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Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
BULAWAYO has remained an investment destination of choice for local, regional and international capital as evidenced by the interest shown at the just-ended Government engagements in Egypt where a number of companies expressed their desire to set up shop in different economic sectors in the city.
Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Cde Judith Ncube recently led a delegation of officials to Egypt for the 26th Arab-African Investment and International Co-operation Conference where she met several potential investors who have expressed interest in coming to invest in Bulawayo. In an interview last week, Minister Ncube implored all stakeholders not to allow the death of Bulawayo, urging them to work on their attitude to make Bulawayo a marketable brand.
“In a detailed form, we spoke about Bulawayo. We have factories lying idle and we have investors who are very keen on coming to Bulawayo and Zimbabwe to invest in the manufacturing sector. We met an investor interested in cement production, we talked to that investor. The approach to this conference was very professional. There was the venue of the conference and on the other end was another facility where private spaces were set for those investors with an interest in a certain country to discuss further. While we were at the venue I was approached by the facilitator and told to come with my delegation as there were some investors who were interested in engaging us. We saw them and had very fruitful discussions. I am so happy that the investors are eager to come to Zimbabwe,” she added.
She said of interest was an investor in home appliances.
“There is a woman who is into home appliances, she wants to work with us in Zimbabwe, as Bulawayo. She is prepared to work with our Small to Medium Enterprises. As a starting point, she wants to give us some parts and she will bring in a team to capacitate a few of our SMEs so that they are able to assemble some of these appliances and as we progress, she wants to set up a factory here in Bulawayo. It is so exciting and we want to see that happening,” she said.
Bulawayo has a perennial challenge of shortage of housing and high cost of construction but the Minister’s visit to Egypt is likely to change the terrain as she made progressive deliberations with investors in the construction sector.
“We also met with an investor who is interested in low-cost housing, he will be visiting Bulawayo and he has a similar project in Rwanda. We are interested, if his approach meet the expected results, if it is authorised we will want to quickly get started and create some relationship with the investor,” added the minister.
Other investors that the Zimbabwean delegation met include those that have commodities for distribution. She said there was a need to engage the private sector as the economy was driven by partnerships.
“Over the years, Bulawayo Metropolitan Province was the industrial hub of Zimbabwe with extensive infrastructure in industries such as textile, leather, meat processing plants, pharmaceuticals, allied products as well as cement products. It is against this background that the province seeks to reclaim its status of being the industrial hub by positioning itself as a leading investment and industrial centre,” she told delegates to the conference.
The minister said the investment opportunities that were sought were a starting point to reawakening Zimbabwe’s sleeping giant and enabling it to return to its former glory.
“This is a starting point, let us wake up as Bulawayo, let us put our heads together and work together as a team. When we went to Egypt I was with the Town Clerk of Bulawayo, the Town Planner, and the city’s Economic Development Officer. Whatever we came up with that was related to the local authority, we quickly referred it to the relevant authority to respond and it went well. That relationship is needed if we are to revive Bulawayo, ngeyethu sonke (it belongs to all of us) let us work together and achieve the Bulawayo we all want,” she added.
The minister said she was impressed and challenged with the level of cleanliness in the city of Shem El Sheik in Egypt where the conference took place.
“The smartness in Cairo, I never saw a single paper on the ground, rather I saw workers looking out for litter on the ground. I admired the dedication and commitment of the workers, it is so challenging. We asked ourselves what we were doing back home, there are things that we could do alone, they do not need an outsider or an investor, especially with cleanliness, and landscaping in order to attract other people to Bulawayo, the country and our neighbours,” said Minister Ncube.
She said there were spaces in Bulawayo that could be spruced up and attract tourists to those areas within the city.
“Look at our parks, they need us, you find people disposing of garbage there, who is supposed to clean our parks if it is us doing the littering? Do we think we can attract other people from outside the city? Not at all. I was looking at how best we can improve our museum, the Caravan Park and other parks in Bulawayo in order to create attractive sites that attract people,” she said.
The Minister said they were also impressed with the splendid presentations on dealing with waste.
“We met a Japanese who talked about biogas and carbon credits but we were more interested with biogas because we have that resource as Bulawayo, we are talking about sewage that is giving us challenges but here is somebody who has got a technique that will create electricity for us and we referred him to the Town Clerk and Town Planner and we were excited as a delegation and realised it was the way to go if we were to contain this (sewer challenges),” she added.
She expressed gratitude to the Second Republic for allowing the delegation to attend the conference as they saw best practices from other nations that were applicable locally to grow the city and nation at large. She said the youths were starved of entertainment and recreation and action should be taken to address their challenges and concerns as they were being left behind and plunging into drug and substance abuse.
“Let us come up with programmes that our youngsters can enjoy, let us create entertainment for our youngsters. Let the young people tell us what it is that they would want to see happening in Bulawayo and the policymakers, the city councillors and the Members of Parliament will take some of the recommendations from the young people and look into those issues would have been recommended and take them forward for implementation,” she stressed. — @NyembeziMu
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