Is China’s growing Zimbabwe alliance key to its bigger plans for southern Africa?

SCMP | Feb. 28, 2025, 6:03 a.m. | Original

In Beitbridge, a border town in southern Zimbabwe, a mega industrial park that will eventually produce electricity, chromium-based materials and steel products is taking shape amid a major minerals rush in the southern African nation.

The US$3.6 billion plan to build Palm River Energy Metallurgical Industrial Park in the province of Matabeleland South is being led by one Chinese firm – Xinganglian (Shanxi) Holding Group, which aims to exploit abundant reserves of coal, iron ore, and chrome and position Zimbabwe as a major steel producer.

The project will cover 5,163 hectares (12,758 acres) within a special economic zone incorporating mining, power generation, coke production and steel manufacturing. It is expected to be built in five phases over 12 years.

Zimbabwe has become a key resource destination for China as companies continue to seal deals to establish mineral processing operations, including steel plants, at a time when such industries face decline in other countries, such as neighbouring South Africa .

The scope of the investments suggested that China had chosen Zimbabwe as its inaugural steel and chrome industrialisation zone in Africa, according to Lauren Johnston, a China-Africa specialist and associate professor at the University of Sydney’s China Studies Centre.

“This makes sense. Zimbabwe has a rich human capital and natural resource endowment,” Johnston said.

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