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Beitbridge Development Plans Remain In Limbo

The border town, Beitbridge, is a major revenue earner for the country due to the busy port. Image by NewsPindula


BY LIZWE SEBATHA | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | NOV 15, 2021

A Beitbridge municipality Local Development Plan (LDP) that was meant to pave the way for various infrastructure development projects and give the border town a new face is gathering dust.


BEITBRIDGE (The Citizen Bulletin) — The LDP plan was drafted in 2019 after President Emmerson Mnangagwa upgraded Beitbridge Town Council to municipal status following the town’s phenomenal growth in recent years.

The Citizen Bulletin has established that Beitbridge LDP is gathering dust as the respective Local Government ministry has not gazetted the redrawing of boundaries of the border town as contained in the document.


The LDP is meant to facilitate the expansion of the town’s growth by promoting land and building uses that enhance the quality and urban form of the town's environments.


“It is also meant to facilitate the densification of land uses of some stands and permitting the establishment of high rise and cluster apartments,” Beitbridge town clerk Loud Ramakgapola says.

“To rezone properties around the old Central Business District (CBD) for mixed commercial and residential uses to create a livable, inclusive and vibrant built environment. Facilitate coordinated planning and management of the Limpopo River frontier between the municipality of Beitbridge and Vhembe District Municipality (RSA).”

Beitbridge plays a strategic role in Zimbabwe’s economic development and is also a major revenue earner for the country due to the busy port.

Beitbridge is named after Alfred Beit, a British citizen who founded the De Beers diamond mining company.

The town, founded in 1929, was for many years the terminus of the railway from Pretoria until a rail connection to Rutenga was built in 1974. Its population has doubled from 22 000 in the 2002 population census to approximately 43 000 according to 2012 population census figures.

The current population is estimated at around 60 000. Due to the town’s proximity to South Africa, most people from the inland districts flock to Beitbridge to trade, and others finally settle.

Beitbridge connects Zimbabwe and South Africa and serves as the transit point for the majority of north-south trade in Southern Africa. Beitbridge attained town status in 2006.

According to Ramakgapola, the municipality hired a consultant to draft the LDP meant to facelift the border town.


“A consultant was hired to draft the LDP, and timeliness was that it should be taken as having started to operate as it is for the period running up to 2032.”
Loud Ramakgapola, Beitbridge town clerk


“The municipality status has given us advantages in that we can now have title to our area, and if we can issue title, we can easily attract investors. We have since surveyed our boundary in preparation for issuing of title, and before year-end, we could be having title to our Municipality area.”

At present, the Zimbabwean side of the Beitbridge border post is undergoing a $296 million upgrade after key investments.

Beitbridge border post is undergoing an upgrading and rehabilitation exercise and it's expected to be complete late next year.


A private firm, ZimBorders, has been undertaking the project under a design, build and operate the border post for more than 17 years as part of a public-private partnership project.

ZimBorders will also upgrade key infrastructure such as residential housing units and a water reservoir, neglected for years.

But with the ministry delaying to gazette the new boundaries outlined in the LDP, plans to facelift the whole town remain in the drawers.


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“Currently, what we are waiting for are further engagements with the departments of fiscal planning so that we get the way forward on the LDP,” the town secretary adds.

“Given that some of the proposals are that our boundaries will change, certainly we will need the ministry to assist so that we get the boundaries altered and gazetted.”


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