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A parliamentary portfolio committee on SMEs said there was a need to put in place mechanisms that ensured that those who borrowed money from the Small Enterprise Development Corporation (Sedco) paid back to ensure that the fund continued to serve people.

This was said during a debate of the committee report on access to financial resources for the SMEs in the House of Assembly yesterday.

Hwange MP Mr Wesley Sansole (MDC-T) said there were a lot of bottlenecks that hampered people from participating in the sector.

“There are many requirements, expensive and time consuming. There are a lot of official and unofficial levies; the tax structures are so complex they render any business unviable. Central and Local Government tender regulations make it unviable for SMEs to bid for contracts. You find local authorities have many zoning regulations that make operations almost impossible,” said Mr Sansole.