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The Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce, Chiratidzo Mabuwa ended her two-month working tour of Bulawayo industries on Thursday.

She worked in the city for that long, visiting a number of factories to help the Government gain an understanding of the situation on the ground, the challenges that the companies are facing and the successes as well.

It was a very important decision by the Government to send Deputy Minister Mabuwa on the assignment to Bulawayo, the former industrial hub of the country that has, however, fallen on hard times.  Scores of industries have closed in Bulawayo and thousands of people have been rendered jobless since the economic challenges started 17 years ago.  Factories that operated for 24 hours daily, producing various products while employing tens of thousands have now been replaced by churches where tens of thousands worship.

Bulawayo is certainly a shadow of its former self but Deputy Minister Mabuwa also went away with some positives from the city.

Company representatives appealed to the Government to make available more affordable working capital, cheaper working space, more flexible arrangements in liquidation of statutory debts and more affordable electricity tariffs.  Some companies appealed for sums of money that must not be too much for serious businesses but that is evidence of how challenging the operating environment has become for the business sector.  Largely because of economic difficulties, most companies in the city, Deputy Minister Mabuwa learnt, are not upholding the required product quality and workplace safety standards.  Foreign currency shortage, executives told her, are negatively affecting their businesses too.

White Site Engineering sales and marketing manager, Ms Charity Mudhubiwa, said:

“We are appealing to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to help us with the working capital to have our own factory to reduce the cost of production.

We also want to give our clients products on hire purchase because we have realised that most of them want to buy machinery but they don’t have money to pay at once so we want to meet their demands especially those in mining and agriculture.

“We would want an amount of $100 000 going upwards because we want to increase our production by expanding and having more machinery because we are hoping to have a foundry. Expanding on the lifting equipment side is very important because that is the type of work that needs special attention.”

The difficulties that White Site Engineering is grappling with are a microcosm of the general situation prevailing in the city.

The situation needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

We challenge the companies themselves to be innovative.  They are the starting point for no one will knock on their doors with loads of free money for them to retool or for working capital.  They must go out of their way to secure relationships and explore strategies to ensure that they survive instead of always appealing to the Government for rescue packages.  Achieving this will not be easy, the businesses must know, but what choice do they have?

We know that the local financial services sector has been accused of charging usurious interest rates on loans as well as imposing other stringent lending conditions.  This has meant that many local firms have failed to secure loans locally.  The Distressed Industries and Marginalised Areas Fund was an effort by the Government to ease access to finance by troubled firms in Bulawayo.  However, the fund didn’t perform too well as companies still complained of tough conditions and also that it was geared towards short term financing.

We urge the local financial services sector to show an appreciation of the environment they are operating in and structure their financing accordingly so they attain that fine balance between diligent lending that does not compromise their (banks’) own existence while at the same time providing affordable loans to limping firms.

It might also be necessary for some companies to change their business models from archaic ones that don’t inspire confidence in lenders to more modern ones that are attractive.

That Deputy Minister Mabuwa was on this two-months assignment to Bulawayo is evidence that the Government wants to turn around the fortunes of the city.  We recognise and commend the Government for that.

But much more has to be done beyond fact-finding missions.  The Government is urged to intensify efforts to create conditions for businesses to thrive.

This can be achieved through a range of measures.  They can be tax incentives, a better legal framework and so on.

We look forward to special economic zones coming up in Bulawayo and elsewhere across the country.  These have potential to ease the doing business environment, attract new capital, increase job opportunities, boost exports and foreign currency inflows.  With time, these benefits will spill over to other companies that may not be directly designated to function under the SEZ concept.

We expect the Government to redouble its efforts to work constructively with the international community.  The Minister of Finance, Patrick Chinamasa and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Dr John Mangudya have been on it for some time.  Industry expects them to intensify their re-engagement efforts so that multilateral financial institutions can resume lending and other forms of support to the economy for wider benefits.

Deputy Minister Mabuwa should have left with an appreciation of the zeal to succeed among business leaders in Bulawayo despite the difficulties they are facing.  They have the drive, the commitment to have their businesses up and running, and by that token, the city working again.  She must have been happy with the progress at Monarch Steel, Bakers’ Inn, United Refineries Limited, Blue Ribbon and National Foods.