The Government of Zimbabwe, through the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA), has formally designated the Dinson Iron and Steel Company (DISCO) facility in Manhize, Chirumhanzu District, as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The move positions the plant — a subsidiary of China’s Tsingshan Holding Group, one of the world’s largest stainless steel producers — as both the owner and operator of the SEZ, enabling it to license additional investors across the iron and steel value chain.
The designation is a key step in operationalising the Dinson Integrated Iron and Steel Industrial Park, an initiative located in Nyikavanhu, Ward 15, that is expected to anchor Zimbabwe’s steel production capacity. With a projected investment of US$1.5 billion, the facility has the potential to produce significant export volumes, drive local industrialisation, and support Zimbabwe’s ambitions under the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) and Vision 2030.
Government projections indicate the project could create as many as 25,000 direct jobs and 150,000 indirect jobs once fully operational, alongside substantial opportunities for upstream and downstream industries in mining, logistics, fabrication, and manufacturing. This scale of employment creation, coupled with anticipated foreign exchange earnings from regional and international exports, could reposition Zimbabwe as a competitive steel exporter within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and beyond.
The SEZ framework is intended to provide fiscal and regulatory incentives, streamline approvals, and promote investor confidence. Such structures, common in emerging industrial hubs from Ethiopia’s Hawassa Industrial Park to Nigeria’s Lekki Free Zone, are increasingly seen as vehicles for pan-African trade integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
ZIDA Chief Executive Officer, Tafadzwa Chinamo, who officiated at the handover of the SEZ certificate and permits in Harare, emphasised the importance of skills transfer and technology adoption to ensure that the local economy benefits from industrial expansion. Dinson CEO Benson Xu (popularly known locally as Tanaka Shumba) acknowledged the significance of the milestone, attributing the achievement to the resilience and dedication of the company’s Zimbabwean workforce.
Xu underscored that the industrial park will be developed progressively, “brick by brick and steel by steel”, in alignment with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s industrialisation vision. He noted that Zimbabwe’s policy environment had been conducive from the early stages of construction to the current phase, where production infrastructure is being commissioned.
The Manhize steel project is one of the largest industrial undertakings in Zimbabwe in decades and is set to have far-reaching implications for regional trade flows in steel and allied products. While the project has been met with optimism among policymakers and market observers, its long-term impact will hinge on global steel market dynamics, infrastructure linkages, and the successful integration of local suppliers and service providers.
