INDUSTRY and the business community are calling on the Government to set up a policy environment that rewards local production and not imports, as their capacity utilisation continues to increase.
This comes as Zimbabwe’s manufacturing sector has seen a resurgence, becoming a major gross domestic product (GDP) contributor (15,3 percent in 2024) with roughly 53 percent capacity utilisation, driven by food, drink, tobacco and new investments in steel and cement.
Speaking during a recent tour of Pump and Steel Supplies’ plants in Bulawayo by Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu, the company’s business development and brand manager Ms Linda Chikerema called for Government intervention.
“Pump and Steel Supplies is directly aligned with national objectives, including import substitution, value addition, employment creation, industrial recovery and steel value-chain integration (including Manhize),” she said.
“Aligning policy with existing capacity secures jobs, value addition and national industrial recovery. Pump and Steel Supplies has the capacity, skills and infrastructure to manufacture locally today. What is required is a policy environment that rewards production, not imports.”
Ms Chikerema said every tonne produced locally was a job retained, skills preserved and foreign currency saved. She said large volumes of finished steel and mining products were currently being imported into Zimbabwe despite being manufactured locally by Pump and Steel Supplies and other companies.
“These imports directly suppress factory utilisation, employment growth and return on private capital investment when companies such as us do have capacity today. What is required is policy alignment, not rescue,” said Ms Chikerema.
She highlighted that they had installed manufacturing capacity of 36 000 plus tonnes per annum for operations located within Belmont, Donnington and Thorngrove Industrial Areas. While they were not capacity-constrained they are policy-constrained.
Bulawayo-based economist and academic Mr Stevenson Dlamini said the Government was currently making significant efforts towards ensuring that the ease of doing business is improved, especially for local manufacturers. “These entail reduced costs of compliance to boost cost competitiveness. There are also policies aimed at import/export management with incentives to support local manufacturing.
“Again, the Government is committed to the implementation of Local Content Strategy (through the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and Buy Zimbabwe Initiatives). The challenge is not to build walls, but to cultivate a domestic garden so fertile that it outcompetes the wild, imported flora,” he said.
“You do not leave your prize orchids out in a blizzard, but you also do not seal them in a dark box. You build a greenhouse that provides warmth, light and nutrients, making them strong enough to eventually thrive anywhere.”
Mr Dlamini said the Government’s role was not that of a protectionist gatekeeper, but that of a strategic, demanding and visionary master gardener.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) Matabeleland Chapter past vice-president and businessman, Mr Louis Herbst said Bulawayo and the wider Matabeleland region continue to hold significant manufacturing potential.
“The city retains industrial infrastructure, skilled artisans and technical know-how, and a number of companies with the capacity to manufacture competitively for both local and regional markets,” he said.
“This capacity, however, has not yet translated into sustained industrial growth, not because of a lack of effort, but because the operating environment still requires alignment across national, regional and municipal levels.”
At national level, Mr Herbst noted that the Government has made visible and commendable progress in addressing long-standing structural constraints. “Major road rehabilitation programmes are underway, rail infrastructure is gradually being restored and interventions in water and energy supply are beginning to stabilise the foundations required for industrial recovery,” he said.
Mr Herbst said these efforts demonstrate a clear commitment to reviving productive sectors and reducing the historical bottlenecks that have affected industry.
He, however, said for these gains to translate into real industrial expansion in regions such as Matabeleland, complementary reforms must also take place at local authority level.
“In Bulawayo, many manufacturers and value-adding enterprises continue to face administrative and regulatory challenges that raise the cost of doing business and slow down expansion,” said Mr Herbst.
“Multiple licensing requirements, rigid zoning rules and by-laws that have not kept pace with modern manufacturing and small to medium enterprise (SME) realities create friction that undermines national progress.”
Mr Herbst said local authority by-laws, particularly those governing business licensing, land use, informal trading and light manufacturing, require systematic review.
He said the objective should not be deregulation, but smarter regulation — rules that protect public interests while actively enabling production, formalisation and scale.
“Where businesses are investing locally, employing residents and adding value, the regulatory environment should be predictable, proportional and supportive. There is also a strong case for councils to play a more deliberate role in economic development,” said Mr Herbst.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce is advocating for the production and consumption of locally made products to stimulate the economy towards Vision 2030.
Local production reinforces Zimbabwe’s commitment to building a resilient economy through home-grown initiatives, while brilliant initiatives foster the localisation of value chains, which puts the economy at an advantage for growth and creating jobs.-herald
