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Marvelous Moyo Gwanda Correspondent
VICE-President Phelekezela Mphoko has ordered the owners of Zimcan factory in Gwanda to write a report on what is required to resuscitate the plant.

The factory needs at least $3 million to be restored to its previous state.

The Vice-President made the request during a tour of what used to be one of the country’s leading beef processing and canning plants, located at West Nicholson, on Friday.

In its heydays, the factory employed around 200 people.

Zimcan shut down operations in 1995 under unclear circumstances and left many jobless.

It has been lying idle since its closure and has been reduced to ruins while all machinery left there is obsolete.

Mphoko said there is a need for the factory to be revived to create employment for the local people and help in economic turnaround.

Zimcan owners were advised to come up with a proposal outlining what is needed to have the factory up and running again.

“As from today, you (Zimcan owners) are going to start working on a paper listing all that’s required to resuscitate this factory. You’ll include machinery needed among other things. In that paper, you’ll spell out how you think this place can be operational again and all the challenges being faced. We want it to be revived and there shouldn’t be any obstacles to hinder that.

“I expect that within the next three weeks, you would’ve submitted the papers to my office so that we come up with the way forward,” he said.

Mphoko rejected Zimcan directors’ request to have the report submitted in two months.

He said it was saddening to see such a place with potential to improve people’s lives and economy lying idle with no production taking place.

“I know this place from long back because it used to be the biggest beef canning factory in the country. It’s everyone’s wish to see it resuscitated so that it can once again be what it used to be,” he said adding that teamwork was critical for the success of the whole process.

The factory owner, Samuel Isaac Brenner, told the Vice-President that at least $3 million would be needed to revive the factory.

He said modern machinery would be required as well as improved water supply. “We’re ready to work but water is the most important thing we need to resuscitate the plant. We need a big pipeline for water supply that will draw water especially from Mtshabezi River,” said Brenner.

He said the buildings would also need to be refurbished.

Besides beef canning, Zimcan also did fruit canning and exported some of its products.

Matabeleland South is traditionally a cattle ranching province but has no beef canning industry.

The Minister of State for Matabeleland South Province, Cde Abedinico Ncube, said the province desperately needed to have the factory revived. “We wish we can get a Good Samaritan to help resuscitate this factory because this place sustained many lives. It used to be among the biggest factories in Zimbabwe.

“We’ve a lot of cattle in the province for production to take place. We’re therefore appealing to you (VP Mphoko) to intervene,” he said.

Zimcan owners revealed that they have been engaging potential investors who showed interest in partnering them.

After the tour, the Vice-President met the people living in the West Nicholson area and urged them not to despair but to continue supporting the revolutionary party for the development of the country.

The residents said the visit by the country’s Vice-President gave them hope that the factory would be resuscitated to create employment.

A majority of former workers at the factory have turned to gold panning for survival.

The Gwanda community has made numerous calls over the years to have the factory resuscitated with some speculating that its closure was political and meant to sabotage the economy.