Online Reporter
Rutendo Nyeve recently in Hwange
LOCALLY-produced steel from the US$1,5 billion Dinson Iron and Steel Company (Disco) in Manhize is proving a game changer, powering multimillion-dollar infrastructure projects across Matabeleland North and marking a new chapter in Zimbabwe’s industrialisation drive.
From the Lake Gwayi-Shangani Dam to the emerging US$500 million coal industrial park at Five Miles in Hwange, locally made steel billets and rebars are anchoring construction works — cutting the import bill, saving foreign currency and accelerating the country’s mineral beneficiation agenda.
Disco, operated by China’s Tsingshan Group, has already earned nearly US$100 million in sales during the first-half of this year, less than a year after commissioning. The plant, which started production in June last year, is now turning out more than 600 000 tonnes of steel annually, including pig iron, billets and rebars for both domestic and export markets.
The impact is visible on the ground. During a recent tour of the Five Miles coal industrial park, Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando highlighted how locally produced steel has become the backbone of the massive new structures.
“This steel, which you see here, which is being utilised for this massive construction project, is steel from Manhize. So previously, this steel would have been brought from other countries. We are now utilising steel, to produce locally,” he said.
Minister Chitando further stressed the value addition chain that makes this milestone central to Zimbabwe’s industrialisation strategy.
“Now, if you look at the production of this steel, you can see that there is local iron ore, there is local coke and there is local limestone. And also, from where Manhize is, this is local thermal coal from Chiredzi which has all gone into producing this steel,” he said.
The minister directly linked the Manhize steel to the transformative projects in Hwange.
The Five Miles Industrial Park, being developed by Chinese investor ZhongJin Heli, is Zimbabwe’s first integrated coal beneficiation hub — combining a coke oven battery, cement plant and power generation facility in a closed-loop system that maximises resource use with minimal waste.
Minister Chitando said the synergy between Manhize Steel and Hwange’s industrial park embodies President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030 goals of value addition and import substitution.
“This steel is also now coming, being here to make this construction, a five-mile project. You also now have another integrated value addition. There are many success stories which you can now see of
President Mnangagwa’s capacity towards the 2030 vision and local value addition in the 20th edition,” he said.
Launched by President Mnangagwa in October 2022, the Manhize project achieved its first steel billet production milestone in mid-2024. Its rapid commercial success — with US$100 million in six months — underlines huge local demand and savings on imports.
With its sights now set on export markets, Disco is positioning Zimbabwe as a regional steel powerhouse, transforming raw minerals into high-value products and laying the foundation for sustained industrial growth.
The establishment of Dinson Iron and Steel Company marks the revival of Zimbabwe’s long-dormant steel industry, which collapsed following the closure of the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (Zisco) in the early 2000s.
For over two decades, the country relied heavily on imported steel, driving up costs for construction and manufacturing. The Manhize project, now Africa’s largest integrated steel plant, is central to the Second
Republic’s reindustrialisation agenda, aimed at restoring Zimbabwe’s status as a key steel producer in the region and ensuring that mineral resources directly feed into domestic development.
