Chronicle Editor
Bongani Ndlovu, Business Reporter
THE strides being made by a Bulawayo leather company, Zambezi Tanners, have impressed the Government, which has urged other companies in the city to follow suit.
Situated at Kelvin industrial area, Zambezi Tanners has emerged to be one of the successful Bulawayo business stories, with its vibrant leather tanning and leather products manufacturing.
Yesterday the Minister of Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Judith Ncube, visited the company where she marveled as some of its milestones.
During the tour the minister was shown how different animal skins are processed into quality leather products.
The tannery processes various skins from cattle, crocodile and other wild beasts to make products such as shoes, belts and others.
Minister Ncube said the company’s operations dovetail well into the country’s Leather Sector Strategy (2021-2030), which was launched by Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga early this year.
The leather sector is seen as a low-hanging fruit given the country’s competitive advantage in livestock and crop production, which are key sources of raw materials. In her remarks, Minister Ncube said farmers were key players in the leather value chain.
“If you look at what they are doing to come up with a finished product it does take a lot of time. They are emphasising that our farmers, perhaps they aren’t aware that the branding of the cattle, at the end of the day the hide becomes a reject,” she said.
“For us to get a good income out of this hide as farmers, we need to liaise with those who know, so that they can advise us. They (Zambezi Tanners) are making us proud as a country.
“The Vice President launched the leather cluster and we are taking it seriously. We would want to work hand in hand with our farmers.”
The minister urged farmers to play their part in producing healthy animals for good hides saying this was critical for the entire value chain.
“We need to come up with central points in these villages so that our parents and farmers would know where to take their hides at that level,” she said.
Minister Ncube said she was impressed by the new machinery bought by the company to increase capacity as this meant more jobs.
“I learnt from them that there are some students from colleges and they are attached at the tannery. They can have a choice of being employed or starting their own businesses,” she said.
Zambezi Tanners general manager, Mr Arnold Britten, said they have benefited from the auction system that helped them to buy machinery worth over US$600 000, which will increase capacity.
“Last year we approached our banker, BancABC who facilitated a loan facility for us to be able to procure machinery for retooling,” he said.
“Thanks to the Government auction system it allowed us to purchase foreign currency on the auction floor. We invested about US$620 000 for us to buy machinery from Italy.”
Mr Britten said the company has received 80 percent of the machinery with the hitch being logistical delays, as their containers were stuck in Durban due to congestion.
He said they had planned to launch the new machinery in September but due to the delays, they have moved the date to February next year.
The new unit would increase production tenfold from processing 20 000 square feet of hides on the cattle side to 200 000 per month, he said.
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