Manicaland Provincial Administrator Fungai Mbetsa on Wednesday appealed to Finance minister Tendai Biti to assist companies in Mutare with the Distressed Companies Fund, similar to the US$40 million pumped into Bulawayo for the resuscitation of industries in the country’s second largest city.
Mbetsa was speaking at a 2012 National Budget consultative meeting, organised by the Ministry of Finance to get inputs from the city’s captains of industry on next year’s budget.
He said industries such as the sole newsprint company in the country Mutare Board and Paper Mills and Plate Glass had closed down due to lack of capitalisation.
“Cairns is on the verge of collapse, so many factories are closing down in Manicaland and we have 2 000 workers who are now out of jobs,” said Mbetsa.
Mbetsa said Cairns Foods had been assisting small-scale farmers by buying their produce and they had been greatly affected by its closure.
“If the Distressed Companies Fund in your next budget could also assist Manicaland, it will go a long way in helping these small-scale farmers with somewhere to sell their produce,” Mbetsa said.
However, Biti said the Fund would go towards reviving industries in Bulawayo only, at least for now. “We would like to see the money (US$40 million) go to Bulawayo right now because it is Zimbabwe’s second largest city, other cities will be looked into later,” said Biti.
Mbetsa said they were a number of projects in Manicaland that had been left unfinished due to undercapitalisation. He said these included Gudhlanga, Bonde and Musikavanhu irrigation schemes.
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The provincial administrator also said the tarring of roads such as the Murambinda–Birchenough Bridge, Mayo–Headlands and Rusitu–Tilbury had also been suspended due to lack of financial resources.
A pensioner, Chirango Chipere, who spoke on behalf of retired civil servants, complained over the non-payment of their pension dues by the government and pleaded with the minister to consider paying them in the next budget.
“Those that retired in 2005 have not yet received their lump sums, our plans of starting our own businesses have been disrupted and now we end up going back to work and competing with our kids for jobs,” said Chipere.
However, Biti said in the 2012 budget they were going to allocate US$12 million to pay pensioners.
