Story by Owen Mandovha
GOVERNMENT has pledged to strengthen safety standards and provide sustainable workspaces for traders at Siyaso Industrial Complex in Mbare, Harare, following a fire that destroyed equipment and stock worth thousands of dollars last week.
Deputy Minister of Women Affairs, Community Development and Small and Medium Enterprises Development, Honourable Kiven Mutimbanyoka, visited the affected traders at Siyaso Industrial Complex on Monday, where dozens of small-scale entrepreneurs were left reeling from the blaze.
The fire gutted machinery, finished products and critical raw materials, leaving scores of business owners stranded.
“I had taken orders from many clients and had bought raw materials and I have lost all the materials in that fire,” one trader said.
“My sofas were lost in the fire and I am gutted and will need thousands of dollars to start afresh,” another added.
Others said all their equipment and machines had been destroyed, wiping out their livelihoods.
Mutimbanyoka said Government was moving to provide both immediate and long-term support.
“As Government we commiserate with the affected people and we are establishing ways to immediately assist the affected traders. Already Government has built structures at Mbare which are occupied, and we are in the process of extending the same to areas such as these where this incident took place,” he said.
He also urged traders to formalise their operations and join micro-insurance schemes to cushion themselves against future losses.
The fire has once again exposed the vulnerability of informal trading spaces, as authorities push to modernise and regularise small and medium enterprises operating in high-risk environments.
