By Alois Vinga
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has followed through on his pledge to overhaul Zimbabwe’s costly and repetitive licensing regime after experiencing first-hand the burden his wife faced while registering a restaurant in Bulawayo last year.
For years, the business community has decried multiple licensing requirements, with companies forced to pay separate fees for different departments operating under the same roof. For example, a supermarket must obtain separate bakery, butchery, restaurant, and liquor licences to operate fully.
Ncube, who last year told the Women’s Prosperity Conference that his wife had presented him with a “long list of licences” required before opening her restaurant, admitted the system was excessive.
“On the issue of licences, I totally agree with what women in business are saying. Just recently, my wife showed me a very long list of licences she had to pay before opening a restaurant in Bulawayo. It’s just too much for a single business,” Ncube said at the time, promising urgent reforms.
Ncube on Wednesday unveiled a raft of measures aimed at reducing the cost of doing business and improving Zimbabwe’s competitiveness.
The first tranche, which is targeting the agricultural value chain, has seen the requirement for a Small Scale Farmer’s registration fees of US$500 being scrapped, while the Dairy Processor Registration of US$350 per annum being reduced to a once-off US$50.
Feed manufacturing registration fees were reduced from US$250 to US$20 while livestock movement clearance which attracted US$10 per herd, will now require US$5 per herd.
The livestock genetics import permit, which was pegged at US$100 will now attract just US$20 while the meat export registration, which was pegged at US$500 will now attract US$100.
Other measures include scrapping food handler certificate fees and capping Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) costs at 0.05% of project value, with a maximum of US$100,000.
The Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) livestock levy, biosafety permit, and the CBCA certificate are also among the charges that have been scrapped.
“These reforms are part of government’s commitment to ease the cost of doing business and create a more competitive economic environment,” Ncube said.
New Licensing Fees
[…] minister, Mthuli Ncube, appears to have realised the burdens of regulation and taxation only when his wife tried to set up a restaurant and had to navigate so many licenses and associated charges. The mooted economy-wide changes to […]