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Pamela Shumba, Senior Reporter 

CABINET is next week expected to approve a $25 million special fund to assist businesses that were affected during last month’s violent protests, with Bulawayo expected to get the lion’s share.

A technical team comprising Government, the Bulawayo City Council and tertiary institutions has also been set up to spearhead the reconstruction of shops that were destroyed.

Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu and Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister July Moyo were in Bulawayo yesterday to give a feedback on the findings of an inter- ministerial taskforce which last week assessed the damages to businesses in Bulawayo following violent protests last month.

Speaking during the meeting, also attended by Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister Judith Ncube, Government officials and the technical team, the two Ministers said efforts were being made to bring affected businesses back to life.

Minister Ndlovu said nationally property and goods worth about $25 million were either looted or destroyed and out of that close to $20 million is for Bulawayo. 

“The operational framework of this fund will be announced next Tuesday once it’s been approved by Cabinet. We’ve seen all the affected areas and significant progress has been made in terms of relief.

“We’ve come up with specific figures so that we administer this public fund in a transparent manner. From the submissions we received from Bulawayo, which was the most affected, the total amount of stock that was looted is $9,4 million while property damaged is worth $4,2 million and equipment damaged is valued at $6,2 million adding up to close to $20 million,” said Minister Ndlovu.

He said the inter-ministerial committee was working to make sure that the process of distributing the funds in the form of loans is expedited. 

“We’re not going to give individual businesses money but they’ll give us the cost of stock and building material they require and we will the make the payments.

“We have a sub-committee that is working on implementation framework on the restocking and re-equipping of these shops. We expect them to give us feedback by Monday on the terms of the loans. Whatever Government is providing as assistance is in the form of a loan, with concessionary repayment terms over a given period,” said Minister Ndlovu.

He said the implementation of the assistance programme was in three categories, which included restocking the shops, replacing or repairing damaged equipment and repairing infrastructure that is being managed by the City of Bulawayo.

“We also felt that it’s important not only to address the crisis but to come up with sustainable ways of dealing with such problems in the future. 

“We’ve therefore set up a sub-committee which will be headed by the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation and the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises. These ministries will come up with sustainable programmes that seek to empower these vulnerable groups in our society,” said Minister Ndlovu.

Speaking about the new technical team, Minister Moyo said President Mnangagwa was anxious about the resuscitation programme.

“We’re happy that we’ve assembled a team comprising professional and technical people from different organisations to spearhead the reconstruction of the destroyed buildings. 

“Technical people from my ministry will work with others from the Bulawayo City Council, Bulawayo Polytechnic, National University of Science and Technology (Nust) and NSSA,” said Minister Moyo.

He said while working on refurbishing the buildings, the planners will also look into modernising suburbs in the city, particularly Makokoba.

Minister Moyo condemned people who took part in the violent demonstrations that he described as terrorist attacks on the livelihoods of the people. 

“When people destroy services that are meant for the public they are terrorising our people and we therefore determined to defeat this terrorism,” said Minister Moyo.

—@pamelashumba1