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Charity Ruzvidzo Business Reporter
THE registration exercise meant to pave way for the formalisation of small to medium enterprises in Bulawayo has been mired by low turn-out with facilitators saying the two month registration programme failed to yield the desired results.

The registration process was the Ministry of Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Cooperative Development’s initiative to gather more data on the informal sector in order to find ways of assisting them and enhancing their contribution to economic growth.

Bulawayo Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises provincial chairperson, Energy Majazi, said most operators in the sector were reluctant to register.

“We set a target to register 30,000 operators in the city by end of February. So far we’ve registered only 320 SMEs. The registered ones are those who would have paid the required registration fee, which is $3. For our database we’ve recorded only 2,600 operators. This is a very low number compared to our set target,” said Majazi.

He attributed the reluctance towards the registration process to fears over tax payment amongst SMEs.

“The major reason behind the slow response to the registration process is fear to pay tax. The assumption is that as soon as one registers they’re entitled to pay high taxes, which isn’t true.

“The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority in partnership with the Ministry of SMEs is yet to come up with the appropriate amount of tax that SMEs should pay,” he said.

Majazi said his organisation was set to conduct meetings with relevant groups in the sector to plan a way forward.

‘We’ve finalised our sensitisation and registration programmes around the city suburbs. We’ll be conducting meetings with stakeholders in the sector in a bid to pave a way forward with regards to ensuring we achieve our goal to register SMEs,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has said it will start collecting taxes from small to medium enterprises this year to widen the shrinking revenue base.

It is estimated that between $3 billion and $7 billion is circulating in the informal sector, which currently does not pay any form of taxes.

SMEs in Bulawayo are said to be contributing 67 percent to the city’s revenue.