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Harare Bureau
THE government has directed all line ministries, public institutions and parastatals to procure at least 80 percent of their vehicles from local industry. Secretary for Transport and Infrastructural Development Munesu Munodawafa said the move was meant to support the local vehicle industry.

Local assemblers are on the brink of collapse due to low volumes.

“Please refer to Cabinet Circular number 16 of 2011 date October 2011, issued by the Office of the President and Cabinet,” he said in a statement.

“Any deviation from this norm needs to get authority from the government.”

Munodawafa said the requirement to support the local vehicle industry was in line with the government’s economic blueprint, Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation, Zim-Asset 2013/18.

The directive on vehicle procurement was sent out to a total of 23 line ministries and two public institutions, but applies to all arms of the government.

“In view of the foregoing, and in order to aid proper planning at national level, you’re requested to provide indicative figures of annual vehicles for your ministry and state enterprises and parastatals under your ministry for the next five years,” he said.

Government ministries, departments, state enterprises and parastatals and even legislature had continued to have their vehicles, especially trendy cars, procured from outside Zimbabwe against a long standing Cabinet order.

The argument was that employment contracts of individuals for whom the vehicles were being procured, specified the type of cars they should receive.

But Willovale Mazda Motors argued, it had capacity to produce the vehicles with specifications stipulated on the said contracts of employment.

Importing vehicles has left local assemblers, seriously constrained by low volumes and weak demand due to influx of used cars from Japan, teetering on verge of collapse due to viability constraints, resulting in loss of jobs. Willovale Mazda Motor Industries, one of the local vehicle assemblers most affected by the situation, has registered huge decline in activity and was at one point forced to completely shut down its assembling plant.

WMMI managing director Engineer Dawson Mareya yesterday said now that the government had decided to enforce the 2011 Cabinet directive, this would help the local vehicle assemblers to get back on their feet.

“If that directive is (now) there, it’s welcome news as we’ve been waiting to get the sector going. There (currently) is little activity because we didn’t have supportive measures in place,” Eng Mareya said.

He said on several occasions he lamented a situation where arms of the government and related institutions wantonly disregarded the Cabinet order in what affected viability of WMMI and other assemblers in a big way.

This contrasted practices in other countries such as South Africa, which provides incentives for manufacturers by way of an export rebate on vehicle exports under the country’s national vehicle industry development plan.

According to Buy Zimbabwe, a campaign movement for increased consumption of local products, there was need to incentivise the exporters.

In 2013, Motor Industry Association of Zimbabwe President Ben Khumalo said the entire motor industry had exported 760 cars against 52,000 imports.

In the recent past, Eng Mareya has urged the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to hike vehicle import duty in an effort to rescue what is left of local assembling.

Quest Motors Manufacturing (Quest), another local vehicles assembler based in Mutare, Eastern province of Manicaland, once said Zimbabwe must ban car imports.

The group, with capacity to produce 105 cars per day and 100 buses monthly, said the government should shift its policy towards promoting the local car industry.

This comes as approximately 80 percent of cars on Zimbabwe’s roads are imported.

“It’s not like there is no capacity, there is no government support,” Quest’s managing director Tarik Adam said at the launch of the company’s new car model Foton Tunland at its Mutare Plant in July last year.

He said Quest found it difficult to continue manufacturing cars under the current circumstances, adding that with government’s support, the company was “in a position to supply the country with affordable brand new cars”.

At full production capacity, Quest employs at least 3,000 workers.