Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has signed preliminary agreements with Harare to invest over $1bn in several ventures, including the construction of a 2,000km pipeline that will transport fuel from Namibia to Zimbabwe through Botswana.
The development was disclosed on Wednesday during a meeting between Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Dangote, who was making his second visit to the country since 2015.
The proposed pipeline will carry refined petroleum products from Namibia’s Walvis Bay to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city.
Dangote plans to ship refined products to Walvis Bay from his Nigerian refinery, which produces more than 45m litres of petrol and 25m litres of diesel daily.
A spokesperson for President Mnangagwa said the project could transform Zimbabwe’s fuel supply structure, making imports cheaper compared to the country’s fragile existing supply chain.
Fuel situation in Southern Africa
Zimbabwe’s fuel sector remains under strain from rising levies and heavy reliance on imports.
With a population of about 17m, the country does not produce crude oil and depends almost entirely on fuel sourced from South Africa and Mozambique via pipelines and road tankers.
In August, Dangote announced plans to build a 1.6 million-barrel capacity storage facility in Walvis Bay to supply petroleum products to landlocked countries in Southern Africa.
The project is expected to improve availability of petrol and diesel in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, with potential expansion to southern DR Congo.
Dangote’s business interests in Zimbabwe also extend to fertilizer, cement manufacturing, and power generation.
While the cost and finer details of these projects remain unclear, he said:
“The broader investment is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe even more than a billion, but you know we will tell you the amount as we go along, but really it will be over a billion because of the pipeline.”
Significance of the pipeline investment
This marks one of the most significant private-sector investments in Zimbabwe in years, reflecting growing investor confidence in Mnangagwa’s economic reform agenda.
“There are quite a lot of changes between that time (2015) when we came and now. The government is solid. There is a lot of transparency. And also, when you look at what His Excellency has done in terms of turning the economy around — that really gave us the confidence to say, look, this is the right time for us to come and invest,” Dangote noted.
Dangote’s fuel supply strategy is expected to reduce Southern Africa’s dependence on imports from Europe and Asia.
His $19bn Nigerian refinery, which began operations in 2024, has already reshaped markets far beyond Nigeria.
Despite not yet running at full capacity of 650,000 b/d due to structural challenges, the plant accounted for 41% of Nigeria’s total fuel needs as of March, according to the NMDPRA.