Revival of Bulawayo industries at the heart of Vision 2030

Rutendo Nyeve
Sunday News Reporter
THE Second Republic has reaffirmed its commitment towards resuscitating the industrial sector in Bulawayo with investment in water and electricity being some of the biggest steps undertaken to restore the city’s industrial hub status.

Addressing journalists at the just ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), Zanu-PF Vice-President Cde Kembo Mohadi said Bulawayo was historically the industrial and railway hub of the country and its revival was important in the achievement of Vision 2030. He said Bulawayo remains a key cog in the economic sector of the nation through its various strategic positions as an industry and commerce, tourism as well as culture and heritage centre among others.

“Let us appreciate that Bulawayo has been historically the industrial and railway hub of our country. Therefore, developing this city is at the core of attaining Vision 2030 of becoming an upper middle-income economy by 2030. But we cannot talk of resuscitating or building new industries without addressing the elephant in the room. For years, the issue of water has been a scourge in this city. The lack of water has immensely stalled development. Industries require substantial amounts of water to efficiently and effectively function. The construction of Gwayi-Shangani Dam was therefore in response to that realisation,” he said.

He said the dam project which is almost 78 percent complete, would guarantee provision of water in the city for the next 80 years and will no doubt increase investment opportunities for Bulawayo.

“I have heard some saying the Second Republic has neglected industrial resuscitation in Bulawayo, no, we have not, ensuring availability of water in the city is the most critical step towards the resuscitation of industries here. Not only will this water from Gwayi-Shangani be critical for industry, but it will also create one of the biggest greenbelts for the country. The produce from agricultural activities will in turn be used as raw materials for Bulawayo’s industry and the city at large. We need more investments in electricity and improved tourism facilities to match world-class standards,” he said.

Cde Mohadi said the Second Republic sought to provide conditions conducive for economic development through projects that have been highly monitored and evaluated to ensure their successful implementation.

“We now have a One-Stop Investment Centre to smoothen the process of investments. We have designated Special Economic Zones throughout the country where we provide various incentives for investors. We need to appreciate that it is one thing to put in place a policy, and another to ensure the policy is implemented. On policy, our concern is not just policy craft literacy but policy enforcement which is backed by a robust monitoring and evaluation framework,” he said.

He also took time to highlight some of the major administrative and ideological Zanu-PF party reforms that have been instituted under the Second Republic.

“Administratively, we have elevated the positions of Secretary for Administration to that of Secretary General. The same goes for Finance General. Beyond the administrative adjustments, we have new departments for the Party such as Local Government, Mines and Energy Development, Environment, Labour, and League of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle.

“These departments are as a result of aligning Party operations to Government and enhancing the implementation of Government programmes in what is known as the ‘all of Government approach’.

We have also revisited the mandates of our Party departments to align them with Government operations,” he said.

Turning to the forthcoming harmonised elections, Cde Mohadi assured the nation that Zimbabwe was a constitutional democracy which would continue to hold free and fair elections.

“Since 1980 we have religiously adhered to our constitution that compels us to hold elections every five years, and the current five years is almost over. Zimbabweans are fully sensitised on the pending plebiscite. Political parties too are busy preparing for the elections. The hype for elections can be seen in the excitement generated by our recently concluded primaries in Zanu-PF where over 3 million people participated,” he said.