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Riots will never force the reversal of importation ban – Zimbabwe’s Industry Minister
11:57 CAT | 03 Jul 2016
The New Zimbabwe / A Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) warehouse was set on fire during Friday's protests in Bietbridge
Zimbabwe’s Industry Minister Mike Bimha has vowed that government will not be arm-twisted by what he described as a small section of the population to go back on its controversial decision to block the importation of certain products which are locally available.
The banned products include peanut butter, jam, body lotion and shoe polish. One now needs a permit to import the goods.
The coming into effect of Statutory Instrument (SI) 64 of 2016 has seen thousands of Zimbabweans who rely on importing the products for resell back home fail to continue with the business.
This sparked chaotic scenes at the Beitbridge border post on Friday, forced the temporary closure of the busy port.
The violence, which also saw protestors set a ZIMRA warehouse alight, was halted when the army and police reinforcements were deployed in the border town.
Protestors were angry the new government embargo was a direct attack on their livelihoods.
But Bimha said Saturday the violence was ill-advised adding that there would not be any change of heart by government at the behest of the protestors.
Bimha denied government had banned the importation of the goods, insisting the SI was a temporary measure to control trade in products which were produced locally.
“You are just talking of a section of community (protestors). We are coming up with an SI to support industry in Zimbabwe right from Beitbridge to Kariba,” Bimha said in an exclusive interview with NewZimbabwe.com.
“This is meant to build our economy.
“If there could be people who have been in the business of importing it’s a small group compared to the people who benefit from a strong Zimbabwean economy with a strong industrial base.”
Bimha said government had a duty to protect the local manufacturing industry which was experiencing tough competition from cheap imports.
He described the Friday protests as unlawful and ill-advised.
“If there is a policy measure that government has come up with, and I am not happy with it, I don’t have to burn things because I am not happy about it. That’s unlawful…” he said.
“It is not the minister of industry who just wakes up at his home and starts introducing a Statutory Instrument; no, this is policy discussed at high level and when it is passed, a lot of consideration has been given and if someone is not happy, which is very normal, then you come to the authorities, you come to our offices.”
He was adamant government will not be forced to reverse the directive.
“Why should you reverse something whose implementation has actually not started? Remember we issued that SI but we were allowing things which had already been bought to enter before the statutory Instrument came to life and now you cry foul.
“We cannot have an economy where we are being converted into other countries’ supermarkets, we cannot do that.
“These people who are demonstrating today have children and grandchildren who tomorrow would want to work in the same industries that we are trying to build.”
Bimha said this was being done even in developed countries such as Britain but people were not crying foul.
Source: The New Zimbabwe
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