‘Government must lead in buying locally’

Economic Consultative Forum executive secretary Mr Amos Mushaninga has said.
He said this while addressing journalists in Harare during a Press conference by Buy Zimbabwe, a competitiveness and empowerment driver.
“Zimbabwe has become an export country and people are just dumping their products here. We need to go back to the basics. Zimbabwe used to produce all ranges of quality products,” Mr Mashininga said.

He added that since dollarisation, most foreign products were finding their way into the country.
“Most foreign products are flooding the country since we started using multiple currencies and some are even setting up plants just outside the border to minimise transport costs and bring in products,” he said.
Mr Mashininga said Government must now champion the public procurement process by prioritising local products.

“We have seen the tender process exclude local companies but we now have a public procurement process with a clause that Government must lead in buying locally,” he said.
Buy Zimbabwe general manager Mr Munyaradzi Hwengwere said they were going to hold a two-day conference at a local hotel next week to promote the production

and consumption of Zimbabwean products.
“It will be an annual benchmarking conference to basically outline what we have achieved and assessing where have we come from and where are we going,” Mr Hwengwere said.

He said Buy Zimbabwe, through the conference to be attended by Government ministers, seeks to identify challenges and proffer solutions to those challenges.
He said the conference was being held in partnership with two key stakeholders — the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce and National Economic Consultative Forum.

During the conference, also attracting delegates from Proudly South Africa, there is going to be cluster discussions on key issues such as energy, manufacturing, agriculture and the motor industry.
The conference will also seek to educate consumers on the advantages of promoting local products as opposed to imported ones.

Buy Zimbabwe was launched last year and its objectives are to raise awareness and the profile of home-grown goods and services, to assist local companies in improving the quality of their products and services.
It also seeks to lobby Government to enact laws and policies that support local producers without negatively affecting consumer choice and connecting local producers

to retailers, consumers and other relevant stakeholders that include Government and quasi-Government institutions.