Chronicle Editor
Bianca Leboho Herald Reporter—
Government has called on the power utility, the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority to ensure that Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) centres are electrified, as the lack of such is costing the enterprises valuable business.Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperatives Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni made the call during a tour of Epworth Community Enterprise and its unused, but fully capacitated resource centre, which has been lying idle for years, owing to the absence of electrical connectivity.
Minister Nyoni toured the centre together with Harare Metropolitan province Minister Miriam Chikukwa and, Energy and Power Development Deputy Minister Tsitsi Muzenda.
She said the resource centre, which was constructed and capacitated with metal fabricating and carpentry machinery in 2012, was not operational because it had no electricity.
“The Epworth Resource Centre should have been operational last year when it was fully capacitated, while local SMEs were trained with the relevant skills to operate it. Plan International, in conjunction with the local board in Epworth paid for the relevant electricity procedure to be facilitated, but alas, the centre was never electrified,” bemoaned Minister Nyoni.
She urged Deputy Minister Muzenda to look into the issue and other similar energy-related setbacks which affected the operation of SMEs.
“The centre will go a long way in capacitating SMEs in Epworth, who are into carpentry and metal fabrication and machining, to increase production, improve the quality of their products and become more competitive.
Epworth Home Industry Association chairman Mr Phillip Mbaimbai complained that ZESA was reluctant to connect electricity at the centre as evidenced by the authority’s removal of a transformer which was once at the centre, and meant to facilitate the electrification procedure.
“This tour of the centre by respective Government ministers has given us hope because it has been lying idle for years now while it could have greatly improved our livelihoods had it been electrified,” said Mr Mbaimbai.
Minister Chikukwa also urged the Epworth Local board to work hand-in-hand with ZESA in order to ensure that the electrification of the resource centre is completed without further delay.
“The state-of-art-machinery at the resource centre should not go to waste but rather, should facilitate the improvement of the livelihoods of the Epworth community which mostly thrives on SME businesses,” she said.
Deputy Minister Muzenda said her ministry was not aware of the challenges affecting SMEs in the Epworth community: “The ministry was not aware of such challenges facing the Epworth SMEs community, but now that we have been briefed, we will make sure that ZESA works with the community to ensure that the electrification of the resource centre is prioritised.”
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