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Harare Bureau
Finance Minister and MDC-T Secretary General Tendai Biti stands accused of having rendered more than 100 000 people jobless after failing to implement a Cabinet directive to revamp the country’s local industries.This development flies in the face of the MDC-T party’s election manifesto which is hinged on the Jobs Upliftment, Investment, Capital and the Environment (JUICE) policy that seeks to create a million jobs by 2018.
Statistics availed by the Minister of Industry and Commerce Professor Welshman Ncube show that Mr Biti’s reluctance to fund companies through the Distressed Industries and Marginalised Areas Fund (Dimaf) in outright defiance of Cabinet contributed to the loss of about 100 000 jobs in Bulawayo, Manicaland and in the Midlands.
In an interview last week, Professor Ncube said Minister Biti on several occasions brushed off Cabinet resolutions that directed him to channel the funds to the local industry, despite the fact that the funds were available for distribution.
“The whole blame is on the Inclusive Government, we left the Finance Ministry to implement the distribution of the funds but alas the whole process was retarded by the ministry.
“Statistics carried out by the Ministry of Industry show that by June, 30 000 people were left jobless in Bulawayo. In Manicaland, the paper, tea and coffee industries collapsed leaving another 30 000 people out of work.
“The same happened in Redcliff were over 30 000 lost jobs again after the steel industry closed down and the same is happening countrywide due to the non disbursement of funds by the Finance Minister,” said Professor Ncube.
In 2010, Minister Biti launched Dimaf and $50 million was set aside to bail out Bulawayo industries while another $50 million was to be distributed to other industries around the country.
Another $70 million facility that is jointly funded by Government and the African Export Import Bank was launched in 2010 to address liquidity challenges among local industries and assist in recapitalising the firms.
Professor Ncube has since said although the Dimaf matter remained an albatross around Minister Biti’s neck, Cabinet should partly shoulder the blame after it failed to put pressure on the Finance Minister to implement its resolutions to urgently fund distressed industries.
He said ordinarily, Minister Biti would have been fired from his post as he had caused de-industrilisation.
“The buck stops with him (Minister Biti) because he has the responsibility to release the funds.
“The responsibility also lies with us as Cabinet because we have a collective responsibility.
“Essentially if we had one party in Government we wouldn’t have such a situation, otherwise that person would be fired by whoever will be President,” he said.
It has not been clear how these funds were used and recently Minister Biti only conceded that $10 million had been distributed to bail out Bulawayo firms through CABS but Professor Ncube is on record saying that no company in the province had received the funds.
However, the failure to immediately distribute the funds in citing reasons that the companies were not meeting certain commercial requirements saw over 100 companies closing shop in Bulawayo only by 2011 and over 20 000 people jobless during the same period.
Online Reporter