Ngoni Dapira

MINES and Mining Development Minister Dr Polite Kambamura will be the guest of honour at the 2026 Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) Manicaland Business Awards.

The coveted annual business awards will be held on Friday at Holiday Inn Mutare starting at 6:30pm.

The Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Honourable Advocate Misheck Mugadza.

The Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution Honourable Advocate Misheck Mugadza will also preside over the awards ceremony. The awards honour and recognize outstanding companies and business excellence exhibited by businesspeople in the province throughout last year. The awards will recognize various sectors, including industry, commerce, mining, agriculture, financial services as well as noteworthy individuals and institutions in academia and the public sector, acknowledging their outstanding contributions to economic development and industrial growth.

Running under the theme, “From Resilience To Competitiveness: Charting a New Path For Sustainable Industrial Growth,” the chamber of commerce said the theme indicates that they are working in tandem with Government’s vision 2030 of turning Zimbabwe into a prosperous upper middle income society.

Dr Kambamura was appointed as the Mines and Mining Development Minister in December last year having served as the Deputy Minister of Mines since 2018. With a Doctor of Philosophy in Mining Engineering from Copperstone University, earned in 2021, his career now spans more than 20 years, including senior roles in mining operations, project planning, extraction, risk management and mineral recovery systems at various mines.

Despite having completed a Master of Business Administration in 2019, the firebrand Minister who is an academia is also currently finalising a Master’s in Public Policy and Governance with Africa University and pursuing a second PhD in Entrepreneurship and Business Sciences with Chinhoyi University of Technology, both set for completion in 2026.

Manicaland Province as a mineral rich province will stand to benefit from his insights first hand on the state of the mining sector in the country. After being appointed the Mines Minister, this year saw Government laying out its new roadmap of transitioning from raw exports to high value domestic processing of all minerals. Backed by new Cabinet frameworks, this strategy aims to boost industrialisation, eliminate financial leakages and ensure local communities benefit from the country’s mineral wealth.

The late ZNCC Manicaland and Chiredzi regional manageress Perpetual Guwila at last year’s awards.

According to a press statement by the ZNCC Manicaland Office, this year’s awards will also mark a critical chapter in the history of the awards in the province following the unfortunate passing away of the regional manageress Perpetua Guwila last week Wednesday, who was over the years very instrumental in organizing and coordinating the annual awards.

“We will also have a special segment to posthumously honour our late Manicaland and Chiredzi regional manageress, Ms Perpetual Guwila who passed on last week Wednesday on 27 May 2026. This will be dubbed the Perpetua Guwila Silver Jubilee Dedication to Service Award, in honour of her 25 years dedication to service to the chamber of commerce in Manicaland,” read the press statement from the ZNCC Manicaland regional administrator Nestar Nyambo.

She said the ZNCC Manicaland chapter has in the past seven years been robbed of its industrious figure heads.  In 2019 the past Manicaland chairman and national chairman Hlanganiso Matangaidze passed away, and in 2021 the past president Kenneth Saruchera who was also very instrumental when organizing awards each year passed away. Citing that the recent unforeseen death of Guwila who was an integral part of the provincial secretariat, came as a heavy blow.

The late Saruchera who was the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) Manicaland region director, a businessman and veteran politician who served long as the Zanu-PF provincial (Manicaland) secretary for administration passed away mid-July 2021 after a long ailment. He was declared a provincial Liberation War Hero.

The Matangaidze family receiving the posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award of the late business magnate Hlanganiso Matangaidze during the 2019 ZNCC Manicaland Awards.

In 2019 the late Matangaidze received a befitting recognition given his vast contribution to the growth of the business landscape in the province when he served as the national ZNCC president in 2014 and as a proactive businessman of note in the eastern border city. He was conferred a provincial Liberation War Hero for his outstanding business contributions in nation building.

The 2026 theme follows after last year’s theme, “Unlocking business potential through policy, partnerships and productivity.” It focused on unlocking business potential through policy reform, partnerships and improved productivity something that Government has been doing through statutory instruments under the ease of doing business strategy.

The provincial winners of the Businessman and Businesswoman of the Year categories and other selected categories will compete at the national awards to be held during the national annual general meeting (AGM) in Victoria Falls end of this month from June 24-27.