Local Content Strategy to make Zimbabwe region’s export hub

GOVERNMENT has unveiled a multi-sectoral strategy aimed at transforming the country into a premier export hub of the region by 2030 – riding on a combination of local content incentives, mandatory mineral value addition, and a renewed push for rural industrialisation.

Industry and Commerce Minister, Mangaliso Ndlovu, said this as he outlined initiatives aimed at positioning Zimbabwe as a country that processes its own raw materials, empowers its rural communities, and dominates regional trade.

Central to the plan is the ‘Local Content Strategy’, set to be launched soon, which will mandate and incentivise manufacturers to prioritise domestic raw materials.

This comes at a time when the Government has announced a ban on exports of raw lithium concentrates and other minerals to ensure the country derives maximum value.

Speaking in Parliament recently, Minister Ndlovu revealed that companies using local resources and reaching specific thresholds could be rewarded with fiscal incentives.

“This strategy will embed with it, fiscal incentives for those manufacturing companies that are using local resources and reaching certain thresholds, beginning with somewhere around 60 percent,” he said.

Ndlovu further said the policy, which is subject to final approval by the Treasury, is designed to create a guaranteed market for primary and intermediate producers, thereby strengthening the entire manufacturing value chain.

The move is expected to reduce import dependency and stimulate local production from the ground up.
In a parallel drive to capture more value from the country’s mineral wealth, Minister Ndlovu confirmed that Government has already taken steps to suspend the export of semi-processed minerals.

This decisive action is intended to force investment in local beneficiation plants, ensuring that Zimbabwe’s resources create jobs and wealth within its borders rather than being exported for finishing elsewhere.

Minister Ndlovu highlighted a strategy to bolster smaller, indigenous players by reserving specific sectors with low barriers to entry for local entrepreneurs.

This ‘manufacturing for manufacturing’ approach aims to create a robust ecosystem of local suppliers who produce intermediate goods for larger companies, fostering a more integrated and self-sufficient industrial base.

These wide-ranging initiatives will be formally consolidated and presented in a new Industrial Development Policy, which Minister Ndlovu confirmed is due to be launched in the next few weeks.
Recognising that the majority of Zimbabweans reside in rural areas, Minister Ndlovu said the industrial drive would not be an urban-centric phenomenon.

He warned that failure to promote industry growth outside cities would leave a significant portion of the population behind.

To address this, the Cabinet has approved the establishment of a dedicated committee, the Rural Development and Industrialisation Committee, to be chaired by the Minister of Agriculture.

This body will consolidate all initiatives aimed at driving economic activity in the countryside.
A key vehicle for this rural push will be the revival of the Zimbabwe Development Corporation.
Formed in the early 2 000s but dormant for years, the corporation has been given a new board and a clear mandate.

“Their primary mandate is to identify within rural communities areas where there are opportunities for value addition,” said Ndlovu.

“They will be partnering with local communities and we will be funding this institution to set up factories in support of the Committee that the Minister of Agriculture is chairing,” he said.

Ndlovu further revealed that programmes linked to the Community Economic Empowerment Trust are being restructured to create a direct link between extractive industries operating in rural areas and the local supply chain.

This will ensure that communities hosting mines and other resource projects benefit directly from economic activity.

The minister added that the Agriculture portfolio will soon present a paper to Parliament outlining the growth of Village Business Units, which are expected to gradually evolve into full-scale value addition and beneficiation factories, marking a new era of rural industrialisation and economic empowerment for communities across the country.