At this time the nation is tense. The Zimbabwean government is said to be part of the Zungula Bridge Project ‘in principle.’ It now seems as if ‘in principle’ in this case might also mean ‘is not really part of.’
A press release revealing the agreement was shared and Zimbabwe seems to be nowhere to be found in the agreement. The letter seems to show that the President did not attend the event as a part of the project but as an invited guest Zimbabwe.
The press statement also states that the “Kazungula Bridge Project is a testament of the fruitful cooperation enjoyed by Botswana and Zambia.” It is not yet clear how Zimbabwe will ‘principally’ be involved.
View the statement below:
Why is this matter being given this much attention?
Zimbabwe has long enjoyed the movement of trucks within the SADC region through the Beitbridge border. The north-south corridor route on which the Kazungula Bridge is to be built was once declared illegal under the Rhodesian government rule. Mugabe continued to support that stance thereby protecting the inflow of revenue from our borders usage.
Now with the Kazungula Bridge in the picture, most of this expected revenue will likely now be enjoyed by the developers of the bridge namely Botswana and Zambia. We now wait for clarity on the exact role Zimbabwe will be playing.
What are your thoughts?
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