Online Reporter
Nyore Madzianike
Senior Reporter
TEXTILE giant, David Whitehead Textiles, is steadily regaining its footing, with production back on track and the manufacturing company slowly exporting some of its products into the region.
The revival of the Kadoma-based manufacturing firm has drawn the attention and commendation of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Industry and Commerce, which toured the plant over the weekend as part of its oversight visits to resurgent industrial operations.
The committee also visited the spinning and weaving plant in Chegutu. Industry and Commerce Committee chairperson Cde Clemence Chiduwa said the progress being made at David Whitehead was in line with President Mnangagwa and the country’s vision of industrialisation and empowerment.
“This is a ticket for empowerment. This is a ticket where we want incomes to go to people’s pockets and this can happen if we promote the cotton value chain,” he said.
“Looking at what is happening here, this is a massive investment and it’s in sync with our industrialisation agenda. As the Portfolio Committee, we really support what is happening here.”
Cde Chiduwa said the committee would continue to monitor developments within the cotton and textile value chains as part of efforts to strengthen policy formulation.
“Going forward, we are also going to look at other companies that are in the cultural value chain,” he said
“It should assist us as a committee to come up with a comprehensive report, which will then feed into the executive terms of policymaking.”
The ETG group chief operations manager, Mr Rodreck Musiyiwa, whose company is spearheading the David Whitehead revitalisation programme, said production had resumed at significant levels and was already exporting cotton yarn.
Yarn is a thread made from the soft, fluffy fibres of the cotton plant, known for being absorbent, durable, breathable and soft, making it ideal for a variety of projects like towels, home decor, especially for summer wear.
“We are happy that we can actually produce as many as two million metres a month. It is quite a considerable amount of fabric which is going to the market,” he said.
“We have just started to export. It is exciting for us. We are exporting part of our yarn to Botswana.”
He said the revival of David Whitehead represented a return of local textile manufacturing and a step towards import substitution.
“The textile industry had collapsed. We want it to be alive. David Whitehead is one of the many that should be back.
“So, we say to our Parliamentarians, the challenge is, there should be a lot more David Whiteheads that are propping up in every corner of the country and how does that happen?
“Let’s bring sanity into the industry. Let us make sure we know what we are importing.”
Mr Musiyiwa added that the company was now fully integrated- from supporting cotton farmers at the field level to producing finished fabrics and related products.
“We are happy that we are becoming one integrated company employing now a considerable number of people.
“We are playing a part in the upliftment of our people in the country.”
The committee also toured the Dendairy Plant in Kwekwe.
