Expedite disbursement of rebuilding package

AGOOD number of the companies whose premises were broken into and looted in the MDC Alliance-organised protests last month have no way to bring themselves back to business. So callous were the looters that after they broke into shops and carried off everything that they could, they set some of the buildings on fire. This resulted in total destruction and losses to the targeted businesses.

Not many businesses in the prevailing economic challenges have deep-enough pockets to rebuild and restock having suffered losses in the way they did during the January 14-16 mayhem. The operating environment is challenging already which has seen many businesses just surviving thus if one adds extrinsic factors like what occurred in the forgettable three days of January, an already bad situation is worsened.

Having considered these and other pertinent factors, the Government has set up an interministerial task force to assess the extent of the damage caused by the violent protests and come up with suggestions on how assistance can be rendered to enable the businesses to resume operations.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube led the task force on a tour of Bulawayo on Friday.

“Hundreds of businesspeople lost property, people lost employment and families were impacted,” he said.

“We therefore want to give them a head start and help them start again. We’ll be setting up a fund to raise the $19,5 million to assist the business people. We’re here to support businesses and help them recover. We’ll try our best to move as quickly as we can. We’re going to prepare a report and the inter-ministerial committee will present the report to the President and Cabinet. Once approved we’ll then set up a technical committee to manage the disbursement of the funds.”

Finer details on how the rebuilding fund will be structured and assistance rendered will soon be disclosed. It will be clear then if the package will be for stock lost only or it will also help businesses to rebuild their structures, especially for those that were looted and later burnt. But even at this early stage, we are optimistic that the assistance will be so comprehensive as to cater for renovations to destroyed buildings as well as assisting companies to buy stock.

Apart from stock and buildings, there are some pieces of valuable equipment that were destroyed and need to be considered as well in coming up with the level of assistance to be made available. Tills, for example, were stolen or burnt in the looting orgy, the same for refrigerators, shelving and so on.

Many businesses will be happy to receive money to buy new stock, but the stock has to be sold in decent premises and stored in refrigerators and transactions processed and recorded at till points. Therefore, we implore the Government to consider all these factors, while, of course, taking note of the ability of the despoiled businesses to help themselves.

The $19,5 million that has been set aside for Bulawayo, the city that is recognised as the worstaffected, should go a long way in assisting businesses to get back on their feet. We are, however, unsure at this stage if the package will suffice given the fact that Prof Ncube announced it on the first day of his on-the-ground assessment of the extent of damage in the city. It, however, is possible that there was an earlier assessment before his tour last Friday; an assessment that informed his estimation of the sum of money needed to get the businesses operating again.

Companies operating in Chitungwiza, Harare and other parts of the country were targeted for arson and looting as well. These, like their Bulawayo counterparts will have to be assisted too. This means the reconstruction bill will be higher than the $19,5 million that has been set aside for the city.

Affected industries will be delighted that the Government has put in place a funding window such as the one we have. In addition to helping them restart, the package will be useful in preserving jobs that had been lost after the destruction. Also, residents in Bulawayo’s western suburbs where militants were most destructive, will have somewhere nearer home to buy their provisions, saving them valuable time and money. Since mid last month, many of them have been buying in the city centre. The fund will result in the old businesses resuming operations, thus residents will soon be buying local.

On the conditions of access we suggest that in addition to being tailor-made for different companies’ needs, the rebuilding fund has to be affordable, most preferably cheaper than conventional loans that businesses can secure from banks. The level of interest rates and other charges to be levied on borrowers will have to recognise the peculiar circumstances attendant to the fund.

Furthermore, it may, in our considered view, not be necessary for the Government to be too strict on the collateral security requirement. Any businesses known to have been attacked should not be denied assistance. They were in business already before the unfortunate circumstances so the old business must serve as the security necessary for them to get Government funding.