Dr. Mavis Sibanda
By Julius Idrissa Manganda
Government yesterday met representatives of Small to Medium Enterprises(SMEs) in Harare at a workshop meant to discuss the tax provisions in the recently gazetted Finance Act of 2023.
The Act introduced some new tax measures and after recent developments and questions over the new tax regime, the government created the opportunity to meet the SME community.
Dr. Mavis Sibanda, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises, together with representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Investment Promotion, and Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) addressed the attendees where they shared the government position with regards to the taxes and how they were critical in the realization of national vision.
“Today’s gathering gives the opportunity of the ministry of finance and economic development and ZIMRA to unmask the 2024 revenue measures and for you to know what the revenue mean,” said Dr Sibanda.
After heated discussions, representatives of the SMEs urged ZIMRA to devolve and get into communities to educate informal traders, including even setting up offices that will educate the informal traders
“ZIMRA should go down to the people that are affected by the Act, that is the people that are out there, in Magaba Mbare, Budiriro, places like Highfield to educate these so called informal traders,” said Mr Chinyemba, president of Zimbabwe National Chamber of SMEs.
Associates that were in attendance were, Zimbabwe National Chamber of SMEs, Cross boarder Traders Association, Women owned business trust, Small and medium enterprises Cooperation of Zimbabwe, Federation of Micro Business in Zimbabwe SMEAZs, and Zimbabwe Chamber of informal economy association.
SMEs in Zimbabwe date back to 1983 where the Zimbabwe Parliament enacted the Small to Medium Enterprises Act in an effort to promote and develop small businesses in both the formal and informal sector. At that time, the country had just secured independence from the British colonial rule and top priority was the empowerment of the once-marginalized citizens.
A host of target developments followed, with the SME Advisory Council and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Corporation (SMEDCO) being formed in the same year to establish and guide the development of the sector. These institutions offered business support to set up and nurture new business entities.
In 2002, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSEM) Policy and Strategy Framework was born and the latest policy is the 2020-2024 framework, in place to guide the growth and development of this key sector.
After announcement of the taxes and some outcry, Treasury constituted a Technical Committee to receive input from Representative Members under the umbrella body of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries.
The Committee undertook an impact analysis on the implementation of some of the measures introduced through the 2024 Budget, in particular with regards to tax compliance on the route to the market, mitigation of consequences of the sugar on health through a special surtax, and a few tariff lines that were omitted on exemption from Value Added Tax, in order to cover the whole value chain that includes cotton and soya seeds to cooking oil.
