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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT is mobilising a cushioning package for small-to-medium enterprises to mitigate the impact of the 21-day national lockdown the country adopted to combat the spread of Covid-19.

Covid-19 is a global health crisis that was detected in China last December and has been confirmed across the world including Zimbabwe and the disease bears a huge socio-economic impact.

As part of a cocktail of measures to fight the spread of the highly infectious disease, Zimbabwe starting Monday this week is on a 21-day national lockdown.

Announcing the lockdown last week, President Mnangagwa said only critical sectors would be exempted from closing down their operation for the stipulated  period.

By their nature, SMEs’ operations are fragile and thus the 21-day national lockdown threatens the survival of businesses in the sector.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Women’s Affairs, Commmunity, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni said all registered SMEs across their respective associations were set to benefit from the package that Government is working on.

“There is a cushioning package that Government has come up with to cushion SMEs, productive informal traders and co-operatives from the effects of the 21-day national lockdown.

“The cushioning package is being administered by the Ministry of Labour, Public Service and Social Welfare as it is the one mandated to provide social safety nets on behalf of the Government,” she said.

Minister Nyoni said her ministry has in the past worked with players in the informal sector, SMEs and co-operatives conducting capacity building  programmes, formalising their operations and assisting them secure working capital from Government programmes.

Against this background, she said such entrepreneurs were set to benefit from the Covid-19 cushioning package Government has mooted.

“We have requested the potential beneficiaries to come through their respective registered associations such as SMEs chambers to compile a list which will be handed over to Government through my Minstry’s provincial offices across the country.

“We are doing this to try and eliminate possible chances where some bogus and unregistered people would want to fradulently benefit from the cushioning package targeting genuine entrepreneurs,” she said.

It is hoped that the funding package would be disbursed within the shortest possible time frame to achieve the intended objective.

In a separate interview yesterday, Bulawayo Chamber of SMEs chairman Mr Energy Majazi said they were finalising their list and today is the last day for submission.

“We are finalising the list as we have tomorrow (today) as our deadline for submission.

“The Government’s gesture in coming up with such an initiative was long overdue and we are waiting for the execution plan.

“We appreciate and acknowledge the help and hope these efforts will make it possible for food to be availed on the table by SMEs,” he said.

Mr Majazi is on record saying the value of business loss cannot at this moment be quantified but the livelihoods for SMEs had been lost with some entrepreneurs likely not to reopen if they don’t get support from Government.

Over the years, the Government has acknowledged the significant role played by SMEs in sustaining the economy at a time when the formal sector was underperforming due to a number of challenges emanating from the illegal sanctions imposed on the country by the West since 2000 after Government embarked on the land reform programme. — @okazunga.