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An indaba held by business people from Lupane and surrounding areas on Saturday at Lupane Community hall revealed that the business community had lost confidence in the operations of Luba and called for its dissolution.
“As business people, we are greatly concerned about the slow pace in development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in our community due to the absence of a mother body that represents us at both provincial and national levels.
“This has stifled the growth of SMEs in this area because currently Luba is only a representative of two or three people who purport to be representing the whole of Lupane business community yet they misuse Government assets in the shells for their own personal gains,” said Mr Leon Tshuma, a businessman trading as Limthembe Enterprises.
The weekend meeting was called to deliberate on issues affecting the local business community and map a way forward for the development of small businesses through full utilisation of resources such as timber for the benefit of Lupane community.
More than 40 businesspeople from Lupane and surrounding areas such as Gomoza, Lupaka and St Luke’s signed a petition against Luba and accusing its executive of allegedly embezzling funds and misusing Government assets.
In October last year the SMEs ministry donated state-of-the-art machinery for carpentry and a Mazda B series vehicle to facilitate the development and growth of SMEs.
The Norwegian Government through NORAD, a non-government organisation, built factory shells meant for small and medium scale businesspeople in Lupane.
It is alleged that Luba which had about 200 members, has been deserted by most of its members and left under the supervision of few prominent individuals.
These individuals who form the executive include Mr Permanent Sibanda (secretary and Luba spokesperson), Mr Leonard Moyo (chairman) and Mr Christopher Mazibisa (organising secretary). However, they failed to turn up for the meeting although they were invited by the District Administrator (DA) who in turn did not attend.
Mr Gilbert Ncube, who trades as Power General Dealer, said one of the retrogressive moves taken by Luba executive was to charge exorbitant rents for factory shells with some struggling SMEs having been taken to court for failure to pay their rentals.
“Some of the struggling SMEs were taken to court and charged for not paying their rates which are beyond the reach of many and this has hampered the growth of small businesses operating in those shells as incubators,” Mr Ncube said.
It was alleged that some of the shells had been rented by Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) and a church organisation which conducts its services every Sunday.
The rentals for incubators operating in these Government shells range from $75 to $100 a month while the power utility was forking out about $400 a month.
The provincial head in the Ministry of SMEs and Co-operatives Development in Matabeleland North, Mr Masauso Phiri, said the ministry was not aware of the activities taking place at the Lupane factory shells. “The Ministry built those structures and donated machines for carpentry in order to facilitate the growth of SMEs from Lupane and surrounding areas and not for the benefit of a few individuals.
“We are not aware that those shells have been turned into profit making entities for Luba members and also the prosecution of some SMEs for failure to pay their rentals in the premises is news to us,” said Mr Phiri.
Small to Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni also said she was not aware of activities taking place in the shells.
She, however, said the ministry will send a team to investigate after receiving a report about the issue from the Matabeleland North Provincial offices in Bulawayo.
“For now I cannot give you further comment on this issue but I hope to get a report from the Mat North Provincial offices which will then trigger further investigations from my team,” Minister Nyoni said.
Mr Permanent Sibanda, the spokesperson of the Luba, said that allegations levelled against the association’s executive members were utter lies driven by jealous from certain businesspeople and dubbed the meeting as “unconstitutional”.
“That was an unconstitutional meeting summoned by an ex-officio (DA) who is not mandated to call meetings on Luba’s behalf. The chairman calls the meeting through the secretary or the executive of the association.
“If business people are not happy with the way Luba operates and they have genuine ambitions, why can’t they join the association and probably bring forth their own resolutions or form their own association altogether? We are professional individuals who run the association with all transparency and hence there is a constitution that we abide to,” said Mr Sibanda.
He said in 2008 due to the economic malaise bedevilling the country, the majority of Luba members failed to pay their subscriptions which greatly affected the operations of the association. This is said to have led to the formation of Lupane Business Trust in order to manage the operations of Luba and activities in the shells.
“People used to travel to Hwange to pay for electricity and as a solution we offered the power company offices in one of the shells so as to ease this problem yet some people claim that we are personalising these premises.
“The rentals paid by ZEDCO and tenants using some premises are used for facilitating the smooth running of the association and not for personal gain as some people purport.
“There are certain incubators who have surpassed their operational life span in the shells of three years and some have not been paying their rates since last year with some arrears amounting to nearly $1 000 hence we took legal action against them,” said Mr Sibanda.
He also said that the vehicle that was donated by the Government had broken down and was now being kept by one of the executive members.
Lupane District Administrator Mr Christopher Chuma said the factory shells were supposed to benefit SMEs.
“I was aware of the meeting but I could not turn up because on Saturday I was away from Lupane. I am also aware of the disputes that have reached the courts between Luba executive and incubators. The shells are a Government initiative and not for the benefit of few individuals.
“If those shells have been privatised, then whoever is in charge should pay tax to the local board,” said Mr Chuma.
Online Reporter