Let us imagine a counterfactual Zimbabwe: a country that joins BRICS and actually benefits. Not in speeches, not in newspaper headlines, not as a diplomatic trophy, but in the lives of ordinary people. What would have to be true for that to happen?
Quite a lot.
Because BRICS cannot fix a country. At best, it can amplify what already works. For Zimbabwe, the hard truth is that too little currently works well enough to be amplified.
Predictable rules, not clever announcements
BRICS would only matter if Zimbabwe became a place where policy is stable and predictable. Investors and trading partners do not commit to economies where rules change overnight, where regulations are selectively applied, or where currency policy turns into emergency improvisation. Zimbabwe does not need more economic “plans”. It needs fewer surprises.
Credible institutions that are bigger than personalities
A country cannot bargain confidently in international blocs when its own institutions are distrusted at home. Zimbabwe would need a civil service that functions professionally, regulators that are not captured by patronage, and a judiciary that is seen as independent. BRICS partners may not lecture about governance, but they price it into every deal.
A productive economy that can actually trade
BRICS is not charity. It is trade, leverage and exchange. Zimbabwe would need to expand what it produces beyond raw exports and informal hustle. If you cannot manufacture competitively, process locally, and export value-added goods, membership simply turns you into a market for other people’s products.
To benefit from BRICS, Zimbabwe would need:
- Revived industry and reliable electricity
- Predictable access to foreign currency for inputs
- Functioning logistics and rail, not only roads and border queues
- An export strategy that goes beyond minerals and tobacco
Clean procurement and a war on tenderpreneurship
No bloc can help a country where big deals are structured for insiders. Zimbabwe would need to fix procurement, end opaque contracting, and stop treating state tenders as political rewards. Otherwise, BRICS-linked projects would simply become new feeding troughs, not development.
A currency system people trust
If Zimbabwe wants to ride BRICS discussions on de-dollarisation, it must first earn domestic credibility. That means a central bank that is transparent about reserves, disciplined about money creation and honest about the true state of liquidity.
A gold-backed currency only matters if the backing is verifiable, protected and not quietly mortgaged away.
Human capital retained, not exported
Zimbabwe’s biggest loss is not capital flight. It is people flight. Skills have left at scale, and those remaining are often stuck in survival economics rather than innovation. For BRICS to matter, Zimbabwe would need to rebuild a labour market that rewards skill, protects workers and creates upward mobility.
Otherwise, Zimbabwe will keep exporting nurses, teachers and engineers while importing finished goods.
Real accountability, not selective discipline
The final condition is the hardest. Zimbabwe would need accountability that applies to everyone, not only to those who fall out of favour. Without accountability, every advantage offered by BRICS becomes another opportunity for looting, and every “partnership” becomes another PR exercise.
So what would BRICS look like in a fixed Zimbabwe?
In a functional Zimbabwe, BRICS could matter in practical ways:
- Access to development finance that actually builds productive capacity
- Structured trade deals that increase exports, not just imports
- Technology transfer tied to manufacturing and skills
- Infrastructure projects delivered on time and maintained
- Payment systems that reduce reliance on the dollar without collapsing confidence
But in the Zimbabwe we currently have, BRICS risks becoming what many other initiatives have become: diplomatic theatre layered on top of unresolved domestic dysfunction.
The counterfactual is not fantasy. It is a checklist.
Zimbabwe does not need BRICS first.
Zimbabwe needs to fix itself first.
Then, and only then, BRICS would stop being a badge and start being a tool.
