Zimpapers Logo

Tembinkosi Wena the manager for Shoepack Bulawayo stresses a point to the Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce Chiratidzo Mabuwa during her tour of the factory in Bulawayo recently

Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
A BULAWAYO shoe manufacturing firm, Shoepack, has suspended operations due to non-payment of orders.

Before the suspension of operations, the company was producing between 60 and 75 pairs of shoes per day.

The company’s production manager Etmas Mthombeni told Business Chronicle they would resume operations once payment for their orders has been settled.

“We’re presently closed as we haven’t been paid by our clients for the orders supplied; thus we’ve decided to suspend operations until we receive payment,” said Mthombeni.

“We can’t continue operating without payment of the orders as we don’t have the financial muscle to do so.”

He would not be drawn to disclose the quantity of the orders and their monetary value.

Shoepack is one of the promising leather firms on the local market. It requires about $100,000 to recapitalise.

The company’s factory manager, Tembinkosi Wena, is on record saying the unavailability of raw materials in the country was destroying the leather and shoe industry, which is being threatened by cheap imports.

He implored the government to reduce duty on raw materials to allow the sector to recover.

A number of shoe-making companies have collapsed due to stiff competition from imported footwear products and lack of working capital. The high cost of raw materials is another major factor weighing down efforts to boost productivity in the leather industry.

The cost of manufacturing shoes locally is unviable, industry experts have said, as most people preferred buying cheap imported ones despite the low quality of the imported footwear.

In 2013 the government launched the Zimbabwe Leather Sector Development Strategy.

The major objectives of the strategy include improving access to finance throughout the value chain so as to buttress the sector players’ cash flows, improving market intelligence of all enterprises and stakeholders and improving quality and collection of hides.