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Victoria Ruzvidzo Managing Editor
Zimbabwe should introduce policies and regulations that support the growth of the small business sector to foster sustainable economic growth, United Family International Church founder Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa has said.
Speaking on the last day of a week-long UFIC Financial Summit in Harare on Sunday where he also attacked the West for financing civil wars and other political conflicts instead of progressive programmes to eradicate poverty, Prophet Makandiwa lamented current high taxes, import duties, restrictive by-laws and other policies which constricted small businesses at a time Zimbabwe needed to revive the economy.
He commended Government for embarking on the indigenisation and empowerment programme but said some laws were in discord as they made life difficult for start-ups and small businesses.
“It is unfortunate that in this country it is very difficult to go into business. Small businesses are penalised for doing business,” Prophet Makandiwa said.
Although Government has identified SMEs as the engine for economic growth, the policies on the ground were at variance with this realisation. Prophet Makandiwa said at border posts, cross-border traders went through gruelling processes when declaring their goods and yet some individuals were allowed to bring in large containers of products which were not subjected to any checks by Zimbabwe Revenue Authority officials.
“This is not fair. There are big guys that negotiate their way through and yet someone with only two plastic bags goes through a rigorous check. They will check everywhere. It’s a policy that oppresses the poor. The prosperity that we have belongs to every citizen. It is not for individuals but it is for everyone,” he said.
Some of the duties on items were also too high for business. Cross-border trading was sustaining many families and yet they were made to operate under difficult conditions. Furthermore, trucks coming into the country spent weeks on end before being cleared, a scenario that created social and economic challenges.
Prophet Makandiwa also expressed concern over the import duty for vehicles which he said was often higher than the actual price for the car.
“Most times people are made to pay duties that are much higher than the cost price for the car . . . It’s difficult to understand why this is so. You find someone being made to pay as much as US$30 000 duty for a car bought for US$20 000 . . . Some of our policies really need to be born again,” he said, much to applause from at least 30 000 people who attended the seminar and church service. Something is wrong at our border posts. The majority of people no longer have anything to do (because of the challenges) and yet the more people get into business, the more the revenue they will bring,” he said.
On taxes he said even biblically people were supposed to pay tax but he stressed that high taxation was restrictive to business.
“In some countries their tax policies are flexible. They allow everyone to go into business. Even vendors who were trying to fend for their families often had their wares confiscated,” he said.
Prophet Makandiwa also expressed disdain at the selfishness demonstrated by some politicians who purported to have the interests of the people at heart.
He chronicled a few incidents where he was ordered to leave a certain area where he had gone to donate food and clothing to the poor because an aspiring Member of Parliament felt he was being undermined.
“We were ordered to leave because someone thought we were frustrating their campaigns. We could not leave even a packet of sugar and yet the elderly and the less privileged had already assembled ready for our disbursements. We are killing ourselves because people want to protect their selfish interests. We are oppressing each other as Zimbabweans. It s no longer the whites oppressing us but we are oppressing ourselves,” he said.
In another instance, his project to drill nine boreholes in another area had to be aborted because the political system in that area felt he would get the limelight “and yet up to now people have to walk long distances to draw water from a river for consumption”..
Prophet Makandiwa challenged small businesses to register their companies and pay all the requisite fees so that they operated legally, contributing to the economy’s well-being.
“You cannot wish taxes were not there. You cannot do without a fiscal policy. It is a God-ordained policy,” he stressed.
Prophet Makandiwa said Western governments were wasting money by supporting rebels on the continent instead of channelling resources to support development.
“When civil wars break out they are quick to come and assist but when we want to develop they are no longer interested,” he said.
In such countries as the DRC and Sierra Leone, the West is sustaining civil wars, increasing the level of poverty and strife.
“There is a demonic spirit that is always supporting poverty in Africa. This should come to an end.
“However, in the case of Zimbabwe we have enough resources to build the country on our own. We don’t have to look to the West or to the East. We have it all,” he said.
Online Reporter