Govt to setup multi-layered policy framework to support local industry

INDUSTRY and Commerce Minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu has announced that the Government will set up a multi-layered policy framework to support local industry, focusing on localisation and import restrictions.

The development comes at a time when there is a need to support local production, which has been recording growth and enhancing value addition to drive economic growth towards Vision 2030.
Speaking after a tour of Pump and Steel Suppliers’ plants in Bulawayo, Minister Ndlovu said the Government was incentivising local manufacturing to reduce import reliance.

“For these tours, we are picking up from where we ended last year, visiting our industry and we wanted to start 2026 by visiting Bulawayo. Today, we are in the iron and steel value chain where Pump and Steel Suppliers, an indigenous company formed about 25 years ago, is operating here in Bulawayo,” he said.

Minister Ndlovu said for many years they have been importing most of their raw material from South Africa and China. He, however, noted that with the coming in of Dinson Iron and Steel Company, the company has started sourcing most of its raw materials locally.

“There are still some raw materials that they are importing because Dinson is yet to produce them. I know they are in the process of bringing more equipment so that they can supply most of our needs,” said Minister Ndlovu.

He said at a policy level, there was a need to catch up on a number of areas where the raw materials are levied duty.

“When bringing in a finished product, it’s duty free because at some point the country was not manufacturing them,” said Minister Ndlovu.

He said there was a need to now safeguard the local industry.

“A lot of our major investors are preparing to import the reinforcement steel and other steel products from their home countries, yet a company like Pump and Steel and a couple of others are manufacturing them locally, as a result, it’s affecting our capacity utilisation,” said Minister Ndlovu.

“We believe that surely for a country to say it is fully benefitting from foreign direct investment, we need to see how they are supporting local industries. So, we will be engaging them and we will also be looking at how we can adjust our policy so that we both incentivise, but also restrict import of what we can manufacture.”

Minister Ndlovu commended Pump and Steel Suppliers for also producing mining equipment, stating that they will engage the Chamber of Mines Zimbabwe to see if it’s possible for most of the mining companies to procure locally.

He said a framework for local content was being worked on where there will be some fiscal or tax incentives for the companies that are procuring locally.

“This is a Zimbabwean story that is coming together where industry is growing by looking inwards, by supporting each other and strengthening our value chains. We believe that if we put our policies together to support these companies that are procuring locally, our industry will grow at a much faster pace than we even did in 2025,” he said.

Pump and Steel Suppliers human resources manager, Mr Ernest Jackson said the company established in 1999, employees over 30 skilled and semi-skilled Zimbabweans.

“Our core divisions include manufacturing, engineering, mining products and retail. Our installed manufacturing capacity is over 36 000 tonnes per annum,” he said.

Mr Jackson said now that many companies have the capacity and skills to produce locally, there is a need to come up with a policy environment that rewards production as opposed to imports.

He said every tonne produced locally was a job retained, skills preserved and foreign currency saved.
On economic and strategic significance, Mr Jackson said Pump and Steel Supplies represents the exact type of firm required to re-industrialise Bulawayo and Zimbabwe.

“Our local manufacturing expansion delivers job creation across multiple sectors, promotes skills retention and acclerates revitalisation of dormant industries,” he said.

Mr Jackson said their facilities acquired from Zeco Holdings Limited, have been repurposed into productive, modern industrial assets through sustained private capital investment.

He said large volumes of finished steel and mining products are imported into Zimbabwe despite being manufactured locally by Pump and Steel Supplies and others.

“These imports directly suppress factory utilisation, employment growth and adversely affect return on private capital investment, ” said Mr Jackson.

He said his company had invested significantly in plant and equipment, skills development and long-term industrial infrastructure hence it needs Government support.

Pump and Steel Supplies is a wholly Zimbabwean, integrated steel solutions company headquartered in Bulawayo and has been operating for about 27 years, supporting the city’s industries.