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Mr Sifelani Jabangwe

Business Reporter
JAMES North Zimbabwe general manager, Mr Sifelani Jabangwe, is the new Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president.

He takes over from Busisa Moyo, the chief executive officer of United Refineries Limited, who has been at the helm of the dominant industry body since 2015.

A seasoned industrialist from the protective clothing manufacturing sector, Mr Jabangwe was elevated to the new post at the CZI annual general meeting (AGM) that was held in Harare last week.

He assumes leadership at a time Zimbabwe is grappling with a huge import bill and trade deficit averaging $3b annually amid suppressed exports and concerns over high cost of production.

In an interview yesterday Mr Jabangwe said his organisation would continue to push for increased support towards industry revitalisation and creation of synergies along value chains.

He pledged continuity from where Mr Moyo left saying CZI working together with the Government, had started implementing a range of programmes that have started bearing fruit.

“Our economy needs a vibrant manufacturing industry and CZI has embarked on programmes that have resulted in some progress. We need to continue implementing those activities that support our economy and basically these are import substitution, operationalising Special Economic Zones and growing our exports because our challenges have been predominantly due to trade deficit,” said Mr Jabangwe.

“We feel as we attend to these issues, it will be easier for local producers to operate and derive some level of Foreign Direct Investment.

“We will work towards enhancing the ease of doing business  in order to increase exports. This is a big challenge which demands that we create strong linkages between industry and the rest of the economy, where perhaps we ensure that the farming sector also benefits and other suppliers of inputs,” he said.

Mr Jabangwe said industry needs to leverage from improved agricultural output this year adding that crops such as soya bean and groundnuts as well as livestock were crucial to industry growth. Mr Jabangwe said increased farming output was crucial as it creates a solid market for manufactured products across the country.

The CZI boss said Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016, which controls imports, was a useful legislation which has significantly boosted local production.

“As you are aware cotton production is one crucial sector that has opportunity for value addition which industry should take advantage of. There is a great potential to create jobs by processing cotton into finished products such as cloth or clothes,” said Mr Jabangwe.

He said revitalising the manufacturing sector was critical for overall economic growth.