adminVandudzai Zirebwa Buy Zimbabwe
The recent swearing-in of Cabinet was indeed a momentous occasion for Zimbabwe. It brought with it the hope that the economy, which has been on the recovery path after almost a decade-long recession, will continue to grow.The new Government has its work cut out for it. The unemployed youths, peasant farmers, business people and civil servants alike have high hopes for a bright economic future.
The incoming Government is thus saddled with the unenviable task of ensuring that these expectations are met, a task which they are undoubtedly equal to.
In his speech during the swearing-in of the new Cabinet, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, His Excellency President Robert Mugabe, said the new Government would revive the economy by focusing on agriculture, manufacturing and the mining industries.
These are key industries which have enormous potential, especially in light of the fact that the country is blessed with a fair abundance of natural resources.
The country has rich productive soils which, if properly utilised, will see the country once more reclaim its status as the bread- basket of the Southern African region.
The mining sector also has tremendous prospectives, with the country’s rich soils embedded with huge deposits of various minerals.
More mineral deposits probably remain unknown and unexplored, and this makes the country unbelievably rich.
While the manufacturing sector also has potential, it has been hitherto facing serious challenges which among others included erratic water and power supplies, obsolete machinery and inadequate working capital.
The de-industrialisation of Bulawayo, which was once the country’s industrial hub, coupled with general low capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector has resulted in shelves in local shops being stocked mainly with expensive exports.
The fact that Zimbabwe’s exports in 2012 were valued at approximately US$5 billion against an import bill of a staggering US$8 billion is indicative of the fact that the country’s industry has been uncompetitive.
So, for the incoming Minister of Industry and Commerce, Mike Bimha, the agenda should be to ensure that capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector improves, as this will go a long way in boosting local production. Industry also has to make significant strides in becoming technologically savvy and sound, as this has been another setback to growth.
The recent slashing of electricity and water tariffs is also expected to provide some relief to industry as it will ease production costs.
Hopefully this will be reflected in the prices of commodities on the market, which people generally rightly agree are high and leave a severe dent in most consumers’ already depleted pockets.
Once industry’s capacity utilisation improves and the manufacturing sector is somewhat back on its feet, the onus will be on consumers to support local industry by buying local.
Buying local is more than a “feel-good, it’s-worth-paying-for-local” matter. A lot rests on buying Zimbabwe. Imagine the good that would come from promoting local industry — the jobs that will be created and saved, the development that will come out of that simple decision and the money that will revolve internally.
There is a common saying that money is like blood. It needs to keep moving around to keep the economy going. By that same token, one would also be inclined to think that too much dependence on imports is akin to losing blood from a gushing wound. It is detrimental.
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Online Reporter