UK Company registration no 6248305
The World Office, Communities Point, 108 St Thomas Road, Derby, DE23 8SW, United Kingdom phone
0044 7988292795 email: ethnicrecords@yahoo.co.uk
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GOVERNMENT’S SECOND HAND POLICY ANTI-POOR, REACTIONARY
PRESS STATEMENT: 24 SEPTEMBER 2011
Communities Point registers its disappointment with the Government of Zimbabwe’s policy on second hand vehicles that are being sourced from other countries.
THE PROTECTION OF LOCAL INDUSTRIES
Communities Point is aware of the government’s responsibility towards the protection of local industries in general and the Willowvale Motor Industries in particular. However inasmuch as we are seized of this huge responsibility on the shoulders of the Government we are not satisfied that a blanket block on the importation of vehicles will serve any meaningful purpose in the current economic outlook. We believe policies to protect infant industries must not just be thrown willy-nilly but must seek justification and therefore strike a balance between genuine protection, availability of local options including local supply capabilities and the economic burden of the opportunity cost of the competing options.
Willowvale Motor Industries has not been producing meaningfully for quite a long time but this was due to the then pertaining economic environment. We have welcomed the fact that they are now producing again but we are still not convinced that they can satisfy the local market by even the full utilisation of their current production capacity. They cannot meet local demand. The evidence on the ground has failed to demonstrate that justification as we cannot in our aim to protect one industry fail to see the possibilities available elsewhere. The availability of variety empowers consumers through competitive pricing and also aids our industries through the pressing need to invest in innovation and surpassing the standards of competitors.
ANTI-POOR
We further submit that the Government has also missed the point in seeing that in fact the imported vehicles are capital goods. In times of transport shortages they provide public transport users with the much needed transport and help keep fares low. They also serve as alternative employment and thus provide poor families with the incomes they need to keep their children in school and keep participating meaningfully in the economy. By its actions government is taking away that income alternative at a time when they cannot create jobs for the urban poor and there is no real investment in rural areas to increase production there.
REACTIONARY
Government’s policy speaks of sad reactionary policies. They are moving their own failure to come up with clear growth strategies to the poor. Willowvale Motor Industry will not be protected by Statism. That will surely ensure its further demise. A clear strategy that aims at investing in local competitiveness is required to enable us to compete meaningfully on the global platform. It is much cheaper to train an engineer in Zimbabwe than it is to train one in the Western world but it seems we are not seeing that. Our priorities must be moved away from wasting our young talent in the wilderness of the National Youth Training Services where we are imparting hate on them and move those resources and that young talent back to colleges and universities where we will impart them with the new patriotism of serving their country through participation in the economy not through killing and maiming their fathers and brothers and raping their mothers and sisters.
Government should be aware that the era of consumer patriotism is over and it is irresponsible for Government to force consumers to buy from Willowvale Motor Industries when even they themselves are sourcing their cars from Germany and other countries rather than our own. We therefore urge a rethink on the policy as that is the fairest and reasonable thing to do.
CHAIRMAN: JULIUS SAI MUTYAMBIZI-DEWA
mutyambizidewa@yahoo.co.uk or 07529705413 or 07401182271
