Time for Buy Zimbabwe Campaign is now

A common cry at the launch of the Medium Term Plan (MTP) was that the nice words so eloquently captured in the document be followed by real action on the ground.

Without implementation, it was generally agreed MTP would be confined to the dustbins of history.

For many at the launch these sentiments were not simply an expression of pessimism by a community that has borne the brunt of economic hardships but rather a collective outpouring of emotion shaped by years of sustained failure to implement one policy to the other. Such failure, it was also agreed, largely owed to a crippling tendency by executives, both in Government and business, to place inordinate emphasis on talk over action without weighing the risk of such an option.

As a country we can't afford engaging in endless talk at a time when industry, labour, consumers and the general population expect us to rise above our petty differences and act for the betterment of the present and future generations.

Sadly, this cancerous cell seems to be still ingrained in our mindset as exemplified by some business people who only a few days ago had the audacity to defy opinion by CZI, ZNCC and the consumer body CCZ, etc, by suggesting that programmes such as Buy Zimbabwe campaign, directed at supporting production and consumption of local goods and services, should be postponed until industry has fully recovered. What a death wish they hold for our country!

Until we realise that we now exist in a highly competitive, globalised and, I daresay, ruthless environment, we will continue to behave and act in a manner that implies the world owes us a favour, yet wake up each day to see factory after factory close and our children confined to a life with limited opportunities and worsening conditions of living.

The time to act to improve our lot cannot be any other but today. Surely we now know that rarely does absence (from the supermarket shelves) make the heart grow fonder, it makes it weaker. Experience shows that consumer memory fades as quickly as the taste of bubblegum.

So the more consumers remain less exposed to local products, the more unlikely that they will do so in the near future.

Only a few years back, we watched with little action as South African products gradually decimated  the Bulawayo industry and turned a once thriving industrial hub into a supermarket of goods and services from across the border.

Some said then it wasn't time to buy goods made in Bulawayo because once the economy recovered, the situation would correct itself.  That never happened. It only got worse.

The City of Bulawayo is now characterised by high levels of unemployment, shocking levels of poverty and alarming crime statistics that are becoming increasingly difficult to deal with. Let's not wait for such a scenario to spread to the rest of the country.

Buy Zimbabwe is thus a matter of survival for today and not tomorrow. Of course this does not mean any product produced in Zimbabwe must be supported nor does it mean Zimbabwe must close itself from the rest of the world. All Buy Zimbabwe seeks to address is three critical areas necessary for our national economy: the right policy environment; a competitive industrial and commercial base with quality goods and services; and high consumption of such goods and services locally and internationally.

Why indeed should we wait for tomorrow, allowing finished imported products to come into the country at zero duty and yet exact punitive duty on  raw materials for use in our local industries? Why indeed should we allow some Government department to continue importing expensive vehicles from South Africa, while leaving Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries' BT-50 to lie idle in the showroom with no takers?

Equally why allow finished GMO maize products to be imported and yet prohibit the local industry from venturing into GMO business? Let's have a coherent policy. National Foods and Blue Ribbon Foods, among many in that sector, are under serious distress from GMO imported grain and yet we claim the local industry can only be supported once it is sufficiently competitive. Let's build conditions for our industries to compete on an equal footing. Right now it makes more sense to produce from outside Zimbabwe and import into the country.

Of course, this is not to say every product in Zimbabwe meets the cut.  Buy Zimbabwe seal of approval to be unveiled on the Buy Zimbabwe Day on July 20 will only accrue to products and services that meet the stringent qualification criteria, focusing on their quality, local content and adherence to fair labour practices.

The idea of the seal, (similar to Proudly South African, Made in USA, Australian Made, etc), which will be marketed and promoted vigorously locally and internationally, is to ensure that Zimbabweans and other nationalities are able to identify those products and services that can compete and stand their own against any from the rest of the world.

The idea is for consumers who walk into a retail outlet and not only identify that a product is made in Zimbabwe but critically to know that buying such product is an act of investment in the best of quality, employment opportunities and better living for all. One hopes that by identifying quality Zimbabwean products, consumers will play their part because not doing so will be an act of great disservice to one's future. Equally we hope as a country we are increasingly coming to the realisation that unless we take decisive action today, tomorrow may be too late to reverse the negative socio-economic malaise.

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Munyaradzi Hwengwere is the general manager of the Buy Zimbabwe Campaign.