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Elita Chikwati
Senior Reporter
Buy Zimbabwe yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Business Standards Systems Certification (BSSC) for training, auditing and offering certification services to members to enhance competiveness on the local and export markets, as well as to create jobs and boost the economy.

This move will also ensure the country benefits from the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Launching the certification system, Industry and Commerce Minister Sekai Nzenza said there was need for local producers to manufacture quality products that are competitive locally and on the international markets.

“Quality should, therefore, be a hallmark of locally produced goods and services as we move towards Vision 2030,” she said. “We must move up value chains. We are going to be working closely with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries Water and Rural Resettlement, SMEs and other important partners,” she said.

Buy Zimbabwe general manager, Mr Munyaradzi Hwengwere, said local producers and manufacturers were to blame for the delay in coming up with the system to rate local content.
“Buying local must not be a call to buy mediocre,” he said. “We must compete at the highest level of standards in terms of taste, packaging and everything.

“Local must be defined because local can mean anything, one percent, two percent or any other figure. We have put a minimum threshold of 50 percent local content and because of that, minimum threshold must be measured and be consistent.”

BSSC executive director Mr Sebastian Zuze said most SMEs did not have certification and it was important that they are trained and have their goods certified so they can compete locally, regionally and internationally.

“The signing of the standards certification was a visionary approach to help Zimbabwe trade successfully,” he said. “At ACTFA, they are charging zero tariffs for local content.

Let us get our SMEs and train them on standards. This partnership will help our SMEs. They need to be encouraged to value add. We are going to have a lot of linkages with other countries and we grow our economy.”