President Cyril Ramaphosa: South Africa–Zimbabwe Bi-National Commission Business Forum
Your Excellency, President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa,
Honourable Ministers,
High Commissioners,
Members of the diplomatic corps,
Premiers and MECs,
Business leaders and investors,
Distinguished guests,
Good afternoon,
President Mnangagwa, I welcome you and your delegation to Midrand.
It has been a demanding week for both our governments.
The fourth session of our Bi-National Commission, which met this morning, was preceded by extensive preparations, including committee meetings and yesterday’s ministerial session.
On Monday, we participated in the 46th Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government, where Zimbabwe handed the chairship of SADC over to South Africa.
It is fitting that these two events – the SADC Summit and our Bi-National Commission – took place in the same week, because both meetings were focused on building inclusive, growing economies that transcend the borders between our countries.
We seek an integrated regional market where we not only trade with each other, but where we work together to produce the goods and services that we need – using the abundant resources, skills and capabilities that we collectively possess.
Relations between South Africa and Zimbabwe have their roots deep in our history, long before our countries had borders, long before the arrival of colonial settlers, even before the founding of the civilisations of Great Zimbabwe and Mapungubwe.
In recent times, we were bound together by a common struggle against colonialism, white minority rule and apartheid.
At great cost to themselves, the people of a free Zimbabwe provided shelter, passage and support to South African freedom fighters and exiles.
This is a debt of gratitude that we can never forget.
In the times of struggle, solidarity meant refuge and resistance.
Today, solidarity means jobs, investment and a trading relationship that benefits both our peoples.
Trade between our countries is both well-established and growing.
Bilateral trade between South Africa and Zimbabwe reached R81 billion in 2025.
This was nearly double what it was in 2021.
Zimbabwe is South Africa’s second-largest export destination on this continent.
And South Africa is Zimbabwe’s largest single source of imports from the rest of the world.
Yet there is still great potential for the volume of bilateral trade to grow further.
We therefore welcome the decision of the Zimbabwean Government to eliminate trade restrictions in accordance with SADC trade protocols so that we can further boost trade between our countries.
However, we do need to address the reality that our trade relationship is not balanced.
The value of South African exports to Zimbabwe is roughly eight times the value of its imports from Zimbabwe.
Much of what South Africa sends over the Limpopo are finished goods: vehicles, earthmoving equipment, industrial cleaning and mining products.
Zimbabwe sends raw and semi-processed material south: coal and coke products, chromium ore, gold, semi-finished steel and raw tobacco.
This pattern – of finished goods flowing one way and raw commodities flowing the other – has been an impediment to the economic development of our continent for centuries.
This pattern has defined Africa’s trade relations with the rest of the world since colonial times.
The African Continental Free Trade Area was introduced to address these imbalances, both within our continent and beyond our shores.
Through the African Continental Free Trade Area we can expand trade between African countries.
We can put our natural resources to better use.
We can develop our industries and create more jobs for our people.
That is why we welcome the strong presence of South African and Zimbabwean business at this forum.
Governments can determine policy, sign agreements and ratify protocols, but it is business that turns a signed agreement into a shipment, a factory or a job.
Governments can align customs procedures and standardise regulations, but it is business that produces the goods and carries them across borders.
As South Africa we see Zimbabwe as a key regional market for our goods, products and services, and we remain optimistic about the prospects of the Zimbabwean economy.
According to the African Development Bank, real GDP growth in Zimbabwe rose to an estimated 7.5 percent in 2025, driven by expansion in a number of key sectors including mining and agriculture. Inflation is down on the back of the new Zimbabwe Gold currency.
South African exporters and investors need predictability to commit capital at scale, and a steadier Zimbabwean economy gives them that.
We are committed to developing the infrastructure needed to facilitate the movement of goods across our borders.
The Beitbridge Border Post is the main commercial border between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
For years, it has experienced many challenges: inadequate infrastructure, inefficient processes, limited staffing.
It has not been unusual for trucks to wait up to several days at a time to cross.
This is all changing thanks to the modernisation of the border post through public-private partnerships, and innovations like dedicated lanes for commercial, bus and private traffic.
Average truck crossing time has fallen to roughly 14 hours.
We are moving ahead with other initiatives.
The One-Stop Border Post is under development.
Customs processes are being aligned.
These advances are not confined to the bridge that crosses the Limpopo River.
They are part of a far broader vision of a corridor that links the Port of Durban in the south to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the north.
They are part of a broader regional undertaking to build corridors that are not merely conduits for traded goods, but are arteries of industry, commerce and employment.
The Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone, located next to the Beitbridge Border Post, is a good example of how these corridors can work.
This Special Economic Zone has the potential to be an industrial corridor supporting beneficiation in mining, agriculture, agro-processing, milling, packaging and a host of other industries.
We know that Zimbabwe exports gold, chromium ore and semi-finished steel to South Africa in significant volumes, yet very little of the refining and finishing that follows happens in our region.
We need to explore potential joint ventures between South African and Zimbabwean firms to realise the full value of these resources here.
We need to establish cross-border industrial zones that link South African capital, technology and market access with Zimbabwean minerals and labour.
Our governments have already agreed on the architecture to make this work.
We have established a Joint Technical Committee on Trade and Industry to facilitate cooperation in industrial value chains and infrastructure development, special economic zones and industrial development parks, trade, tourism, transport and logistics.
We are taking forward work on a draft Memorandum of Understanding on Economic Cooperation.
Our development finance institutions have already committed significant resources to building and improving the infrastructure that underpins our economic cooperation.
They now need to invest in the industrial capacity to produce the goods that will travel along this infrastructure.
The expectations of this Business Forum are great.
It needs to deliver partnerships that create decent jobs, deliberately targeting opportunities for women and youth in particular.
It needs to transform value chains, using the natural resources mined in one country to manufacture products in the other.
Using the skills and capabilities in one country to complement the technology in the other.
Using capital from one country to finance factories, mines and data centres in the other.
Our companies need to find these opportunities and they need to invest in them.
Economic relations between our countries have survived currency shocks, policy shifts and difficult conditions on both sides of the border.
And yet trade between our countries keeps growing.
This says much about the potential we still have to realise.
It says much about what we can achieve once we start building together instead of merely trading across a river.
The relationship between South Africa and Zimbabwe was founded in a shared struggle for freedom.
It continues today in a shared struggle for inclusive growth, employment and prosperity for all.
Today, the instruments of struggle are different: financial markets, factories and mines, roads and ports.
But the principle of solidarity remains.
Your growth is our growth. Our development is your development.
When you rise, we rise. When we prosper, you prosper.
Together, South Africa and Zimbabwe have abundant resources, means and advantages.
Together, let us harness our shared capabilities to achieve progress and prosperity for both our nations and for all our people.
Now is the time for cooperation. Now is the time to get to work.
I thank you.
#GovZAUpdates
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