Imports: A golden cage we need to break
It must also be borne in mind that in light of challenges that Zimbabwe is facing economically, a modicum of national pain and sacrifice must be borne so that the country becomes productive and nationally selfsufficient. To sit on our laurels and enjoying foreign potato crisps and sporting foreign weaves is a golden cage that Zimbabweans can ill afford.
THE debate about import substitution and restriction of certain products has been brought back into sharper focus. Just a few days ago, Government, through a Statutory Instrument, announced the introduction of import permits for certain goods that were previously getting into Zimbabwe courtesy of general import licence.
The goods for which one now requires the permit include coffee creamers, camphor creams, white petroleum jellies and body creams.
Also on the list are goods categorised as builders’ ware such as wheelbarrows (flat pan and concrete pan wheelbarrows), structures and parts of structures of iron or steel (bridges and bridges section, lock gates, towers, lattice masts, roofs, roofing frameworks, doors, windows and their frames and threshold for doors, shutters, balustrades, pillars and columns) and plates, rods, angles, shapes section and tubes prepared for use in structures of iron and steelware, were also on the list of the restricted products.
Furniture, baked beans, potato crisps, cereals, bottled water, mayonnaise, salad cream, peanut butter, jams, maheu, canned fruits and vegetables, pizza base, yoghurts, flavoured milks, dairy juice blends, ice-creams, cultured milk and cheese.
Synthetic hair products, that is, the likes of weaves, “human hair”, wigs and such the like are also subject to the new regulations.
Not only did debate meet the introduction of the dispensation to subject the above-mentioned items.
Violence actually rocked Beitbridge Border Post at the weekend as Zimra - out of something between overzealousness and misguidance - started to confiscate cross-border shoppers’ goods before relenting.
The new provision was erroneously cast as a “ban” on the products yet, as Industry Minister Mike Bimha would clarify to one newspaper, all that had been done was an introduction of a “licence system for the importation of certain goods”.
And the licence fee is $30 (only) and valid for a period of three months.
However, the debacle adds to the ongoing debate on the role and effect of imports on Zimbabwe’s economy.
There are basically two schools of thought: on the one hand people who say Zimbabwe should continue with unfettered import regime and the other that calls for the checking and substitution of imports.
The first school of thought contends that Zimbabwe does not produce enough by way of quality and quantity hence the need to keep the door open for foreign products.
The argument goes that the current influx of foreign products is helpful for the consumer.
The proponents of this position state that local producers must capacitate themselves and move with the competition of foreign producers or at least Government must pour money into building nascent and struggling locals.
They also invoke arguments about the global village and international trade agreements, etc.
The other school of thought contends that foreign goods should be restricted so that local producers can flourish without the undue competition from usually big foreign producers.
It is the argument that once protected, locals are able to enjoy a market share, capacitate and eventually produce, which heightened production would lead to the enjoyment of what is generally referred to as the economies of scale - lower prices because of higher production.
These two positions are held in a typically polarised contrast in Zimbabwe.
This is the reason why, for example, one newspaper yesterday decided to announce that Zimbabwe was “stressed” and “on knife edge” as “food shortages loom”.
We were further told that, “Zimbabweans are becoming increasingly restless and that this could soon blow up into deadly riots”.
It will be critical to look at the goods listed above to test these assertions.
Now, can Zimbabweans surely embark on “deadly riots” because baked beans, potato crisps, cereals, bottled water, mayonnaise, salad cream, peanut butter, jams, maheu, canned fruits and vegetables, pizza base, yoghurts, flavoured milks, dairy juice blends, icecreams, cultured milk and cheese; etc have been restricted?
Will the shortage, if ever it is felt, of these products constitute what can be called “food shortages” worth “deadly-rioting” for? It takes us to another important point. Has Zimbabwe run out of substitutes for these small luxury goods?
A look at the list will quickly show that Zimbabwe produces most of the agricultural products from beans to ice cream and cheese.
In fact, Zimbabwe’s agro-processed goods are known to be healthier and more culturally produced than those coming from South Africa and as far afield as Brazil.
A look at the shop shelves today will show local products competing with foreign goods by way of availability, quality and pricing.
The trend has even been such that local products, such as cooking oil and dairy produce, are even cheaper than imports or are a couple of cents shy.
The industries producing the goods - usually small to medium scale - are fully operational and profitable.
They can fully step up to the plate and deliver to the nation - and beyond.
This is a fact - as the reality that when our small- and medium-scale producers of maheu are cushioned from unnecessary foreign competition they can deliver the goods and right to our traditional local palates.
The other category deals with building materials.
From the list above, it is clear that Zimbabwe should not even be allowing most of the goods to enter the country for the simple reason that they are produced locally.
As a matter of fact, Zimbabweans know Siya So, the small-scale industry in Mbare, as a metaphor for home industry that produces ready and customised building material needs.
You get all you want there from timber and steel rods to doors and gates and whatever customised structures one may design or conceive.
A lot of these Siya So home industries are located in Harare and other centres - including rural areas, at growth point and are major employers of the informal sector which dominates Zimbabwe.
Who needs a wheelbarrow from South Africa, then?
When some people and newspapers pontificate that people will embark on “deadly riots” because of import restrictions, surely they will not be speaking on behalf of Siya So or farmers from Domboshava who have seen truckloads of South African tomatoes being dumped at Mbare Musika much to their detriment?
A fundamental point has to be made that Zimbabwe opened its borders to all manner of imports to avert shortages at some critical point.
This has led to the influx of foreign goods.
However, at some point this has to stop and let Zimbabwe grow, especially when conditions have changed.
The number of small and medium businesses producing goods for the market in 2016 is different from that of 2008, for example, owing to increased productivity on the farms. That is a crucial development. On the other hand, some the complexion of the economy has changed and is actually evolving.
The current cash shortages speak to the evolved problem of using the hard currency of the US dollar which has been milked dry, incidentally, if not principally through the importation of the above named goods.
Restrictions can only mean a check on the outflows, some of which are plain ridiculous such as Zimbabwe importing half a billion dollars worth of weaves.
Lastly, it must also be borne in mind that in light of challenges that Zimbabwe is facing economically, a modicum of national pain and sacrifice must be borne so that the country becomes productive and nationally self-sufficient which will not work in accordance with rules canned from some economic textbooks that sound fantastically divorced from, and even toxic, to our lived experiences at the moment.
To sit on our laurels and enjoy foreign potato crisps and sporting foreign weaves is a golden cage that Zimbabweans can ill afford.
(PS: A point is likely to be made by the usual cynics that it is also high time “chefs” cut on their foreign tastes and cars as a starting point to buying local. We admit that we agree, although it is not the big picture.)