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Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo

Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE revival of industries is the panacea to the vending wars that have erupted between local authorities and thousands of players in the informal sector, Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo, has said.

Speaking during the official opening of a second Broadway Spar shop in the city last week, Clr Moyo said while his council was doing its best to address concerns of vendors, the level of informality in the economy would not be adequately solved without a robust re-industrialisation programme.

Of late, retailers across the country have also expressed concern over the mushrooming of illegal vendors who were ripping them off by selling their wares on the pavements and in front of their shops.

Clr Moyo said Bulawayo, once an industrial hub of Zimbabwe, was also not spared the challenge.

“Day by day, vending is like a cat and mouse game because each time the vendors see the municipal police they rush to collect their wares from the undesignated sites where they will be selling before disappearing,” he told the gathering.

“They only revert to their sites when our police are out of their vicinity. The only solution to vending is reviving our industries because people would go into employment.”

Due to the economic challenges the country went through in recent years, several Bulawayo industries scaled down operations while some folded resulting in more 20 000 people losing their jobs from strategic industries such as the Cold Storage Company, the National Railways of Zimbabwe and others in the leather and clothing sectors, among others.

Clr Moyo said despite the de-industrialisation in the city, some of the companies were still employing a “significant” number of people.

“Despite the de-industrialisation the city has suffered, I am pleased to note that there are some companies in the city that are still operational.

“Last week, I attended the commissioning of a new plant at Monarch Steel and we also had an opportunity to tour that company’s factory as well as other companies such as Kango and Grain Bag.

“If I am to tell you, it is pleasing to note that those companies presently employ quite a significant number, about 3 000 collectively,” said the Mayor.

As part of efforts to restore Bulawayo to its former glory, the Government under the Special Economic Zones concept has declared the city an industrial zone where key industries such as NRZ, CSC and those in the leather and clothing value chain are set to be revived.

SEZs are geographical areas governed by one oversight management body that offers special trade incentives to firms that establish themselves in the designated zones.

It is hoped that the setting up of SEZs will go a long way in giving impetus to economic growth through enhancing Zimbabwe’s competitiveness, stimulating demand, improving production efficiency, employment generation, better resource allocation and export expansion leads for creating economies of scale.

@okazunga