Minister of Environment, Water and Climate Oppah Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri

MUTARE — Timber industry players are lobbying government to grant them Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status as the sector seeks to regain lost ground.
The players are lobbying through their association, the Timber Producers Federation (TPF).
SEZ is an area in which business and laws are different from the rest of the country with an aim to increase trade, investment, job creation and effective administration.
Under SEZ, companies are awarded a raft of incentives such as tax exemption for a given period, low taxes and tax holidays among other attractive incentives.
TPF is of the view that SEZs will allow the country’s beleaguered timber sector, which has regressed 20 years, to regain lost ground.
The sector has been losing vast tracks of plantations due to arson related veld fires, illegal gold mining and disorderly occupations triggered by the country’s controversial land reform programme that started in 2000.
TPF chief executive officer, Darlington Duwa, said its members have strongly recommended the federation to table their SEZ status bid to government.
The timber federation has a vast membership that includes top producers such as Border Timbers Limited, Wattle Company, Allied Timbers Zimbabwe, Manica Boards and Doors, Hotspeck Entreprises among others.
“We are working on tabling our position paper to government. Some of our members are recommending that we take it (SEZ status) up. Given the success in Bulawayo (Metropolitan province), we think Manicaland (province) can also be led by the timber sector,” Duwa told The Financial Gazette in an interview.
Bulawayo, considered as the country’s industrial hub but fast turning into one huge scrapyard, was the first province to be granted the SEZ status.
Likewise, Manicaland is the hub of the country’s timber sector with 65 168 hectares of the country’s 69 892 hectares of timber.
The SEZ status bid comes at a crucial time the sector is faced with a myriad of operating challenges.
Leading producers, Allied Timbers and Wattle Company have been battling one strike after the other as they struggle to pay plantations workers.
TPF has attributed most of the challenges being faced by its members to illegal occupations.
Last year statistics from the federation indicated that 17 544 hectares of timber plantations were illegally occupied by 5 603 families.
TPF has, through the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, raised the red flag to Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who has acknowledged that government blundered in allowing illegal occupation of timber plantations at the height of the controversial land reform exercise 17 years ago.
Producers lost about 30 000 hectares of prime timber to plantation occupations during government’s land seizures that led to the industry losing 20 years of its reserves by end of 2012, which affected the performance of the sector.
It also lost over $2 billion in potential revenue and over 3 000 jobs due to deforestation by the settlers.
Duwa said they have engaged Environment Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri  to assist in driving out the illegal settlers.

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