Sydney Kawadza recently in Cairo, Egypt

Government has pledged 2000ha to the African Union for the Wakanda One village to be shared by Zimbabwe and Zambia as part of joint development efforts across Southern Africa.

Wakanda One village is a concept that seeks to rope in Africans living in the Diaspora in spearheading development at identified sites on the continent.

The pledge comes in handy in the country’s re-engagement efforts where it also seeks to court Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to contribute to the nation’s economic turnaround.

President Mnangagwa has also set an ambitious target to turn Zimbabwe into an upper middle-class economy by 2030 with tourism, agriculture and mining driving the vision.

In an interview during the inaugural Intra African Trade Fair, which ended on Monday this week in Cairo, Egypt, African Union Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the US, Dr Arikana Chihombori-Quao, confirmed President Mnangagwa’s pledge recently.

“I met His Excellency President Mnanagwa recently and he offered us 2000ha for the regional Wakanda One in Victoria Falls.

“The offer also comes in when the Zambian Government has also offered some land across the river in Livingstone. So we are looking at building the village straggling the border between the countries,” she said.

Zambia has offered 132ha for the project.

The Wakanda One village concept expresses a desire by African leaders for all people of African descent – the Diaspora – to return home and participate in building the continent.

Wakanda One – the building of African Centres of Excellence across Africa – is looking at building five centres, one in each region, which serve as growth nods for each region which should have downstream benefits for the population.

It will provide state of the art healthcare facilities using advanced technology and onsite pharmaceutical manufacturing.

More to follow…