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Zimpapers Reporter
ZIMBABWE and South Africa have been urged to position the North–South Rail Corridor as a strategic economic lifeline capable of strengthening regional trade, food security, industrialisation and investment amid growing disruptions to global supply chains.
The call was made by Beitbridge Bulawayo Railway (BBR) general manager Kumbulani Tendai Mabvura, who presented a paper at the Zimbabwe-South Africa Business Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa on Friday.
Presenting his paper, “The North–South Rail Corridor as a Strategic Instrument for Africa’s Self-Sustenance, Regional Security and AfCFTA Success”, Mr Mabvura said Africa could no longer afford to regard transport corridors as ordinary infrastructure projects.
“The central argument of this paper is that Africa cannot continue to treat transport corridors as ordinary infrastructure projects,” he said. “In the present global environment, the North–South Rail Corridor must be treated as an economic security instrument.”
Mr Mabvura said disruptions to global shipping, energy markets, grain and fertiliser supplies had exposed the vulnerability of economies heavily dependent on distant supply chains.
He said Zimbabwe and South Africa were strategically positioned to build greater resilience by combining South Africa’s ports, industrial capacity, financial markets and manufacturing base with Zimbabwe’s geographical position, Beitbridge gateway, Bulawayo rail hub, mineral resources and access to northern markets.
“The North–South Rail Corridor must therefore be treated as part of Africa’s economic defence system,” Mr Mabvura said, arguing that stronger local production, inland logistics, regional rail and value addition could reduce the impact of external shocks.
The corridor links South Africa with Zimbabwe and onward to Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and other regional markets, connecting ports, mines, farms, factories and inland consumption centres.
Mr Mabvura said the Beitbridge-Bulawayo railway provided a practical link within this network, shortening the movement between the South African border and Bulawayo and creating a platform for transit cargo into northern markets.
He said the corridor should not remain simply a transit route but should become a platform for production, value addition and regional industrialisation.
“The corridor must therefore be managed as one economic system, not as isolated national segments,” Mr Mabvura said, stressing the need for coordination between rail networks, ports, customs authorities, border agencies and private-sector operators.
Priority commodities identified in his paper include fertiliser, grain, fuel, lithium, chrome, copper, sulphur, cement, coal, agricultural equipment, mining inputs and manufactured goods.
Mr Mabvura said fertiliser and grain should receive particular attention because of their direct links to regional food security.
“Food security must now be treated as a regional logistics programme,” he said, arguing that the region must focus not only on producing food but also on how fertiliser reaches farmers and how grain moves between surplus and deficit areas.
He also highlighted the US$1.5 million West Nicholson Transhipment Siding as an example of how targeted private investment could strengthen the corridor.
The facility, developed by BBR in partnership with the National Railways of Zimbabwe and Silvergill Logistics, brings rail closer to mineral production areas in Matabeleland South and provides a loading and consolidation point for lithium concentrates and other bulk minerals.
Mr Mabvura said the project demonstrated how private capital could support wider public economic objectives.
“Africa will not succeed if governments are expected to fund every siding, warehouse, locomotive and terminal,” he said. “What is needed is a practical partnership model where Government gives policy certainty, fair regulation and strategic coordination, while private players bring capital, urgency, commercial discipline and innovation.”
Turning to AfCFTA, Mr Mabvura said continental trade agreements would have limited impact without efficient physical infrastructure.
“A tariff preference is only useful when a trader can move goods reliably, affordably and predictably,” he said, warning that high transport costs, border delays and unreliable wagon supply could leave AfCFTA “a good policy on paper but weak in execution”.
He proposed a joint Zimbabwe-South Africa corridor implementation platform involving Governments, rail operators, border agencies, port representatives and private-sector customers, with progress measured through actual cargo volumes, reduced delays and investment unlocked.
Mr Mabvura also called for artificial intelligence and data systems to be incorporated into corridor management to improve cargo forecasting, train planning, predictive maintenance, border-delay prediction and customer visibility.
His central message was that the region needed to move beyond policy declarations and focus on implementation.
“Practical action, even if imperfect at first, is better than perfect documentation that gathers dust,” Mr Mabvura said.
