Bulawayo residents call for quick issuance of important documents

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Auxilia Katongomara, Chronicle Reporter
BULAWAYO residents have urged the Government to facilitate the ease of doing business by expediting the licensing of shops as well as decentralising issuing of important documents.

Speaking during a Shop Licences Amendment Bill public hearing in Bulawayo yesterday, shop owners said they faced daunting hurdles due to bureaucracy involved in getting a shop licence.

The public hearings which began on Monday will end on April 1 countrywide.

Ward four Councillor Silas Chigora said there must be a one-stop shop which will incorporate the numerous offices businesspeople have to visit to get licensed.

“Let’s open just one office that deals with all licence issues. Instead of going to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, council, Zimra (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority) and other offices, we should just have one office where one gets a full service,” he said.

Clr Chigora said licence fees must be standardised countrywide.

He said the time one takes to get a licence must be reduced from three months to at least two weeks.

“We are also calling for the synchronisation of all other licences and reduction of the time frame from 90 days to at least one month because if you check sometimes the bank starts deducting money before one starts operating that business. Let’s reduce it to say at least a month or two weeks,” Clr Chigora said.

Mr Collen Mthunzi said the challenge was that licence issuance was centralised in Harare.

“We are also saying the involvement of the police is promoting corruption. Let’s do away with the police and let council handle issues of licences and also let’s have another office here in Bulawayo to assist the traders,” said Mr Mthunzi.

Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Association (ZCEA) Matabeleland region chapter president Mr Edward Manning said colonial by-laws should be revised.

“The greatest hindrance to the informal sector is the by-laws put by Ian Smith. They need to be revoked and put in the dust bin because as long as they are there, Ian Smith is alive. That man didn’t want black people to progress,” said Mr Manning.

He said by-laws that restrict people from vending in the central business district were put by the Smith regime.

A businessman, Mr Chisirimhuru, bemoaned the opening of large retail outlets in high density suburbs saying it was killing small businesses.

“We thought big retail supermarkets were a preserve for the central business district but now they are competing with us in high density suburbs. We feel that there must be a restriction on shop licenses for small businesses to grow,” said Mr Chisirimhuru.

Shop owners said wholesalers were letting them down by becoming retailers themselves hence muscling them out. They also called for stiffer laws that prohibit vendors who are not licenced from buying from wholesalers and selling on pavements.

The chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Local Government, Rural and Urban Development, Cde Joseph Tshuma, expressed disappointment with the low turnout at the public hearing and urged Bulawayo residents to take the meetings seriously as their input is invaluable.

Less than 50 people attended.

“The hearings went well but we want more people to come so that their ideas are incorporated into the Bill to make it homegrown,” said Cde Tshuma.

In December, Government gazetted the Shop Licences Amendment Bill which seeks to improve the ease of doing business through removing bottlenecks and bureaucracy when one wants to start a business.

The Bill is set to be tabled before Parliament soon.

@AuxiliaK

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