Source: The Herald – Breaking news.
Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu (centre) is flanked by the Chief Executive Officer of African Association of Automotive Manufacturers (AAAM) Dave Coffrey (third from left), Public Safety Threat Alliance (PtSA) group chief executive officer Tapiwa Samanga (third from right) and other officials who were part of the South African delegation at the ministry’s boardroom in Harare yesterday. — Picture: Joshua Muswere 
Blessings Chidakwa and Remember Deketeke
Zimbabwe is emerging as a major player in the resurgence of Africa’s automobile manufacturing sector, leveraging its extensive natural resources, including one of the continent’s largest steel plants and rich lithium deposits.
The country is home to Africa’s largest and the world’s sixth-largest lithium reserves, positioning it strategically to utilise the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for maximum benefit in the automobile industry.
Given Zimbabwe’s past as a giant in the automobile industry, with Willowvale and AVM companies, a South African business delegation is in the country to explore ways to unlock the vast potential in the industry through creating synergies with other African countries.
Chief executive officer of the Association of the African Automobile Manufacturers (AAAM) Mr David Coffey yesterday met Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu and exchanged notes on how Zimbabwe will be positioned in the African automobile industry revival.
Mr Coffey said the delegation will be in Zimbabwe for the next few days, visiting various stakeholders, to appreciate and understand opportunities that exist in the framework of the AFCFTA.
“Our mission is to industrialise and grow the sector across the continent. It’s really about industrialisation, and we work very closely with the AFCFTA Secretariat.
“We have developed a strategy for the automotive industry, we explore many African countries and see what their role is in the value chain. We are here for three days to see the capabilities in Zimbabwe and we believe there is potential, be it from minerals or other resources,” he said.
Mr Coffey added that: “Not every country can do all of that so we are here to assess what a company can focus on and be good for in the long term.”
He said Africa should rub off the tag of being a dumping ground for vehicles from abroad.
“Today, Africa is a dumping ground of 3 to 5 million vehicles, and we want to change that. We want to industrialise, we obviously understand we need to provide freedom of ability. And that is the part of the ecosystem where we help governments.”
Industry and Commerce Minister Ndlovu said Zimbabwe has vast potential in the automobile industry, but is yet to realise that.
“This is a great chance. For the last six years, we have spent US$1,6 billion on second-hand vehicles. Not to mention the jobs that we have exported. The majority of those are pre-owned vehicles, most of which last less than three years in the country.”
“We believe that also with our iron and steel taking shape, we should be able to re-localise a lot of production. We already need to be looking at the growth size of these vehicles.
“Last year, when I was talking to the President, we had 23,000 pre-owned vehicles that were imported. So, all these, in our view, are opportunities,” he said.
Minister Ndlovu said when there is the creation of bigger interlinkages, there should be value chains developed across countries where possible.
“We will work together to see how we can, from an African perspective, grow this sector. For the Government, I can assure you that we will provide full support,” he said.
Group Chief Executive Officer at Production Technologies Association of South Africa Tapiwa Samanga said Zimbabwe is better poised in the vehicle manufacturing industry given its past history.
“The main role of AAAM is to make sure that each country within the region contributes to the manufacturing of cars given their different strengths,” he said.
The president of the Motor Industry Association of Zimbabwe Lawrence Nyamushanya, said this was a great opportunity for the nation.
“As a motor industry I think we are going to learn quite a lot from them especially as we will be touring different industries within Zimbabwe,” he said.
During the advent of the Second Republic, Zimbabwe launched the Motor Industry and Development Policy (MIDP), targeting to attract 10 percent of total foreign direct investment.
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