Zimpapers Logo

Leonard Ncube and Africa Moyo in Victoria Falls

GOVERNMENT will soon announce a private sector driven board to run the National Competitiveness Commission (NCC), which has a mandate to address issues of competitive productivity in the economy, a Cabinet Minister said.

In his address at the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) annual congress here, Industry and Commerce Minister, Dr Mike Bimha, said Government and the private sector have intensified efforts to reindustrialise the economy to boost earnings.

He said his ministry will soon announce the National Competitiveness Commission board that will look at issues of competitive pricing in the country.
Minister Bimha said 95 percent of board members will come from the private sector as Government believes competition is good for industry.

He said the process of reviewing the National Trade and Industrial Development policies as part of measures to improve the country’s industry and commerce was at an advanced stage.

The minister said a Review Report and a Zero Draft Industrial Development Policy (2017 to 2021) have since been developed and validated.

“The Industrial Development Policy is awaiting Cabinet approval,” said Dr Bimha.

He said sectoral strategies targeting the pharmaceutical and motor industry sectors have also been formulated.

“My ministry in collaboration with the private sector continues to accelerate the implementation of value chain programmes in agro-processing, horticulture, pharmaceuticals, beef and leather industry as well as textile among other sectors.

“This is in line with the African Union (AU)’s Agenda 2063; the Sadc Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap (2015 to 2063) as well as the country’s economic blueprint, Zim-Asset (2013 to 2018),” said Dr Bimha.

He said Government was working on installing surveillance and screening devices at the country’s ports of entry to curb smuggling of goods. These measures are meant to consolidate the gains achieved through implementation of Statutory Instrument (SI) 64 of 2016. He said the import control policy had realised significant successes as several local manufacturers improved their capacity utilisation and employment levels with a national percentage of 47 percent in 2016 up from 34 percent in 2015.

“Despite the successes, we still have an appetite for imports from consumers. People think anything from across the border is of a superior value. It’s high time we have confidence in what we can do,” said Minister Bimha.

“The challenge was rampant smuggling. The way to go now is finding ways of introducing ICTs to effect controls. I can’t mention what gadgets we are going to use because some can rush to find alternatives but we are on it.”

Dr Bimha said Government was doing all within its powers to support local companies.

He said these include providing funding to enable some companies to retool while also pushing for a local content policy.

S.I.64 has been credited for stimulating local production with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority recording a six percent increase in the third quarter of last year.

Among the companies that have benefited from the policy is Datlabs in Bulawayo, which increased capacity utilisation from 25 to 50 percent and the tyre industry that increased capacity from 30 percent to 55 percent. The synthetic fibre industry also increased capacity from 28 percent to 60 percent while capacity for furniture manufacturing sector jumped from 45 percent to 70 percent.

The timber industry capacity utilisation now stands at 80 percent up from 38 percent. Nestle Zimbabwe, had through its brand Cremora increased capacity from 30 to 70 percent.

Minister Bimha said ZNCC outgoing president Mr Davison Norupiri’s company, Davipel Trading was among the companies that benefited from implementation of SI 64.

Mr Norupiri confirmed that his company’s capacity utilisation increased from 60 to 90 percent while the number of employees increased from 78 to 400. — @ncubeleon