Vendor removals good, says SMEs Minister

SMALL to Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni says President Mugabe's directive to move vendors to designated areas is progressive and will assist in formalisation of budding businesses.

The President recently expressed concern over disorderly vending in and around Harare Central Business District saying operators should conduct their business in designated areas to allow free flow of vehicular and human traffic.

In an interview, Minister Nyoni applauded the President's directive and said her ministry was already working with the informal sector to sanitise their operations including ensuring that they obtain point of sale machines for easy transacting.

"The President talked about vendors in Harare that they should vacate the CBD. We thank the directive as this will make them join the formalised sector for them to be able to access finance.

"We also want to make sure that vendors get the POS machines as this is a good move towards their businesses," said the minister.

Zimbabwe's tax agency, Zimra, has revealed that it has this year registered about 14 000 SMEs who are contributing about 25 percent income to the fiscus.
Minister Nyoni said she was happy with the number of registered SMEs so far and hoped more would be registered.

"Zimra has been running workshops at provincial and district levels in order for SMEs to understand the rules and regulations of taxation and also appreciating the need for them to pay tax as a result of that.

"Between January and June nearly 14 000 SMEs had registered to pay tax," she said.

The minister said SMEs play a very important role in the economy.