Staff Reporter
Chinhoyi Municipality has heeded Government’s call of leaving no one and no place behind in terms of development through availing a 3 522 square metre piece of land in Rujeko suburb for the establishment of a safe market.
The market in Rujeko would benefit the Chinhoyi residents from Micro, Small to Medium enterprises (MSMEs), financial institutions and legal firms.
Speaking on the ground-breaking ceremony for safe market in Chinhoyi yesterday, Deputy Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development, Jennifer Mhlanga highlighted that the initiative reflected the Government`s concern over the businesses which were still growing.
“We are here because the Government is concerned about micro, small to medium enterprises. We are here because the Government has concern over women, and President Emmerson Mnangagwa always emphasizes that we are the mainstay of the economy,” she said.
Mashonaland West Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Mary Mliswa warned land barons who are always trying to bulldoze state land highlighting that they would not be tolerated.
“Workspace provision relieves local authorities and the MSMEs from a cat-and-mouse relationship. We all know that there are people called space barons. Let us make a declaration that we are not going to accept that here,” said Mliswa.
Applauding the move by the Government, one beneficiary, Tendai Makoni, indicated that the market would change the lives of many in the provincial capital.
“Our Government never tires in ensuring that the welfare of its citizens is catered for. This positive development is going to positively transform our lives. We have been given fishing rods and not fish. Workspaces were a challenge for us. We were renting from others and it was very expensive to do business here,” said Makoni.
President Mnangagwa is always calling for the establishment of Provincial Task Forces to investigate the issue of workspaces for the critical sector. MSMEs contribute sixty percent to the National Gross Domestic Product.
