TANNERS and leather product manufacturers have formed a new association with a view to effectively lobby Government to enact policies aimed at growing the industry.

Tanners Footwear Leather Manufacturers of Zimbabwe (TAFLZ) chairperson, Mr Arnold Britten, confirmed the development and said registration of members was in progress.

“We have formed what is called TAFLZ. We put our registration papers about a month ago to the Ministry (of Industry and Commerce) and we are just waiting for feedback,” he said.

“We are already working on addressing various issues and the major one is cost of production. It’s quite expensive for tanneries to produce because most of the materials we use are imported. Nothing is manufactured locally and naturally we have to resort to buying foreign currency on the street to enable us to import the required components,” he said.

The formation of TAFLZ follows the demise of the Leather and Allied Industries Federation of Zimbabwe (LAIFEZ) about 10 years ago. 

“We used to have our own association, LAIFEZ but due to the economic situation and a number of hurdles that association lost its patronage. So, we have had no representation for about 10 years,” said Mr Britten. 

“We need to collectively come together because we can’t address our issues one on one with Government. It just doesn’t work because if we are together our voice is stronger and we can really lobby for things.”

He said they were already in talks with suppliers of strategic inputs from South Africa to put up a bonded warehouse in the country to cut on costs of importing the components from the neighbouring country. The association also intends to meet the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube, to deliberate on a specific allocation of foreign currency to the leather industry. 

TAFLZ vice chairperson, Mr Stuart Simali, said the formation of the association would improve synergies as well as the sharing of market intelligence among the country’s leather industry players.

At its peak in the early 90s, the country’s leather industry used to employ more than 6 000 people but it now employs just over 1 000. — @DNsingo