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Freedom Mupanedemo, Midlands Bureau
THE Midlands province is working on establishing its net worth as implementation of devolution gathers momentum.
In an interview yesterday, Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister, Larry Mavima, said the province’s vast mineral deposits and disposable income has the capacity to be one of the best in terms of contribution to the country’s GDP in line with President Mnangagwa’s devolution thrust.
He said firstly they want to establish the number of civil servants in the Midlands province and how much Government was channelling towards their salaries.
“When we know the number of civil servants in the province and the money that Government channels towards their salaries every month, we will be able to determine our disposable income as a province. We also intend to collate the number of companies that we have in the province what they channel towards their employees and simple economics will help us know our possible disposable income as a province,” said Minister Mavima.
He said the total sum of money that is channelled towards civil servants and employees in the private sector in the province should be made public so that investors know the province’s potential.
“These figures should then be made public so that investors know the potential that the province has in terms of its disposable income,” he said.
Minister Mavima urged small to medium entrepreneurs to work on regularising their businesses for devolution to work.
“This must be an all-inclusive effort. The world over, SMEs play an important role in driving the economy hence our plea for SMEs to also take part in devolution; they must regularise and not evade taxes,” he said.
Minister Mavima said they were also working on measures to make sure that the province manufactures its own products.
“As a province we have everything, we are the biggest producers of milk, we produce wheat, we contribute about 40 percent of the country’s gold output, we have chrome smelting companies, Zimasco which is the largest producer in the Midlands so we should lead in our GDP,” he said.
“In the long run, we should not be having our bread coming from either Harare or Bulawayo. We must not have our milk coming from other provinces when we have milk in the province. This is how we should shape up for us to be the leading province in terms of devolution and achieving President Mnangagwa’s 2030 vision.”
Online Reporter