Online Reporter
Raymond Jaravaza, Sunday News Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S vast mineral wealth should position the country among Africa’s richest nations if effectively harnessed under the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2), Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda has said.
Addressing delegates at a Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion workshop in Bulawayo yesterday to review NDS1 and unpack NDS2, Adv Mudenda said the transition to NDS2 represents a decisive reaffirmation of Zimbabwe’s ambition to attain upper middle-income status by 2030.
“This strategic transition carries the weight of legitimate expectations from millions of Zimbabweans, who rightly demand development initiatives that yield tangible and inclusive outcomes for the citizenry.
The country is endowed with a bountiful treasury of mineral resources that should incontrovertibly position Zimbabwe among Africa’s wealthiest nations,” he said.
“It’s imperative we ensure that the country escapes the insidious ‘resource curse’ that has condemned many resource-rich nations to perpetual underdevelopment.”
Adv Mudenda said the country must shift from primary commodity dependency to a diversified and modern industrial economy anchored on mandatory value addition and beneficiation.
He said industrialisation under NDS2 will deliberately decentralise manufacturing activities through Village Business Units (VBUs), dispersing factories, processing centres and entrepreneurship hubs to rural and previously marginalised areas instead of concentrating development in Harare and Bulawayo.
“Through the innovative concept of Village Business Units (VBU), the strategy deliberately disperses factories, processing centres and entrepreneurship hubs to the rural and remote areas of the country that have historically not experienced the tangible benefits of development,” said Adv Mudenda.
Among successful models already in place, he cited the marula processing plant in Rutenga, Mwenezi District, a tomato processing plant in Mutoko and an amacimbi and vegetable processing facility in Matshiloni, Beitbridge.
Adv Mudenda revealed that between 2018 and 2025, Government implemented 11 071 programmes and projects across all sectors of the economy.
“Of these initiatives, 7 261 (68 percent) were completed. The momentum intensified in 2025 when the Government rolled out 1 365 programmes and projects, signifying a serious commitment to realisation of the NDS1 economic targets,” said Adv Mudenda.
“By October last year 601 (44,2 percent) had been completed while the remaining 764 (55,8 percent) continued to progress. These statistics include hospitals built and equipped, roads constructed and rehabilitated, irrigation schemes completed and livelihoods fundamentally impacted on countless families.”
Adv Mudenda said Zimbabwe can draw lessons from Asian economies such as South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, which achieved rapid socio-economic transformation through deliberate and strategic state-led interventions.
He stressed that economic transformation cannot be achieved without adequate infrastructure support.
“NDS2 acknowledges the constraining effects of energy deficits on industrial expansion and sets an ambitious target to increase national electricity generation capacity to 6 000 megawatts by 2030,” said Adv Mudenda.
He noted that the expansion will be anchored by mega-projects such as the Batoka Gorge Hydroelectric Power Station and increased private sector investment in solar and other renewable energy sources.
Additionally, the revitalisation of the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) is expected to restore its historic role as the backbone of bulk cargo transportation across the country and the region.
To tackle the national housing backlog, Government has also committed to delivering one million new housing units by 2030. Through strategic industrialisation, infrastructure expansion and decentralised development, Adv Mudenda said NDS2 provides a framework to transform Zimbabwe’s mineral wealth into inclusive prosperity for its citizens.
