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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter 

A ZIMBABWEAN businessman, Dr Devine Mafa, who is based in the United States of America, has approached Government seeking national project status for his proposed vehicle assembly plant in Kwekwe.

Dr Mafa has partnered with an unnamed international car manufacturer to set up the car assembly business, which he believes will produce affordable and fuel efficient vehicles for the local terrain and the region at large.

Speaking by telephone from his United States of America base yesterday, Dr Mafa said they have so far approached the Ministries of Transport and Infrastructural Development and Energy and Power Development.

He said the first prototypes of the vehicles were expected in the country before the end of next month.

“The latest progress is to bring in the first prototypes to Zimbabwe. They are in transit as we speak and once they are in and because they are going to be a national programme for Zimbabwe, we are actually approaching various ministries responsible for national programmes so that they (vehicles) have got to be a saviour to mankind in general,” said Dr Mafa.

“We want to make sure they are nationalised properly and right now we are working with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development and we have also approached the Ministry of Energy and Power Development but we have not given them much detail.”

He said their vehicle brand was also suitable for passenger and commercial use by various stakeholders including Government departments. In the meantime, Dr Mafa said 75 percent of the vehicles would be assembled in the United States where they were being manufactured while 25 percent would be done in Zimbabwe.

“We intend to make everything in Zimbabwe from the building of the chassis and even engine building, which is the most important thing. Of course, the engine will be certified in the US because we are actually making applications to have the vehicle in the United States as well especially our delivery model,” he said.

“Once we bring it to Zimbabwe we have programmes that we are scaling for example restoration of postal services that deliver local packages in competition to Fedex Express and DHL that are operational in Zimbabwe.”

Dr Mafa is also the founder of Divine Rags clothing chain store in the United States. It is hoped that the proposed vehicle assembly plant will be receiving completely knocked down kits before assembling and selling locally and across the Zimbabwean borders to countries such as Zambia.

The vehicle brand, which Dr Mafa said would be fuel efficient and reasonably priced, will be running on both gasoline (petrol) and electricity. 

Apart from being sold locally, the cars will also be exported into the region and beyond. Once established, it is hoped that the plant will have a capacity to produce 100 vehicles a day and create thousands of jobs directly and indirectly.

To ensure uninterrupted power supply at the assembly plant in light of the prevailing power challenges, Dr Mafa said they were also investing in solar energy. It is also hoped that the coming in of the proposed vehicle assembly plant will fill the existing gap in the local motor industry, which in recent years has led people to import old and highly priced motor vehicles from Asian countries such as Japan. — @okazunga