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Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce Chiratidzo Mabuwa addresses captains of industry at a breakfast meeting at a Bulawayo hotel yesterday

Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
INDUSTRY and Commerce Minister Deputy Minister Chiratidzo Mabuwa says the Government will take corrective action against some landlords who are renting out industrial space in Bulawayo at the expense of companies.

The Deputy Minister, who has been tasked with the responsibility of spearheading industrial revival in the city, started her tour of engineering companies in Bulawayo on July 24 and it ran until Wednesday August 30.

The main objective of the tour was to meet with industrial players in their own backyard and listen to their challenges and try to help them overcome the constraints in the best way Government can.

The visit saw Deputy Minister Mabuwa touring 21 companies among them Bottom Armature Winding, Kango Products, ZimHorsiery, Ivory Gold, National Blankets and Whitesite Engineering.

Speaking during a breakfast meeting organised by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries in Bulawayo yesterday, Deputy Minister Mabuwa said she observed during her tour of companies that some landlords charged exorbitant rentals that were only afforded by churches, driving away industrialists.

“I have noted also that what also militates against the visibility of Bulawayo is what we call a mismatch between the left and right in so far as the spatial space that was dedicated as industrial area. Our landlords prefer renting out industrial space to churches,” she said.

“Some of the churches have been turned into businesses because they are very liquid and can afford to pay exorbitant rentals than companies, and we cannot allow that to happen at the expense of industries.

“It’s a recommendation that we are taking that we need to take an administrative decision to look at the industrial space occupants in Bulawayo.”

The Deputy Minister said engineering companies require a lot of space but their survival was among others being derailed by exorbitant rentals charged by landlords.

“Some of the landlords are not visible and there are middlemen in charge of the industrial space,” said Dep Min Mabuwa.

As Government, she said, they would call for rentals to be dictated based on the reality on the ground in terms of economic performance.

Dep Min Mabuwa said during her tour she also noted that despite the negative publicity around Bulawayo companies, all the firms she visited had positive balance sheets.

“All I hear is Bulawayo is dead and that is the brand and if you don’t brand yourself you get branded.

“So we have to brand Bulawayo, the city is not dead,” she said, adding that the manufacturing sector in Bulawayo should also market themselves outside the country. — @okazunga.