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Nqobile Tshili, Business Reporter

LOCAL authorities should urgently review their archaic by-laws in line with global trends for the country to improve on the ease of doing business, industrialists have said.

Speaking at the Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe (UCAZ) 78th annual conference in Bulawayo on Thursday, Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) Matabeleland Chapter president, Mr Shepherd Chawira, said although industry fully supports Government’s drive to transform the country into an upper middle-income economy by 2030, businesses were being let down by local authorities who are resistant to reform and still maintain archaic by-laws.

“Many local authorities in Zimbabwe are operating under archaic laws and municipal by-laws that do not take into account the changing business environment and globalisation,” he said. 

“Over a period of time many obstacles that comprise high taxes and rates, long registration and licensing processes and policy adjustments, have continuously been the order of the day in both urban and rural local authorities in Zimbabwe. 

“These issues have further portrayed the Zimbabwean local governance in a bad picture as the local authorities are viewed as regulating for revenue and not for business growth, creating a perception of local authorities not being favourable to support business growth.”

Mr Chawira said local authority regulations should be used to create a conducive environment for business growth and promoting national economic development. He said given the implementation of devolution, local authorities should reposition themselves to attract investment that will develop their places. Mr Chawira said failure to reform would result in local authorities failing to attract necessary investment. He lauded Government for its initiatives to improve the ease of doing business that has seen the country climb 15 places on global rankings from 155 to 140 out of 190 countries. Mr Chawira, however, said more needs to be done for investors to be comfortable investing in the country.

“There are various impediments of ease of doing business initiatives and these can be in the form of time, cost, procedures and laws, which impact on the business registration, operations and maintenance and ultimately on production and competitiveness,” he said. 

“For Government, it is not just the national ministries or agencies, but also provincial and municipal authorities that can and should contribute to the interplay of the three main actors in the economy — Government, business and labour. 

“We all agree that economic development is enabled and promoted by cooperation between Government business and labour. In undertaking such reforms provincial and local authorities become key as they are the first interface in business interactions as far as regulations are concerned.”

Mr Chawira said to improve ease of doing business, councils should also involve stakeholders in policy formulation on issues to do with local economic development. He said councils should be responsive to the needs of business and industry.

“We want to see a lot of effort being put towards eradicating bureaucracy, red tape and corruption to promote business growth. We want to see transparency in awarding of tenders and a clear appetite for Zimbabwean products and services. 

“Provincial governments and their local authorities should take a lead in buying local goods and services and promoting the Buy Zimbabwe campaign,” he said. — @nqotshili