The Sunday Mail
Africa Moyo
Zimbabwe’s business leaders intend to take advantage of South African President Jacob Zuma’s visit to Harare this week to tap into their counterparts’ vast industrialisation experience and push more exports. President Zuma will lead a delegation comprising Cabinet ministers and South African businesspeople that will explore trade and economic co-operation between the two countries.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Mr Busisa Moyo told The Sunday Mail, “It is an important bi-lateral engagement because South Africa is Zimbabwe’s largest trading partner. We import a lot of products from South Africa and also sell a substantial amount of goods in that country.
“However, we want to engage them to remove trade barriers so that local businesses can do more business there. We also need to level the playing field, removing certain trade barriers, especially all forms of non-tariff barriers such as those on pharmaceuticals that are not allowed in South Africa.”
Mr Moyo said it is critical for South Africa to help Zimbabwe revive its industrial base, which has been decimated by Western-imposed economic sanctions.
“They are interested in the local market and we are also interested in their market. But we need buy-in from them so that we improve industrialisation in Zimbabwe.
“This can be done through some sort of shared manufacturing where we have finishing industries here. A product can be made in South Africa and we finish it off here, and then it is distributed in Zambia, for instance.
“We are still building our industry and we have niche products entering South Africa such as Cerevita and Mazoe. These two products are highly valued in that country, but they are getting there informally, mainly through cross-border traders. But we want those products to go there through the formal route.”
South Africa is the second biggest economy in Africa after Nigeria, with a Gross Domestic Product of US$353 billion. It is Zimbabwe’s largest trading partner, and the two countries conducted business worth US$4,2 billion in 2015. The United States dollar is Zimbabwe’s transactional currency, and its strength against the rand has made exports from Harare expensive and imports from South Africa cheaper.
In June 2016, Government introduced Statutory Instrument 64 to control imports and stimulate domestic manufacturing capacity. Mr Moyo said addressing the high cost of production in Zimbabwe will spur synergies with South African producers. Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha recently told The Sunday Mail that Sadc is pushing to increase industrial capacity through its Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap.
The Strategy’s action plan seeks to establish “a coherent and synergistic implementation scheme containing strategic options and general policies towards the progressive attainment of time-bound targets set out in the strategy and roadmap”.
