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Fungi Kwaramba

Political Editor

The Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge Highway, once considered a death trap, is shaping up into a modern highway, with only few patches of detours left as the Second Republic returns the sparkle to the famous teeming thoroughfare.

For the road that was once famously, known as “Masvingo ne carpet”, a phrase popularised by musician Robson Banda, the lustre is indeed returning as President Mnangagwa lives to his promise of development that leaves no one and no place behind.

Once a nightmarish prospect, travelling along this road is fast becoming a dream, what with works that have started at the Mbudzi traffic circle, where a traffic interchange is being built with resources all bone by the Zimbabwean Government and the works being carried by Zimbabwean companies.

In total US$88 million has been set aside for the construction of the interchange, the first in the country and a facility that is expected to solve traffic congestion at Mbudzi roundabout where people had some of the worst experiences as traffic jam-locked.

Works have begun, roads have been closed and new arteries opened to ensure minimal disruption to the residents of Harare’s southern suburbs such as Glen Norah and Southlea Park, as well as those heading to Beitbridge, the busiest border in the SADC region, which itself is being modernised to the tune of US$300 million by the Government of Zimbabwe.

But last Friday we were travelling to Bikita, and not Beitbridge, and the road was a joy to use as Zimbabwe shows the world that indeed none but ourselves can develop our country, itself a rallying call of the President’s philosophy “Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo”.

Thus as we drove by the detour that circumvents the Mbudzi Traffic Interchange, it was smooth sailing on our pre-dawn drive with little traffic or distraction, caution those, if one is carried away prospects of speeding past the limit are high.

On our early journey, we encountered no roadblocks, but just two detours that were even by lighting companies that are constructing the road were hard at work undeterred by the shrouds of darkness that hung around them and of course the eerie silence of the wee hours.

While before the dawn of the Second Republic the road was a sure death trap, claiming so many lives, and delaying the travel time, this time around it takes just a few hours to reach Chivhu, the transit town to Masvingo which is approximately 141 km to the south of Harare.

Throughout, where we detoured, trucks and earthmoving equipment were busy at work, indeed working around a clock without a clock.

After Chivhu, there is a bad stretch before the turn off to the famous Gutu Mupandawana Growth Point, but as is with everything it seems it will be only a matter of time before that patch is attended to and asphalted.

So off we went to Bikita where the President was ground-breaking a US$300 million lithium mining project at Bikita Minerals, a venture by the Chinese Sinomine Resource Group that is expected to earn the country more than US$500 million annually for the next 10 years starting 2023.

While there is little accounting of proceeds from the mine in the 70 years of its existence, the new investment has already had knock-on effects on the community as the Chinese company contributes, not only to the nation’s purse, but also to the local community through the construction of a 100MW power line from Tugwi Mukosi to Bikita.

In addition, there is provision of potable water and the construction of modern houses that befit a community with such a much sought after resources, such as lithium, which comes with compounds that will be used in several industrial applications, that include use in the manufacturing of heat-resistant glass and ceramics, lithium grease lubricants, flux additives for iron, steel, and aluminium production, air treatment, as well as lithium batteries that are crucial to the world migration to green energy through use in electric vehicles.

Since the dawn of the New Dispensation, the mining sector has grown from US$2,7 billion in 2017 to US$3,5 billion in 2020, phenomenally shooting to around US$5,2 billion in 2021 and is this year expected to grow to US$8 billion.

And Sino Mine’s investment in Bikita is another demonstration of the growing confidence that global companies now have in Zimbabwe, through President Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business” mantra and clear policies enunciated in the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).

The President told the Chinese miners that they should leave “tangible socio-economic advantages and benefits” in the community. “In undertaking their ventures, companies are challenged to listen to their host communities and address their concerns. Communities must on the other hand,” said President Mnangagwa.

But for Zimbabwe to fully realise its full potential, Zimbabweans must speak with one voice, abhor violence and embrace peace, love, and unity ideals that the President has religiously preached.

Once beaten twice shy, reliving how Zimbabwe lost its diamonds to a South African company that left the country with truckloads of what was then believed to be soil samples in the early 2000s, the President said his Government is determined to add value to its minerals through beneficiation as that will create more jobs to Zimbabweans and grow the economy towards becoming an upper middle economy by 2030. At Bikita Minerals 1 000 people, mostly locals will be employed.

“The investment by Sinomine Resource Group should, thus, not only end in the production of spodumene, but should graduate to the production of battery-grade lithium and ultimately lithium-ion battery manufacturing entities,” he said.

As the sun set after a rally where the President denounced violence, villagers had smiles on their faces after they were assured that despite the poor harvests experienced this year, the Zanu PF government will make sure that no one will go short of food and that the food will come free of charge.