Published: 3 hours ago

A Namibian delegation is in Zimbabwe on a benchmarking mission to strengthen cooperation in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), with a particular focus on diamond cutting and polishing at the country's only Diamond Training Centre in Harare.

The delegation, led by Namibia Training Authority (NTA) Chief Operations Officer Penda Shilongo, is visiting several institutions including Chinhoyi University of Technology, polytechnics, the Zimbabwe School of Mines, and the Diamond Training Centre. The visit aims to draw lessons from Zimbabwe's success in developing technical skills that support mineral beneficiation and industrial value addition.

Speaking during the tour, Shilongo said Namibia wanted to learn from Zimbabwe's model of transforming natural resources into employment through practical, hands-on training.

"What we take home is that we need to start with mineral beneficiation in our country. At the moment, we do not have a training facility that offers these types of skills," he said. "We see this as an opportunity to collaborate and leverage the expertise of our sister country so that we can also add value to our mineral resources in Namibia."

He added that Namibia was eager to deepen bilateral cooperation with Zimbabwe in areas such as upskilling trainers and aligning TVET standards within the SADC region.

"We invite our Zimbabwean counterparts to visit Namibia to identify areas where we can also assist each other. There is a lot to learn from one another," Shilongo said.

The NTA, which regulates Namibia's TVET system, is currently implementing reforms to align technical training with emerging industries, including green energy and value addition.

NTA Acting General Manager for TVET and VTC Development Support, Richard Kambinda, described Zimbabwe's vocational training system as impressive, adding that the benchmarking visit would help Namibia strengthen its own technical education framework.

"We don't have a diamond-cutting college back home, so it's important to learn from our brothers and sisters here. We've seen that Zimbabwe has the capacity and we believe Zimbabwe can help us," Kambinda said.

The visit also forms part of a broader initiative to finalise a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two countries. The MoU will focus on dual certification, curriculum development, trainers' capacity building, quality assurance, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) integration, and SADC TVET harmonisation.

Diamond Training Centre founder and director Lovemore Kurotwi described the visit as a recognition of Zimbabwe's growing role in skills transfer and beneficiation training.

"We are transferring vital skills to our young people, which is key to building an industrialised nation," he said. "When another government comes to benchmark us, it shows we are on the right path."

Kurotwi emphasised the need for Zimbabwe to bridge the gap between resource wealth and industrialisation through skills development.

"We complain about unemployment, yet we have all the resources. The missing link is skills. Without skills, there is no industry to talk about," he said.

The Diamond Training Centre plays a key role in Zimbabwe's beneficiation agenda by equipping students with expertise in cutting, polishing, grading, and valuation - skills once dominated by foreign operators.

However, despite having a beneficiation policy, Zimbabwe continues to export raw minerals, with many trained professionals leaving the country due to limited industrial opportunities.

The Namibian delegation's visit marks a step forward in strengthening continental collaboration in vocational training, as African countries increasingly seek to localise value addition and empower youth through practical technical skills.
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