The Sunday News
BULAWAYO, once the industrial hub of the country has over the years been experiencing a dearth in economic activities, leaving the majority of people unemployed.
It is not a secret that the city, just like the rest of the country, has suffered big time as a result of illegal sanctions imposed on the country by the West at the instigation of opposition political parties at the turn of the millennium. The economic embargo resulted in massive job losses and deterioration of lifestyles among the masses, as company after company closed shop.
When the country turned to the use of multi-currencies in 2009, many local companies seized the opportunity to secure loans from banking institutions with the hope of retooling and recapitalising their businesses, but most of the businesses that sought to borrow capital found themselves sliding backwards, as they failed to repay the loans. In the years that followed, some of the companies were placed under judiciary management and employees were affected in a great way.
The city lost its previous lustre as the country’s industrial hub and the name Kontuthu ziyathunqa, loosely translated to mean the smoke that ascends, also lost its meaning as the city became a mere shadow of its former glorious self.
Nonetheless, we believe efforts by Government to ignite the smoke in the city’s industries will bear fruit soon. We strongly believe in the saying “where there is a will, there is a way”, and initiatives spearheaded by the Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs, Cde Nomthandazo Eunice Moyo, and her team through the Zim Asset Bulawayo stakeholders engagement conference which ended yesterday were long overdue.
We say so because a lot of sweet sounding projects have been announced in the past, yet not much was being done in terms of implementation and follow ups. Even businesspeople were not getting the chance to engage with Government officials and other policy makers to get to the bottom of matters that are dear to them, and we hope the two-day event went a long way in attending to some grey areas, and also showing the leadership where much attention is needed for the city to move forward economically. What remains now is for resolutions from the conference to be implemented and lessons learnt put into practice.
There is no doubt that the Zim Asset agenda has scored a number of successes, and it is prudent for line ministries to enunciate the numerous achievements made so far, as said by Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Christopher Mushohwe.
The Minister also expressed concern over poor coverage of Zim Asset programmes by the media, saying ministries were failing to locate areas and activities of importance, resulting in the economic blueprint being under-reported.
The Zim Asset conference in Bulawayo ran under the theme “Consolidating Bulawayo’s growth through Zim Asset”. One of the key issues around the revival of industries in Bulawayo is the declaration of the city as a Special Economic Zone, which is also part of Zim Asset.
The term special economic zone is commonly used as a generic term to refer to any modern economic zone. In these zones business and trade laws differ from the rest of the country. Broadly, SEZs are located within a country’s national borders. The aims of the zones include: increased trade, increased investment, job creation and effective administration. To encourage businesses to set up in the zone, financially libertarian policies are introduced. The policies typically relate to investing, taxation, trading, quotas, customs and labour regulations. Additionally, companies may be offered tax holidays.
We believe the city stands to benefit from being declared a Special Economic Zone, and that will be another success story coming from the Government economic blue print.
