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Samantha Chigogo Herald Correspondent
The Herald has reaffirmed its position as Zimbabwe’s number one daily newspaper after it won the prestigious Super Brand of the Year 2015 Award in the print media category for the seventh year running.

H-Metro, also from the Zimpapers stable, was a second runner up in the same category while Star FM radio was a first runner up in the electronic media category at the awards ceremony held in Harare last Friday.

The Super Brand awards are an annual event organised by the Marketers Association of Zimbabwe (MAZ) to acknowledge excellence amongst local brands as well as promote competition amongst companies.

The Herald, Zimbabwe’s biggest daily, has shown unmatched superiority as it came out tops in the print media category seven years in a row since the Super Brand awards were inaugurated.

First runner-up in the best print media category was NewsDay.

In the electronic media category, DSTV was adjudged the winner while Star FM was the first runner-up and Radio Zimbabwe was the second runner-up.

In some of the categories, SeedCo retained the best award in agricultural inputs category while CBZ Bank maintained its Super Brand of the Year award in the banking category.

Econet wireless was adjudged winner in several categories including the best corporate brand of the year, telecoms and data services awards as well as the overall 2016 business to business super brand award.

MAZ president Mr Agrippa Mugwagwa, urged local companies to prioritise re-branding and innovation to gain total traction in the market.

Addressing delegates at the awards ceremony, the guest of honour, Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha, urged marketers to take advantage of Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016 to revamp their industries.

“To date, SI 64 has recorded considerable success in the cooking oil industry ,yeast industry, biscuit manufacturing, cement manufacturing ,dairy sector ,battery manufacturing (Chloride Zimbabwe),creams and lotions (Datlabs, MedChem),” he said.

“Plastics manufacturing (Treggers group), synthetic hair products (Blue Track), detergents sector (Nespot Holdings) and furniture and mattress manufacturing (KDV) among others.”

Minister Bimha said government would increase import restrictions to more goods on the market.

“My ministry is currently under pressure to extend SI 64 OF 2016 to more goods as we have facilitated for the retention of purchasing power in our own country,” he said.

“You all agree with me that labour costs, interest rates, exchange rates and economies of scale are the most potent determinants of competitiveness, which has reduced the outward approach mentality and rather centralised focus on internal abilities.”

He said SI 64 was justified to save and revamp Zimbabwe’s local industry.

“In some instances when a foreign country plans to crush our industry by selling goods at a price even below the cost of production, it is a case of dumping,” Minister Bimha said.

“Such a supply of cheap goods might be welcome if it was permanent but it is usually temporary and merely done to kill competition and then make up all losses by charging higher prices.”