Source: Resurgent manufacturing sector driving jobs growth – herald
Oliver Kazunga and Richard Muponde
A RESURGENT manufacturing sector, particularly during the first three months of the year, and strong performance by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are consolidating the country’s economic growth and continuing to drive job creation, the Government has said.
This comes as the world commemorates International Workers’ Day on Friday.
Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu told The Sunday Mail that improved industrial performance is translating into increased employment, particularly for young people, while boosting production for both local and export markets.
Capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector rose to 57 percent during the first quarter of the year, up from 47,7 percent in the same period last year, anchored in improved macroeconomic stability.
“As a ministry, we haven’t really tabulated the number of new jobs that have been created as a result of the improvement in the manufacturing sector’s capacity utilisation,” he said.
“But certainly, the performance of industry has brought with it numerous new jobs, similarly with commerce.”
Minister Ndlovu said firms, especially in labour-intensive industries such as textiles, are expanding output and absorbing more workers.
“At the ZITF (Zimbabwe International Trade Fair), I visited Paramount Garments in Bulawayo, and they are operating at almost 80 percent capacity, employing just over a thousand people and the average age there is 25 years.”
The Government, he said, is now implementing targeted industrial policies under the forthcoming Zimbabwe National Industrialisation Strategy II, focusing on sectors with a strong competitive advantage.
There is also renewed focus to coax the informal sector into the mainstream economy.
Speaking at the Rural Industrialisation and Economic Empowerment Indaba 2026 at the ZITF last week, Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said SMEs contribute over 67 percent to the country’s economic growth and account for more than 70 percent of employment in the economy across all sectors.
“Large-scale investors create opportunities for supply chains, subcontracting, skills transfer and market access. What is needed is a deliberate linkages model that connects the big producers to the SMEs so that industrial growth does not remain concentrated in a few places, but spreads across the country and reaches our rural communities,” she said.
“In this regard, one of the most practical strategies is for big companies to contract out some of their specialised work to SMEs in rural areas. There are many jobs in manufacturing, fabrication, assembly, packaging, logistics, maintenance and component production that can be outsourced to trained and competent SMEs.”
Small to Medium Enterprises Association of Zimbabwe chief executive officer Mr Farai Mutambanengwe said in an interview yesterday that formalisation of the economy is key to improving decent employment conditions.
“What is critical now is to actually have a conducive operating environment such that business can actually formalise, then we start to see decent employment also being created,” he said.
Integrating the informal sector
The Government recently adopted two key policies — the National Formalisation Strategy and the National Employment Policy (2026-2030) — to integrate the informal sector into the mainstream economy and remove the stigma of criminalisation.
Both frameworks aim to formalise the informal sector and create sustainable employment.
In a recent interview, Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications) Mr George Charamba said informality is a feature that must be understood and integrated.
“There is always this thinking that Zimbabwe is not doing too well because over 50 percent of its economy is in the informal sector. The informal sector is presented as a problem,” he said.
He warned that such thinking is often rooted in an emotional and, therefore, misleading response to how the economy works.
“Are we that behind in terms of understanding that informality is in fact an integral part of the economic arrangement in any jurisdiction . . . You go to the UK. It’s supposed to be a highly formalised economy . . . It was essentially informal . . .
“Go to America, you will find informal sector. So, there is nothing inherently backward or criminal about informality. What is backward is our inability to incorporate and integrate it within the broader economy,” Mr Charamba said.
He added that the existence of a so-called formal sector automatically implies the existence of an informal counterpart.
“If you say there is a formal sector, then, by implication, you are saying there is an informal sector. The question is, how do you get these two to articulate?”
He welcomed the Government’s recent policy direction, describing it as both modest in presentation and significant in substance.
“We have just announced a new policy where we are saying the informal sector is a legitimate player in this economy.”
The Government, he also said, must still create a taxation framework that fits how the informal economy operates.
“The key thing being that fiscally we must devise ways of taxing it . . . And that we haven’t done so does not necessarily delegitimise the informal sector.”
Workers’ Day
Meanwhile, preparations for Workers’ Day are gathering momentum.
The Public Service Commission, in partnership with other workers’ organisations, has since invited civil servants and the public to Girls High School for the commemorations on Friday. The commission described public workers as “the wheels that locomotise public services”, placing them at the centre of national development at a time Zimbabwe is experiencing sustained industrial growth under the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa.
Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions secretary-general Mr Kennias Shamuyarira said this year’s main commemorations for his organisation will be held in Hwedza, Mashonaland East province, in line with the devolution agenda, under the theme “Working class advocating for shared economic prosperity and inclusive growth”.
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