Nyasha Chingono

THE cash-strapped Zimbabwe government is planning to mortgage 10 000 hectares of prime horticultural land to the Belarusian government in return for buses to be used for low-cost public transport, it has emerged.

Agricultural ministry officials told the Zimbabwe Independent that the land-for-buses deal was in motion although deputy Agriculture minister Vangelis Haritatos says he was not aware of the bus part of the deal.

The government, battling to contain a terrible man-made economic crisis, sees the provision of low-cost public transport as a solution to urban transport blues. The Belarusians, on the other hand, would want to export agricultural products from Zimbabwe through the deal.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration also sees the buses as crucial in pacifying restive citizens whose salaries have been eroded by the ever-rising cost of transport and basic commodities, among other hardships.

The government introduced Zupco buses in January last year as part of measures to provide safety nets to the commuting public. The development followed riots in urban areas triggered by Mnangagwa’s announcement of a 150% fuel hike which saw a corresponding sharp increase in transport fares and other services.

A government official told the Independent this week that a team of Belarusian officials will arrive in the coming weeks to assess land and “hopefully lock the deal”.

“We are again expecting another delegation in the next few weeks,” a government official told the Independent.The official revealed that the Belarusians had visited the country to assess the feasibility of setting up an assembly plant for the vehicles in a deal which will involve AVM Africa.

“The production facilities which will be used to assemble the vehicles have already been certified and there were also discussions with regards to the use of local components in the value chain,” added the official.

In September 2019, a high-powered delegation led by the Belarussian Chief of Presidential Affairs, General Victor Sheiman, visited Zimbabwe to follow up on the investment deals, including agriculture.

“When finalisation of an agreement has been made, through joint ventures that will be modelled around the identified specific commodities, Zimbabwe will be further capacitated to produce, process, and market finished products not only for our local market, but also for the Belarussian and regional markets,” deputy agriculture minister Vangelis Haritatos confirmed this week.

Haritatos said the land deal has not yet been finalised. “No final agreement has been signed yet, although there has been a great deal of correspondence that has been taking place between our Ministry and Ministry officials from the Republic of Belarus,” Haritatos said.

Commodities that the Belarusian government potentially wants to promote include wheat, maize, soya beans, beef, dairy, poultry, and horticulture.
Under the deal, Belarus will provide funding for machinery, equipment and related infrastructure depending on the production, processing and marketing requirements of the commodities.

The team which met Zimbabwean authorities last year during Mnangagwa’s visit to Belarus is keen on snapping up agricultural opportunities in Zimbabwe.
The Belarusian business team is expected to commence horticultural activities on the land with the produce being exported to Belarus and other European markets.

The bus deal is part of the outstanding deals still to be completed following Mnangagwa’s visit to Belarus last September.

Last year, Mnangagwa visited Belarus, where his government claimed he sealed a number of deals ranging from agricultural inputs, supply of machinery, equipment for agriculture, dam construction and mining. Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister, July Moyo confirmed the bus deal but declined to give further details.

“The deal is going on well. Of course it is a business transaction,” Moyo told the Independent.

AVM Africa will be involved in assembling the buses after Quest Motors and Deven Engineering lost the bid.

The deal comes at a time Russian state-owned petroleum and gas company Tatneft is making moves to secure Zimbabwe’s diamonds in a murky fuel-for-gems deal, which desperate officials in Harare believe will ease the acute shortage of the commodity.

Russia has interests in Zimbabwe’s abundant mineral resources, after the government entered into a deal with Kremlin-controlled miner Alrosa in 2019, which is set to commence diamond extraction this year. Alrosa is the world’s largest diamond producer by volume.

As revealed by this newspaper on January 10, crisis-hit Zimbabwe is also on the verge of replacing its antiquated military helicopters with Russian-made fighter jets in an opaque deal that will see Harare mortgaging part of its vast mineral portfolio to Moscow.