SMEs at the mercy of local authorities

WOMEN’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development minister Sithembiso Nyoni says an organised and formalised small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sector will assist traders to avoid misunderstandings with local authorities stemming from their operating from undesignated spaces.

Speaking in Harare last Friday at a meeting with stakeholders on formalisation of SMEs, Nyoni said her ministry was not happy to see vendors being constantly harassed on the streets by municipal police.

“The Women Affairs ministry now wants organised SMEs. We are not happy to see our people being harassed in the streets, and their wares being thrown away,” she said.

Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Association Chitungwiza territorial president Thandekile Mkwazi said most informal traders did not have vendor’s licences, which left them at the mercy of local authorities which demand bribes or confiscate their wares.

“Women that sell wares are harassed,” Mkwazi said.

Zimbabwe Cross-Border Traders Association secretary-general Augustine Tawanda said informal traders in the country contributed 80% to the national economy despite the problems they experience.

“Issues affecting informal traders are not getting enough attention at Cabinet and Parliament levels despite the fact that we control 80% of the economy,” he said.

Tawanda proposed that the allocation of resources to beneficiaries in the informal sector should be well-organised as some funds allocated to them by the Finance ministry were not reaching them.

He also accused some SME associations of corruption in resource allocation.

Nyoni said to correct the wrongs in the SME sector, her ministry would come up with workspace development strategies to transform it.

She said this would include construction and refurbishment of SME workspaces in cities in the country.-newsday