HARARE — The clothing manufacturing sector says it requires at least $2 million to revive the industry in the next five years and is appealing to government to contribute 65% of the amount.
Zimbabwe Clothing Manufacturers Association chairman Jeremy Youmans told journalists at a press conference on Friday that the sector would contribute 35% of the amount to improve productivity, technology and working practices.
“We have the capacity in our factories, (including) most of the machineries, what we are lacking are orders because we are importing 75%. We should supply 75% and import the balance,” he said.
Zimbabwe has a market for 80 million garments, but only 20 million of those are locally manufactured.
About 90% of imported clothes were being exempt from duty because of regional trade agreements, he said.
“We are not collecting the right duties on those goods and we are not competing on a level playing field and that is where they (importers) are getting an unfair advantage,” Youmans said.
Industry and commerce ministry director for international trade, Beatrice Mutetwa, admitted that there was abuse of the Sadc rules of origin certificates.
“There are initiatives to look at how best we can investigate and trace the origins of the products coming into the country,” Mutetwa said.
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EU ambassador to Zimbabwe, Aldo Dell’Ariccia said the bloc would continue to support the private sector and to develop the clothing sector.
“We believe that there is a real competitive edge of the Zimbabwean products in the market and would like to see it take the best possible advantage of this quality,” he said.
At its peak, the clothing industry employed 35 000 people, a figure which has since declined to 6 800 worker. — The Source
