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NewsDay

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Bulawayo residents expect better year

News
Bulawayo residents yesterday said they were looking forward to the reopening of industries and creation of new jobs this year. In separate interviews, residents said the reopening of industries in the city would improve the lives of many. Airtime vendor Simayedwa Sibanda said if companies that were forced to close down in the past few […]

Bulawayo residents yesterday said they were looking forward to the reopening of industries and creation of new jobs this year.

In separate interviews, residents said the reopening of industries in the city would improve the lives of many.

Airtime vendor Simayedwa Sibanda said if companies that were forced to close down in the past few years owing to a number of challenges re-opened many would be able to find jobs.

“You will notice that these days there are more vendors than people who are formally employed so the re-opening of industries will improve the livelihood of the people,” he said.

“Still on the industries, we hope that employers will increase employees’ salaries so they earn a decent income.”

Taxi driver Naftal Moyo reiterated Sibanda’s calls. “We want our children to come back home and work in our motherland,” he said.

“If you go to the high-density suburbs you will realise two in every three households have children working outside the country.”

Young entrepreneur Kudzai Chikomo said he was hoping to see political stability in the country to allow the smooth flow of business.

“Politicians in the past year have been announcing that we are going to have elections on different dates,” he said.

“What we need is political stability to allow businesspeople to contribute towards the economy of our country. My hope is that many entrepreneurs in Bulawayo will utilise business opportunities in the city because you find out that oftentimes business is taken away by people from Harare. I would also like to see tolerance from the people despite our diverse cultural and religious backgrounds.”

Another youth, Sydney Chadokwenda, called for the speedy disbursement of the distressed companies’ fund “so the youth get jobs. We have so many educated youths roaming the streets yet they can make a positive contribution towards our country’s economy”.

The government late last year set up a $40 million fund to help revive companies in the city, but disbursement of the money has been delayed by bureaucracy.

Mother-of-one Sibuyile Ncube said she wanted to see a peaceful environment prevailing in the country.