BULAWAYO is now a “giant museum” of closed companies while the whole country has been turned into the Great Zimbabwe Ruins, former Finance minister and MDC-Renewal team frontman Tendai Biti has said. NQOBANI NDLOVU STAFF REPORTER
Scores of small and large Bulawayo companies have either relocated, downsized or closed shop altogether throwing thousands into joblessness.
Biti lamented the state of Bulawayo companies, adding that the saddening thing was that there was no hope the government’s economic blueprint ZimAsset could reverse the trend.
“The state of affairs of Bulawayo industries is so sad. We used to have the National Railways of Zimbabwe employing thousands and with about four worker unions.
“There were listed companies in this city, big clothing companies like Archer, but all that is gone,” Biti told supporters at Stanely Hall in Makokoba at the weekend.
“Sadly, this is no longer the case. It is so sad that Bulawayo that was once the industrial hub of the country has been turned into a giant museum of national failure with hundreds of closed companies.
“Growing up, we used to know that the Great Zimbabwe Ruins was found in Masvingo, but Bulawayo and other cities now fall under the Great Zimbabwe Ruins. Everything has been ruined by Zanu PF in this country,” he said.
According to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, close to 20 000 workers lost their jobs since 2009 as companies shut down owing to the economic recession.
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