Zimbabwe Targets Diaspora Capital in Housing and Infrastructure Push

Birmingham, UK — Zimbabwe is seeking to turn diaspora remittances into long-term investment in housing, infrastructure and productive enterprises, with Government promising stronger safeguards against land fraud and a fully digitised title-deed system to attract capital from citizens abroad.

The push was outlined by Local Government and Public Works Minister, Daniel Garwe, at the Zimbabwe Diaspora Business Summit in Birmingham, where Unitef Kingdom-based companies expressed interest in investing in Zimbabwe’s construction, housing and infrastructure sectors.

Companies including Invarium, SGK Construction, LDK Group and Padanda Investments held engagements with the Minister and his technical team on potential investment opportunities.

Miniter Daniel Garwe (with scarf) engaging with potential diaspora investors at the Zimbabwe Diaspora Business Summit in Birmingham. Image credit: MLGPW.

Follow-up meetings have been arranged to examine specific areas of cooperation and investment.

The engagements come as Zimbabwe seeks to tap the diaspora, not only as a source of remittances but also as a pool of capital, professional expertise, technology and international business networks.

“Our invitation is not for charity. It is an invitation to structured partnerships in which risks are properly assessed, projects are transparently governed, returns are commercially credible and communities benefit visibly,” Minister Garwe told the summit.

The Minister said Zimbabweans abroad should consider direct participation in projects covering water and sanitation, housing, roads, waste management, clean energy, rural growth points and social infrastructure.

He said local authorities were central to translating national development policy into tangible improvements, from reliable water supplies and roads to waste collection, serviced residential stands and functioning rural clinics.

“Local Government is where national policy becomes the lived experience of the citizen,” Minister Garwe said.

For diaspora investors, however, the summit also brought renewed attention to one of the major concerns surrounding property investment in Zimbabwe, land administration and the risk of fraudulent transactions.

Minister Garwe said Government was tightening legislation and local authority by-laws to address irregular land deals, double sales and other practices that have undermined confidence in the property market.

“In urban local authorities, I think that is where we have irregular land deals by officials and councillors to a certain extent,” he said.

“We have now tightened the legal instruments, including by-laws, to ensure that, one, the cost of land is realistic; two, that when you pay for that land, you will not suffer from the consequences of double sales and illegal transactions going forward,” Minister Garwe said.

The Local Government Ministry said it is working with the Attorney General’s Office to harmonise legislation governing the country’s 92 local authorities, 32 urban councils and 60 rural district councils.

The review covers the Urban Councils Act, Rural District Councils Act and Regional Town and Country Planning Act, as well as more than 145 local authority by-laws, with the intention of creating a consolidated legal framework.

The Government is also moving title-deed processing into a digital system in an effort to reduce paperwork, delays and opportunities for manipulation.

“The process that we inherited was cumbersome, was paper-based. Now the Deeds Office, supported by the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Local Government, has digitised the whole process,” Garwe said.

The Ministry said changes are particularly significant for diaspora investors, many of whom seek property and land investment from outside the country and have previously raised concerns over navigating local authorities and property documentation remotely.

Honourable Garwe urged Zimbabweans abroad experiencing problems with local authorities to submit documented cases directly to his Ministry rather than creating additional layers of bureaucracy through Ministry-specific offices at diplomatic missions.

Among the opportunities presented to investors was the Mount Hampden New City, which Government says is being developed as a smart and sustainable administrative and economic centre.

The project is envisaged to include public institutions, residential areas, business districts, conferencing facilities, digital infrastructure, utilities and transport networks.

Hon. Garwe said investment opportunities extended beyond individual buildings to the underlying systems required to make a modern city function, including bulk water, sewerage, roads, storm-water drainage, electricity, fibre connectivity and smart-city platforms.

“The diaspora is invited to participate in this city-building enterprise, not at the margins, but as equity partners, developers, financiers, service providers and innovators,” he said.

The Minister said similar planning and investment opportunities existed in Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru, Masvingo, Victoria Falls, Chinhoyi, Bindura, Marondera, Hwange and Beitbridge, as well as smaller growth points and rural districts.

He also urged diaspora investors to look beyond major cities and consider commercial opportunities in communities where many Zimbabweans abroad retain family and cultural connections.

Potential projects include produce aggregation centres, grain storage facilities, cold rooms, food-processing plants, livestock services, workshops, community tourism facilities and other commercial infrastructure.

But Garwe cautioned investors to establish land tenure, approvals and permitted land uses before committing capital.

“Communal, agricultural and urban land can involve different rights and approval requirements.

"A proposed commercial investment must establish the applicable tenure, lawful authority and permitted use before funds are committed,” he said.

The broader Government pitch is to shift diaspora participation from household support towards investments capable of creating jobs, productive assets and sustainable businesses.

Minister Garwe said his Ministry was prepared to consider direct investments, joint ventures, public-private partnerships and technology cooperation, provided projects were bankable, properly approved, transparently procured and backed by accountable financial management.

He said successful projects should also deliver local employment, skills transfer, maintenance capacity and measurable community benefits.

The Birmingham summit is part of Government’s wider campaign to present Zimbabwe as an investment destination and deepen economic links with its diaspora.

The two-day event is being attended by Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the UK, Retired Colinel Christian Katsande, Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet Dr. Willard Manungo, Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Monica Mutsvangwa, provincial secretaries and Zimbabweans based across the United Kingdom.

Hon. Garwe said the objective was ultimately to convert diaspora interest into projects with tangible development outcomes.

“Let us identify projects, prepare them well, mobilise capital, transfer skills, create jobs and leave behind infrastructure that our children and grandchildren will inherit with pride,” he said.