Minister to lobby for early disbursement of fund

In a telephone interview yesterday, Prof Ncube said he would talk to Finance Minister Tendai Biti about the funds so that they were disbursed early.

“We are yet to sit down and talk to the minister of finance but this depends on Botswana and the Cabinet as well. We are going to push for it to be done early as industries are struggling,” said Prof Ncube.

He also said if everything went according to plan, the funds would be availed before year-end.

Prof Ncube said they had to make a lot of consultations before the credit facility was availed.

“With such things there are a lot of consultations which have to be done before anything can be finalised and beneficiaries identified but we are committed to seeing it being disbursed soon,” he said.

The minister also said it was his wish to see the credit facility being distributed transparently as that would guarantee that everyone benefited.

He said he did not believe that the funds would end up being mired in controversy as the Distressed Industries and Marginalised Areas Fund (Dimaf).

“I am not going to believe that the fund might attract controversy as did the Dimaf. It is our wish that it would be distributed transparently for everyone to benefit,” he said.

Prof Ncube said the essence of the fund was to improve industrial operations as well as capacity utilisation.

“The fund has to improve industry and capacity utilisation and if that is achieved, employment would be created and that means the economy can recover and grow,” said Prof Ncube.

In a separate interview, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) president Mr Oswell Binha urged Government to have a business mindset as it deliberated on the disbursement of the credit facility.

He said such facilities usually came with a lot of bureaucracy saying it might take Cabinet another 18 months to finalise everything.

“It took the deal about three years to be complete and now that a memorandum of understanding has been signed, it will probably take Cabinet another 18 months to finalise everything. That is not sustainable for industry as the matter has to be dealt with the urgency it deserves,” said Mr Binha.

“This is a private sector package in which if manufacturing would benefit earlier, the better, as jobs would be created and that means higher chances of growing the economy.

“For this to happen, Government has to approach the facility with a business mindset.”