Vice President Constantine Chiwenga has said the government is pushing for a comprehensive skills transfer programme at the Chinese-owned Palm River Special Economic Zone (SEZ), envisioning a future where Zimbabweans can independently build and run similar projects across the country, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
Chiwenga, who was on a familiarisation tour of the SEZ, expressed satisfaction with the progress at the facility, highlighting that operations in ferrochrome production, coking coal, and electricity generation were now in “full swing.”
“We are happy with the progress that we have seen… there is great, great improvement,” Chiwenga said.
He noted that the power generation plant was now at 100 megawatts and that the on-site laboratory was fully operational.
However, the Vice President placed the strongest emphasis on the need for skills development, pointing to the presence of Zimbabwean girls in the laboratory as a positive start.
“More so is the issue of skills transfer, where they’ve started now taking the boys and girls from high schools,” he said. “You have already seen in the laboratory, there are quite a number of—in fact, there are more Zimbabwean girls than Chinese girls in there. And this is what I’ve been encouraging my brother here, that we need the skills transfer to the local Zimbabweans.”
Chiwenga described this as the ideal “people-to-people” relationship between Zimbabwe and China.
Outlining a broader vision, the Vice President said a structured plan was being developed with the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, led by Professor Amon Murwira, and local leadership to identify and train talent specifically for the industrial sector.
He revealed that the strategy involves grooming students from secondary school level to become specialists, not just for the Palm River SEZ but for future national projects.
“Then develop this, you know, maybe one or two secondary schools up to A-Level. And that’s where they will take now the students, local students, to be trained—not only to work here but also on similar projects in the country,” Chiwenga stated.
In a clear signal of the government’s ambitions, the Vice President concluded, “This is not only going to be the first and last project.”
