By Flata Kavinga
The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee has been told that the revival of the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company Limited will be driven by an integrated industrial strategy and a phased five-year plan aimed at restoring steel production by 2030.
Speaking during the committee’s tour of Ziscosteel, Ernest Denhere, deputy chief investment officer at the Mutapa Investment Fund, said the steelmaker’s turnaround is central to Zimbabwe’s economic recovery and industrialisation.
“To speak of steel in this country is to speak of the very backbone of our economic sovereignty,” Denhere said, adding that government has repositioned the company within Mutapa Investment Fund through Statutory Instrument 58 of 2026 to anchor a broader industrial ecosystem.
He said the revival strategy hinges on leveraging synergies among State-linked entities, including Hwange Colliery Company Limited for metallurgical coal supply, Sable Chemicals for industrial gases, the National Railways of Zimbabwe for bulk logistics and ZESA Holdings for power supply.
“A steel plant is only as fast as its rail links. Bulk freight should move off our roads and be back on rail for this to work,” Denhere said.
He noted that stabilising energy supply was critical, adding that interventions with ZESA had improved electricity availability, with more than 120 days of uninterrupted power reported.
Denhere said the plan goes beyond restarting furnaces and seeks to “reanimate an entire industrial corridor,” from upstream mining of iron ore and limestone to downstream steel processing and manufacturing.
Ziscosteel, once a regional giant producing over one million tonnes of steel annually at its peak, has not operated for nearly two decades after ceasing operations around 2008.
Acting group chief executive officer Izekiel Machingambi told the committee that the company has adopted a phased approach to recovery, beginning with smaller, revenue-generating projects before full-scale steel production.
“We have a five-year strategy. We believe we can deliver steel-making within that period, between 2026 and 2030,” Machingambi said.
He said Phase One of the turnaround, expected to take 12 to 18 months, focuses on modernising the foundry and rehabilitating the lime calcination plant to produce quicklime.
Machingambi said the company is shifting from traditional blast furnace methods towards more environmentally sustainable technologies, including induction furnaces, in response to global market demands for low-carbon steel.
“We are looking at a pathway that is environmentally friendly and competitive,” he said.
He added that downstream operations, including the revival of Lancashire Steel, are expected to resume in stages, with initial production using billets sourced from domestic producers such as the Manhize steel plant.
The parliamentary committee is conducting oversight visits to assess progress on public enterprises, amid renewed government efforts to revive key State-owned companies seen as critical to industrial growth.
