IN a desperate bid to force the acceptance of local currency and curb the smuggling of counterfeit goods by small to medium enterprises (SMEs), the government is targeting a clampdown on foreign nationals who have invaded the reserved sector.
Foreign nationals are flooding the SME sector, establishing tuck shops in the lower part of Harare, where they sell goods ranging from groceries to other commodities.
This is despite the sector having been protected by the government through the amended Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act.
Under this Act, sectors such as transport, retail, and wholesale trade, among others, have been reserved for local citizens.
Responding to questions on what measures the government has taken to address the refusal of local currency by SMEs, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Mangaliso Ndlovu, said there will be an issuance of a Statutory Instrument to thwart the operations of foreigners.
"I am now thinking that it might be appropriate to bring a ministerial statement on some of the measures that we will be instituting in a very short time. Among them is the enforcement of the reserved sectors.
"The retail sectors where we have a lot of foreigners, most of whom are not even here legally, some came as refugees. This extends to other sectors, including quarrying, brick moulding and sand mining which has been invaded by foreign nationals.
"We will be enforcing the law fully. We are just finalising on some of the statutory provisions which we were supposed to have instituted a few years ago when the amendments to the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act was done through the Finance Act of 2018.
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"Once the Statutory Instrument gives us full powers to enforce the reserved sector laws, we hope that we will be able to address this scourge which is really giving us problems at the moment," said Ndlovu.
The local currency has become dreaded by SMEs due to its volatility, with many preferring the United States dollar. Shop owners reportedly manipulate point-of-sale machines and only accept transactions in US dollars.
This has disadvantaged the majority of consumers who earn in the local currency.
Ndlovu further said that his ministry will take steps to regulate the informal sector to allow the purchase of goods in all currencies.
"If you follow the Monetary Policy Statement issued by the Central Bank, they have highlighted again that every registered business ought to have a point of sale machine. These are attempts to make sure that everyone operating in this country, a business affords the consumer an opportunity to swipe or to use the local currency alongside the foreign currency as they wish.
"I might highlight for the comfort of the House that this is a matter we are seized with where we are coming up with a comprehensive system and as we speak, officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank, from our ministry and from the security agencies have been assigned to go to India where they will understudy a centralised payment system where SMEs and industry are successfully formalised and are contributing to the fiscus," he said.
