Published: 6 mins ago

Zimbabwe's leading firms have made an unprecedented public appeal for urgent government action, warning that without decisive measures, local industries face imminent collapse.

The call comes amid growing concerns over foreign dominance in strategic sectors, a challenge mirrored across the region as governments grapple with balancing foreign investment and protection of domestic industries.

At a high-level meeting, business leaders urged Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndhlovu to consider Tanzania's Statutory Instrument 407A/2025 as a model, which reserves 15 sectors exclusively for citizens. A paper circulated to members of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) highlighted that local industries with low entry barriers were increasingly being dominated by foreign companies and called for stronger enforcement of the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act.

The ZNCC report recommended supporting legislation, including QR-coded local content insignia, tighter alignment of public procurement with local content policies, and the creation of enforceable procurement quotas. It also urged equal pre-payment terms for local suppliers and state-private partnerships to drive value addition in minerals such as platinum, lithium, and chrome. Business leaders estimate that at least US$200 million in new investment would be required to attract processors focused on value addition rather than raw extraction.

Economists and commentators have highlighted the broader implications. Vince Musewe noted that cheap imports threaten domestic production by displacing local goods, while columnist Gloria Ndoro-Mkombachoto said that foreign dominance, particularly by Chinese companies, is a growing continental trend that disadvantages local entrepreneurs. Stevenson Dhlamini, an economics lecturer at the National University of Science and Technology, described the concerns as central to Zimbabwe's development model, warning against creating a passive "enclave economy" where foreign-financed projects fail to stimulate the domestic economy.

Minister Ndhlovu acknowledged the sector's plight, citing high capital costs and confirming that a statutory instrument on reserved sectors had been submitted to the Attorney-General's Office. He also praised President Emmerson Mnangagwa's commitment to addressing competitiveness challenges.

The ZNCC report, drawing on input from six leading business member organisations - including the Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, and the Construction Industry Federation of Zimbabwe - urged the adoption of a home-grown "Marshall Plan" to rescue fragile industrial recovery. The plan envisions coordinated government-backed investment, sweeping deregulation, tax reform, reliable energy supply, and incentives to bring informal enterprises into the formal economy.

Without urgent intervention, the report warns, more firms will collapse, jobs will be lost, and supply chains will unravel. The retail and wholesale sectors, already under severe strain, illustrate the scale of the crisis, with operators required to secure up to 32 separate licences to run a single supermarket.

The ZNCC warns that Zimbabwe's industrial base cannot survive on goodwill alone and calls for bold, coordinated government action anchored in legislative protection, fair procurement practices, and targeted investment incentives to avert a full-scale corporate meltdown.
- The Independent

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