Demise of Bulawayo not deliberate, says Tsvangirai

Comment & Analysis
BY NDUDUZO TSHUMA BULAWAYO — Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday said the problem of de-industrialisation was not peculiar to the city as he waded into the debate about the perceived marginalisation of Matabeleland.

But Tsvangirai admitted the water crisis in Bulawayo was one of the main reasons why major companies have been relocating to other cities, leaving thousands jobless.

The PM was speaking to The Standard after a tour of the Mtshabezi-Umzingwane pipeline project.

Tsvangirai said one of the factors that led to de-industrialisation was the hyperinflationary period during the Zimbabwean dollar regime.

“One of the basic contributing factors is that since the introduction of the Zimbabwe dollar and its hyperinflation condition, a lot of industries were affected, especially the textile industry, which was the mainstay of the Bulawayo industrial hub,” he said.

“Secondly, after the multi-currency regime, the question of liquidity became a problem, to recapitalise and increase capacity of industries.

“Thirdly, it is just that yes, water was one of the factors, but certainly not the main factor.

“The problem is countrywide. The agenda for Zimbabwe is reconstruction and recapitalisation. We are using old machinery, which is just increasing costs and is not competitive.”

Tsvangirai added: “Until we have put sufficient resources to recapitalise and increase the skills of the workers so that productivity and unit per cost is increased (only then will re-industrialisation be achieved),” he said.

“For example, a T-shirt made in Bulawayo is probably 10 times more expensive than that made in China and the reason is very simple — it is volume and unit cost, so there are many factors which we need to attend to.”

Tsvangirai said the Mtshabezi- Umzingwane project was expected to be completed by the end of the year saying after completion, it would provide a lasting solution to Bulawayo’s water problems.

Asked if the deadline of the completion of the project, initially set for October, had been changed, Tsvangirai said, “this is work in progress, you can’t say by this date, construction should be complete. We can give you a mere projection.”

“We are hoping that the minister’s estimation of the time to complete the project will be fulfilled. It is not a moving target. Definitely, one of these days, it is going to be complete. but certainly water problems in Bulawayo should be a thing of the past after this project,” Tsvangirai said.

Temperatures have been rising in Matabeleland with some politicians and civil society leaders arguing that President Robert Mugabe’s government had deliberately underdeveloped the region.

They argue that no meaningful development project has been completed in Matabeleland since independence in 1980.