, to take the practical step of signing on to what they have already agreed in principle.

The overall result of implementing AfCFTA, and within a decade freeing trade from tariff barriers within Africa for 90 percent of what Africa produces and makes.

And most of the rest within a few years more, will accelerate Africa’s economic growth and especially accelerate manufacturing, as industrialists gain access to continental markets, and so achieve the economies of scale that they need as they convert African resources to African goods.

Consumers benefit since they win on prices with those same economies of scale, and by not having to cover the duties on both made up goods, and on African-produced raw materials.

Governments will, of course, lose some revenue from customs duties, although we need to remember that VAT is an internal tax within each country and is still collected and still forms a major component of tax income in every country of the European Union, the ultimate multinational free trade area.

But what Governments lose on customs duty they will almost certainly pick up more from company taxation, as more production and manufacturing is done within Africa, and on income tax, as their populations become more prosperous.

In the end, as most countries in well-developed free trade areas have found, what is lost in duties is trivial compared to what is won by the greater markets and greater prosperity.

There are others who are worried. Some in Zimbabwe, because we sit next door to Africa’s largest industrial economy in South Africa, are worried that nascent consumer industries in Zimbabwe will be swamped by what flows north, just as we saw during the dollarisation era when the protection offered by the need for foreign currency allocations fell away.

This was one of the reasons for introducing our own currency, not so much to revert to the import allocation system introduced at UDI, but to allow our advantages in costing to make us competitive again, and that largely worked as we note the quantity of local made goods on our shelves.

But already South Africa is a major trading partner and we do import a lot. Free trade will not make much difference in proportion, although will increase volumes as our market becomes more prosperous.

Smarter industrialists with better memories remember when Zimbabwe did export manufactured goods south, especially those that used Zimbabwean raw materials.

In fact for several years South Africa imposed a non-tariff barrier on Zimbabwean textile goods and clothing, an annual limit on how much we could export, since we were ultra competitive with lower costs yet short transport routes.

While all countries in Africa will both benefit, and suffer some dislocation for which special funds are being created to minimise the effects, Zimbabwe is seen as one of the potential major gainers, so long as we keep stressing value addition of our exports.

This is because of the wide range of mineral and agricultural exports that we already ship, and that wide range of natural resources backing those exports. One problem we have faced in adding value is the additional costs of duties in the countries that would otherwise be buying our goods.

But this value addition of what an Africa country produces is the same for all AfCFTA members, the big industrial thrust in all countries being to convert the commodities they now export to the manufactured goods made from those same commodities.

When you convert something you mine or grow to something you also make you add a lot of value, but are probably very competitive.

One factor we need to remember in Africa is the sheer size of the continent.

Trucking raw materials, often low-value or moderate-value goods long distances, even when there is a market the other end, is a lot less profitable and viable than trucking high-value and lower bulk manufactured goods, so all Africa countries will be looking at their raw materials, and seeking investors both local and foreign to help convert these to the high-value end products.

And that is where the continent-wide markets come in, you need a lot of potential buyers of your product that the average African country simply does not have on its own, and that is one reason why industrial development has been retarded.

In AfCFTA, Zimbabwe is likely to grow an industrial base of heavy industry, a country that produces a lot of things made from the minerals we mine.

We already see this with the investments now being made in our steel industry, and those pouring in over US$1 billion into a single steelworks, as Tsingshan Holdings are doing at Manhize, would not be doing this if there was not a large potential regional and continental market.

Besides the iron ore and the coke from our large coal fields, the other two major ingredients of stainless steels, chrome and nickel, are also mined in Zimbabwe, so it is a natural industry.

There are other obvious ones. We are likely to be one of the top lithium producers in the world, making battery manufacture in Zimbabwe a clear goal. But the scale of a viable factory and the back-up chemical industry it needs, dwarfs the potential Zimbabwe market.

Yet Africa is the continent that within a few decades, thanks to its geographical location, that will have the highest percentage of power generated by solar, with good generation even in winter days and no one ever having to shovel half a metre of snow off the solar panels.

But solar is a 12/7 source, not a 24/7 source, and no matter how well you juggle hydro output to fill the night gap, you still need a lot of batteries. So Zimbabwe, in a free trade area, can supply.

Cigarettes are another opening that needs free trade. Besides the duties there are a lot of other barriers, including the propensity of the handful of global giants to set up factories in each country.

But the smugglers into South Africa are selling the pure Zimbabwean brands, which start with a lower price, and once you chop of the Zimbabwean duty they have to pay, plus the profits of at least two gangs, and then add on the South African duties we should be able to undercut the global brands significantly, and that would apply across a belt of Africa.

So under AfCFTA we are likely to be a primary industry specialist, converting what we mine and what we grow in surplus to goods that can sell across a continent, and that is not a bad place to be.

Other countries will be specialising in their areas, and we need to remember that trade must be two-way to be trade, but we will have a firm base.