By The Wasu Post
Mutare, Zimbabwe – When the media convoy rolled onto the tarmac at Grand Reef Airport last week, it was immediately clear that this was not an ordinary provincial assignment. The stop marked the beginning of a two-day media tour led by the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Dr Jenfan Muswere, designed to take journalists beyond press statements and into the physical spaces where Government says development under the Second Republic is unfolding.
Standing before the Fourth Estate, Dr Muswere framed the tour as both an accountability exercise and a reaffirmation of the media’s constitutional role.
“Our tour in Manicaland will focus on the notable achievements of the Second Republic,” he said, citing transport, industrialisation, water infrastructure and service delivery as pillars of the visit. Moments later, engines started and the tour began.
Grand Reef Airport itself was the first exhibit. Once dormant, the facility now hosts scheduled Harare–Mutare flights, cutting travel time from hours to minutes.
For business travellers, tourists and investors, the airport has become a symbol of renewed connectivity. Officials say the reopening is already stimulating tourism and easing the cost of doing business in the eastern border province.
From the airport, the convoy moved through Mutare, where the geography of development became visible in roads under rehabilitation and traffic eased by works linked to the Christmas Pass bypass project—part of a broader road modernisation programme stretching across the province.
Perhaps the most striking stop was in Mutasa District, at the near-complete Komo United Resins Private Limited plant. Set against Manicaland’s pine-clad hills, the US$10–15 million facility represents a shift from exporting raw forestry resources to industrial value addition.
Inside the expansive complex, machinery stands ready to process pine resin into industrial products for local and export markets. Komo United Resins Director Zhao Guisheng told journalists the company expects to employ about 2 500 local people once operations begin early next year, with thousands more benefiting indirectly through resin tapping, transport and auxiliary services.
For a province that holds over 90 percent of Zimbabwe’s exotic pine plantations, the plant signals a long-awaited attempt to turn natural advantage into industrial output. Provincial authorities believe the project could also reduce long-standing conflicts over forests by giving communities a direct economic stake in protecting standing trees.
Back in Mutare, the tour entered the ultramodern Manicaland Provincial Registrar’s Office, where a striking absence greeted journalists: no queues.
Provincial Registrar Joyce Munamati said the facility has issued about 30 000 passports since the end of September, attributing the efficiency to upgraded infrastructure and systems.
“Queues for birth certificates, national identity cards and passports have been significantly reduced,” she said, adding that passports are processed within seven working days for US$170, or three working days for US$270.
Yet beneath the calm lay unresolved questions. One staff member quietly told The Wasu Post that the lack of queues also reflects affordability challenges.
“If passports were affordable, you would see long queues,” the worker said, hinting at the economic realities that still shape access to public services.
The tour also took journalists to Grain Marketing Board silos, where technology-driven systems are being introduced to improve grain handling and storage, and to Mutare Teachers College, where a fruit juice and water processing plant now complements academic training.
Officials said the facility is meant to sharpen practical skills while promoting value addition, a theme repeated across the tour. Similar investments at Manicaland State University and Mutare Polytechnic College underline Government’s push to align education with production.
At Forbes Border Post, officials outlined ongoing modernisation works aimed at improving trade flows between Zimbabwe, Mozambique and beyond. Dr Muswere described the upgrade as critical to regional integration and economic growth.
Beyond what journalists could physically see, the Minister also pointed to commissioned and ongoing dam projects, including Marovanyati and Muchekeranwa dams, which he said form the backbone of food and nutrition security in the province.
“These projects are designed to ensure that we leave no one and no place behind,” he said.
By the end of the day, the tour had traced a clear narrative: Manicaland is being repositioned as a node of industry, logistics, tourism and agro-processing. From air travel to pine resin, from quiet registry halls to busy border posts, the province’s transformation is both visible and contested.
For journalists, the tour offered more than photo opportunities. It provided a chance to interrogate how infrastructure translates into livelihoods, how efficiency interacts with affordability, and whether mega projects will deliver inclusive growth.
As dusk settled over Mutare, one thing was clear—the story of Manicaland’s development is no longer abstract. It is unfolding in airports, factories, offices and forests, and its final verdict will be written not only in statistics, but in the daily lives of the people it is meant to serve.