adminOliver Kazunga Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) is lobbying the Government to put a moratorium on placing distressed industries under judicial management or liquidation to give them space to improve capacity utilisation, the chamber’s immediate past president, Mrs Sheila Sidambe said yesterday.
Speaking during a three-day donor conference that ended yesterday in Bulawayo, she said Bulawayo continued to face massive de-industrialisation due to a number of operational challenges including shortage of working capital, outdated machinery and lack of markets for locally manufactured products.
“Some companies in Bulawayo have been placed on judicial management. We are lobbying the Government to establish a moratorium on Bulawayo companies so that they are able to improve on their operations,” she said.
She said in light of the funding challenges companies in the city were facing, Bulawayo business community should continue to call for fresh capital injection to facilitate the complete overhaul of industrial machinery.
City firms have not benefited from funding mechanisms such as the $40 million Distressed Industries and Marginalised Areas Fund (Dimaf), a facility that was launched last year by the inclusive Government and Old Mutual and administered by CABS.
About 100 companies in Bulawayo have closed in recent years leaving more than 20 000 people jobless.
As a result of the operational constraints some of the companies have been placed under judicial management.
“So many studies and researches have in the past been done about the revival of Bulawayo industries because the city was once known as the industrial hub of the country.
“That status has since been lost due to a number of challenges facing industries resulting in some of the companies to either close down or relocate to other parts of the country. Lack of working capital, high cost of production, outdated machinery, and lack of markets for locally manufactured products has been cited as some of the reasons leading to the demise of companies in the city.
“Some have blamed the crisis Bulawayo is facing on marginalisation.
“Marginalisation or not, the focus is now on revival of industries. The firms need a complete overhaul of their equipment which is outdated,” she said.
She said Bulawayo was set to be declared a Special Economic Zone, a status that would see firms in the city being exempted from taxes and customs duty to stimulate production by local firms.
“I am happy that Bulawayo is on the cards to be declared a Special Economic Zone in 2014. Companies in the city need to be exempted from taxes and customs duty when importing raw materials. We are competing in a global village with countries such as China and India, so there is need for the complete overhaul of machinery in our companies so that new technology is invested,” she said.
In the short-term, she said, ZNCC continued to lobby for more Dimaf resources to be channelled towards companies in the city.
Mrs Sidambe said development partners and Government should also look at ways of supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as they were making significant contribution to the Gross Domestic Product.
In his address earlier, an official from the Zimbabwe Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises Mr Energy Majazi appealed to the Bulawayo City Council to provide the chamber with space to set up a common working centre where entrepreneurs would receive training in sectors such as carpentry.
“Last year, we applied to Bulawayo City Council for working space to set up the centre.
“However, the response that we received from BCC was that they had received a directive from Government that the space we wanted would be given through a tender process. We are therefore appealing to BCC to consider our plight during the tendering process.”
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