Gweru is suffering too

THE decision by the Gweru City Council to shut down Go-Beer Breweries, though expected, is dispiriting for those who still habour hopes of a quick economic revival.

THE decision by the Gweru City Council to shut down Go-Beer Breweries, though expected, is dispiriting for those who still habour hopes of a quick economic revival.

Council last Tuesday took a decision to close down the loss-making commercial undertaking after city fathers expressed disquiet at the fact that the local authority continued to pump money down the drain.

As we reported yesterday, councillors resolved that Go-Beer should close shop immediately and permanent workers would be sent on unpaid leave.

The local authority also resolved to immediately institute an audit into the operations of the beer concern.

This move indicates that the council suspects that Go-Beer’s problems were as a result of criminal activities or mismanagement.

Hopefully the audit will reveal the source of the problems and provide a possible solution that could see the beer maker reopening.

However, what is clear is that Gweru, like other urban centres in Zimbabwe, is bearing the brunt of the economic collapse that the government is struggling to put brakes on.

Countless companies, just like Go-Beer, are losing property to creditors on a daily basis, workers are going without pay and a number of firms as are not remitting pensions.

In the case of Go-Beer, the messenger of court last month attached 300 cattle belonging to the company to settle outstanding salary arrears.

Last year the Local Authorities Pension Fund took Go-Beer Breweries to court over an estimated $200 000 pension fund debt.

The organisation claimed Go-Beer had not been remitting workers’ pension contributions since 2010. Such scenarios are not uncommon throughout the country.

Gweru has suffered from deindustrialisation in the same scale as Bulawayo following the collapse of Zicosteel.

It is the demise of Ziscosteel that precipitated the closure of downstream industries that were mainly based in Gweru.

The collapse of Bulawayo has been talked about and debated at many foras, but nothing much has been said about Gweru.

The Go-Beer story is a reminder to the government to look into the problems facing the Midlands capital.