Ncube must consider vendors’plight in 2023 budget

VENDORS Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET) takes notice of the national budget presentation to be done by Finance minister Mthuli Ncube on Thursday.

The budget presentation comes against the backdrop of severe liquidity challenges owing to monetary policies implemented by the central bank and the ministry, which has had adverse effects on consumer spending. The continued use of the local currency and the US dollar has also impacted negatively on informal traders and their businesses, as wholesalers demand foreign currency when restocking, yet the bulk of sales in the informal economy is in the local currency.

As an organisation, we were part of public consultations that were carried out by Parliament and it is our hope that our member and public contributions will be captured by Ncube.

For the record, we state below some of the submissions that were made in the hearings, along with our expectations.

The 2022 budget saw government allocating funds for market development for the first time ever. Whilst this is commendable, the allocation fell woefully short of national requirements as every urban centre is grappling with the challenge of operating space.

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown measures brought home the reality of the need to have a proper social security scheme for the informal economy to cater for such instances. Our expectation is that there be a fully constituted scheme in much the same way as the National Social Security Scheme covers the formal sector, in order to avoid fraud and misappropriation as happened in the cash relief funds that were earmarked for the informal sector in 2020 as was unveiled by the Auditor-General to Parliament.

The Abuja Declaration of public financing of the health sector stipulates that countries need to allocate at least 15% of the national budget to the health sector. Whilst Zimbabwe has made progress in this regard, more still needs to be done. Reports abound of public hospitals not being able to draw down allocations, with suppliers going unpaid, with most of the allocation going to head office salaries and benefits. Viset