Neighbours who buy from strangers

By Richard Ndebele

“We are neighbours who buy from strangers.”
Kenyan President William Ruto’s observation at the COMESA summit in Harare on 22 October captured a contradiction that should concern every African producer, investor and policymaker.
Countries can share borders and belong to the same trading bloc while their businesses remain poorly connected to one another.
For Zimbabwe, the question after Harare is how to turn proximity into production, and production into a dependable source of jobs, income and industrial capability.
In previous columns, I examined whether the African Continental Free Trade Area could help move Africa from raw materials to factories, and whether Zimbabwe’s electric vehicle ambitions could support industrial transformation.
I also explored the economic pressures behind Africa’s shift towards electric mobility, particularly dependence on imported fuel.The Harare discussions bring these arguments together.
A larger market can support industrial scale. Cleaner technologies can create new demand for resources and skills. Yet capturing those opportunities requires countries to organise investment and production across borders, with institutions capable of making their commitments work.Consider an illustrative Zimbabwean manufacturer seeking to supply a customer in Zambia.
The order may look profitable at the factory gate. Its commercial value changes if unreliable power interrupts production, finance is expensive, certification is uncertain or the delivery truck faces unpredictable delays.
The buyer ultimately purchases a reliable product delivered at an acceptable cost. Geographic closeness alone cannot secure that sale.This is where the common market must become useful to an enterprise.Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema offered a practical direction: “Let’s invest together. Let’s produce together.” His reported remarks challenged the assumption that investment must originate outside Africa and encouraged mobilisation of capital within the region, supplemented by external resources.Joint production deserves particular attention.
Countries do not need identical factories competing for the same limited orders. They need to establish where their capabilities complement one another and where cooperation can support businesses that are commercially sustainable.
The electric mobility industry provides an illustration, rather than a ready-made regional blueprint.
Mineral processing, battery materials, components, assembly, software, maintenance and recycling involve different technologies and investment requirements. Zimbabwe should assess which activities it can perform competitively and which would benefit from regional partnerships.Owning a mineral deposit does not by itself establish a competitive advantage in every downstream industry.
Processing and manufacturing require reliable energy, specialised knowledge, customers and patient capital. A sound industrial strategy must connect resource potential to these requirements.President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s acceptance speech placed this responsibility squarely before the region, arguing that Africa’s natural endowments must “industrialise our economies, create jobs and broad-based empowerment”.
That ambition deserves a rigorous definition of success. More processing can increase the value of an export, but the development benefit also depends on the costs incurred and the income retained locally.
Imported machinery, energy requirements, financing terms and environmental liabilities all influence the outcome.Before supporting a project, policymakers should ask whether it can compete, what domestic capabilities it will develop and how its benefits compare with the public resources committed. Where incentives are offered, their cost should be transparent and their continuation tied to verifiable performance. Industrial ambition requires disciplined investment appraisal.The same discipline applies to electric mobility.
Replacing imported fuel with domestic electricity may reduce a source of external vulnerability, but the assessment must also account for imported vehicles and equipment, electricity generation, charging infrastructure and battery replacement. The benefit grows when domestic and regional businesses develop the capacity to supply and maintain parts of the system.The opportunity therefore extends beyond a vehicle assembly plant.
It includes technicians trained to diagnose faults, firms able to service charging equipment and suppliers capable of meeting production standards.
These activities may attract fewer headlines, yet they help determine whether an industry takes root.Finance must support this process responsibly. Hichilema’s appeal for regional investment should prompt serious consideration of how African savings can reach productive enterprises. However, pension funds and other long-term investors have obligations to the people whose money they manage.
Projects must offer credible cash flows, appropriate safeguards and returns consistent with their risks. Regional solidarity cannot replace due diligence.Governance makes these connections possible. Investors need predictable rules and enforceable agreements.
Producers need standards that customers trust. Public institutions need the capacity to evaluate proposals and monitor delivery.
Professional services, including accounting, engineering, legal advice and assurance, support the credibility on which cross-border investment depends.Digitalisation can reduce some of the friction, provided it changes the experience of the trader.
An electronic platform offers little relief if a business must submit the same information repeatedly to agencies whose systems do not communicate. The relevant measures are time saved, errors reduced, payments completed and disputes resolved. Technology should help institutions coordinate their work.Smaller enterprises must also have a practical place in industrial policy. A local engineering firm may need support to meet a large manufacturer’s quality requirements.
A food processor may need affordable testing and suitable packaging. A small supplier may need payment terms that allow it to fulfil its next order.
Inclusion becomes credible when firms can overcome specific barriers to participation.Sustainability belongs within the investment decision from the beginning. Mineral processing and manufacturing can create employment while placing demands on water, energy and surrounding communities. Environmental safeguards, worker protection and rehabilitation obligations should be reflected in project costs and responsibilities.
Communities should not be left financing damage that an investment agreement failed to recognise.For Zimbabwe, COMESA leadership offers an opportunity to demonstrate what implementation looks like. A manageable programme could focus on a few commercially justified regional projects and the obstacles preventing them from operating.
Each should have an accountable institution, identified financing, a timetable and a public record of progress.The scorecard should follow outcomes. Are supported projects producing? Are more domestic firms supplying them? Are border delays becoming shorter and more predictable? Are workers acquiring transferable skills? Is public support generating benefits that justify its cost? These questions make regional commitments reviewable by businesses and citizens alike.Ruto supplied an appropriate test: “Plans are launched in halls.
They are delivered in our respective countries.”The work after Harare belongs in investment appraisals, national budgets, factory operations, training institutions and border agencies. It requires governments to coordinate, investors to commit on credible terms and businesses to build relationships that survive beyond a summit.
The opportunity described in my earlier AfCFTA and EV columns remains compelling. Its realisation will depend on the industrial capabilities Africa develops and the value its people retain.
A Zimbabwean supplier earning a repeat regional order, a technician maintaining locally installed equipment and a factory meeting its production commitments would each make integration tangible.
The most convincing answer to Harare will be a regional customer choosing an African supplier because that supplier can deliver.

Ndebele is Manager – Technical, Research and Quality Assurance at the Chartered Governance and Accountancy Institute in Zimbabwe and serves as Zimbabwe Country Champion for the PAFA Sustainability Centre of Excellence. He writes on governance, sustainability and public financial management. Can be contacted on rndebele@cgizim.org