Bulawayo, (New Ziana)- The mining sector in Zimbabwe has been urged to move away from being an export pipeline to an engine for rural industrialisation and setting up of new towns, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu made the call on the sidelines of the 2025 edition of the Mining, Engineering and Transport Expo (Mine Entra) held at the Zimbabwe International Conference and Exhibition Smart City (ZICES).
He challenged Zimbabwe to relook at the mining-industrial relationship, adding the sector should promote the growth for rural-based industrialization and birth of new towns.
“If it was not for the mining sector, towns like Hwange would never have existed. But ask yourself how many new towns have we birthed since independence because of mining?” he asked.
Ndlovu implored the sector to sow deeper long-lasting roots in communities through localised value chains, rural factory development and stronger linkages with manufacturing.
He said the growth of the mining sector should not just be seen in terms of fiscal benefits but as a catalyst to reorganize the geography of opportunity.
“I was in Bubi recently and the level of mining activity there doesn’t reflect its settlement pattern. That is a missed opportunity. If local government declared it a town board today and built proper infrastructure, the rest would follow, factories, services, jobs. We should not be importing tomatoes in Victoria Falls when there is land and water in Hwange. This is the power of rural industrialization. Let mining not just dig out minerals, but let it give birth to industries, communities, and hope,” he said.
Ndlovu noted that 70 percent of consumables used in the mining sector are imported, including Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) which comes from South Africa, when local communities could be empowered to produce it, and the investment recovered in two years, transforming the local economy.
He cited the case of a local company that produces explosives which is facing competition from duty-free imports, when it manufactures locally using taxed raw materials.
“That contradiction is being addressed. The Treasury is now granting incentives to support local manufacturing. This is what the government is doing, transforming policy into action,” he said, emphasising the need for high-value beneficiation of minerals, not just the minimum required for compliance.
“If we stop at minimum beneficiation, we export the greater value and import back finished products. That is exporting jobs, exporting income. We must become competitors to the very industries that see our minerals as raw material,” said Ndlovu.
New Ziana
