$88 Million Trabablas Interchange Launched Without Clear White Road Markings: Where Did the Money Go?
30 May 2025
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It was meant to be a national triumph — a symbol of Zimbabwe’s bold leap into modern infrastructure. But just hours before President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s grand commissioning of the $88 million Trabablas Interchange, reality paints a far bleaker picture: no white lane markings, unconnected bridges, and gaping dead-ends that speak louder than any ribbon-cutting speech ever could. VIDEO LOADING BELOW
The irony is staggering. After nearly three years of delays and ballooning costs, Zimbabwe’s most expensive interchange is being launched unfinished, unsafe, and visibly dysfunctional. A drone’s-eye view shows not a marvel of engineering, but a multimillion-dollar maze of confusion — where roads rise only to stop, bridges lead to nowhere, and the very paint that guides traffic is conspicuously missing.
In a country desperate for progress, Trabablas is not a victory — it is a $2,000 oversight in an $88 million scandal.
By Dorrothy Moyo | ZimEye | 30 May 2025 | Harare
As President Emmerson Mnangagwa prepares to officially commission the long-delayed Trabablas Interchange in Harare on Friday, motorists and taxpayers are left asking a jarring question: Why is there no road paint on an $88 million project?
The newly built multi-lane flyover—spanning the intersection of Simon Mazorodze, Chitungwiza, and High Glen roads—still lacks the most basic safety requirement: clearly marked white lane lines. Not only does this pose a critical traffic hazard, but it has also become the latest flashpoint in Zimbabwe’s growing outrage over public funds and infrastructure mismanagement.
Two Years Late and Still Incomplete
Originally announced in October 2021, Transport Minister Felix Mhona declared that construction would begin “in earnest” by December that year and would take one year to complete. Instead, it was only by September 18, 2022 that the Mbudzi roundabout was closed and actual work commenced.
Mhona’s revised promise of a 24-month completion target—March 2024—was also missed. The commissioning now arrives more than two years later, with unfinished road markings, raising the uncomfortable question: What exactly has $88 million paid for?
Paint Costs Peanuts, So Why Isn’t It There?
Industry experts estimate that road marking paint for a project of this size would cost no more than US$2,000, including labour. So why are the lane lines missing?
“This is a question of either gross incompetence or deliberate neglect,” said a former roads engineer speaking anonymously. “For a project this costly, the absence of white lines shows that something is seriously wrong. Either the money was misallocated, or the project was rushed for political optics.”
Ballooning Budget and No Tender
Initially budgeted at US$65 million by the South African consultancy DNMZ, the cost ballooned after the Zimbabwean government handed the project to Tefoma, a consortium comprising Tensor Systems, Fossil Contracting, and Masimba Construction—without public tender.
The consortium added US$23 million to the bill, claiming the extra funds would cover detour roads, compensation for displaced residents, and professional fees.
But critics remain unconvinced. “We still don’t know the real cost. The government has not released an audited breakdown,” said one member of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee. “Yet what we do know is that, at $88 million, this project is more expensive than Mount Edgecombe Interchange in South Africa, which is the largest in the southern hemisphere and cost $77 million.”
Parliament Raises the Alarm
In the Senate last week, Matabeleland North Senator Sengezo Tshabangu pressed Minister Mhona for answers.
“The figures that we have show the interchange was quoted around $88 million,” Tshabangu said. “Let us look at the difference in costs. What makes our roads so expensive compared to regional peers?”
Mhona blamed Zimbabwe’s unique economic situation and “illegal sanctions,” even suggesting differences in cement prices as justification—answers many senators found unconvincing.
“Trabablas” and the Optics of Power
The government has named the interchange after President Mnangagwa’s wartime pseudonym, “Trabablas”, as a tribute to his liberation struggle. But critics say the naming is little more than self-glorification atop a financial black hole.
“Zimbabweans are not angry that the interchange was built,” one commuter told our reporter. “They’re angry that after $88 million, it still doesn’t have paint, it still uses wooden poles for signs, and it took twice the promised time to deliver. This isn’t transformation—it’s theft in broad daylight.”
As Mnangagwa cuts the ribbon, Zimbabweans won’t just be looking at the bridge. They’ll be staring down the white lines that aren’t there—and asking: if $2,000 worth of paint is missing, what else was stolen?
