Man Narrates Harrowing Experiences While Doing Business In Zimbabwe
A Zimbabwean man named Mr. Dabson ‘Mhofu’ Kanyoka recently shared his harrowing experiences while doing business in Zimbabwe. He narrated how the hyperinflation crisis of 2008 and the implementation of price controls by the Robert Mugabe regime resulted in significant losses for him and his wife.
In early 2007, Mr. Kanyoka was running a successful retail business with shops in Macheke and Mutoko resettlement areas. At that time, many manufacturers in Zimbabwe had already closed down, so he would travel to neighbouring countries like Botswana and South Africa to purchase goods for his shops. His brother-in-law urged him to relocate to South Africa saying he could start something there with the capital he had, but Mr. Kanyoka was determined to stay in Zimbabwe because he believed things would improve.
During that period, Mr. Kanyoka’s wife worked at CABS, a financial institution, and they were living in a company house in Burnside. In 2007, Mr. Kanyoka received a lucrative deal to supply sugar beans to a company in the Belmont industrial area, earning over R100,000. He used the money to buy an Isuzu pick-up truck and reinvested the rest in his shops. However, their fortunes took a turn for the worse. He narrated:
Around May-June 2007 US Ambassador Christopher Dell was quoted saying “Mugabe risked being toppled due to runaway inflation.” Within a few days, I guess JOC (Joint Operation Command – the supreme organ for the coordination of state security in Zimbabwe) met and a price control blitz was announced by the government.
It was hell, prominent people were arrested from companies like Cairns Foods, OK Zimbabwe CEO Mr Willard Zireva, and bakeries CEOs. My manager Mai Nice was arrested at the shop. According to her, a Mitsubishi Government pickup truck arrived at our shop in Virginia at Chikwepa farm. It had a policeman, a soldier, a suspected CIO etc. Their first question was, “ndimi murikuda kubvisa hurumende imi? [you’re the ones plotting to overthrow the government].
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They slashed prices to a fraction of what it had cost us to buy outside the country. Villagers queued for 2 days to buy. We didn’t set the black market rates, we just adjusted our prices accordingly. Everyone stopped restocking. My manager was taken to Macheke police where there was a makeshift court, she appeared before a magistrate and was given a suspended sentence, for what? Villagers started coming begging for goods some had forex and some bartered with maize.
The situation worsened and he resorted to smuggling maize from Macheke to Chitungwiza, selling it in Mayambara and getting paid in the South African Rand. Mr. Kanyoka was released from work earlier than expected in July 2007. He already applied for a skilled visa in South Africa and eventually moved there with his wife in August 2007.
He was not done!
In more recent times, between 2015 and 2020, Mr. Kanyoka invested approximately US$20,000 in a piggery project in Chivhu. However, he decided to close it down in early 2020 due to the challenges of doing business in Zimbabwe. He reckons:
Doing business in Zimbabwe is taxing veduwe… The struggles I went through doing that project need a book. Zimbabwe has opportunities on paper but the ruling party makes policies that make honest business people lose money. I remember how I would be paid RTGS for my pork at abattoirs after weeks (apa mari ichirohwa ne inflation) then I would buy cash at a premium at Roadport to pay farmers for maize then they banned us from buying maize from farmers and we had to buy from GMB which is impossible unless you are connected. I ended up smuggling pig feed from South Africa. My wife doesn’t want to hear me talking about starting a business in Zimbabwe because it’s so stressful.
Since the year 2000, many companies have left Zimbabwe and moved to nearby countries. The industry is still collapsed to the extent that basic commodities like bathing soap, body lotion, and toothpaste are imported. This happened because doing business in Zimbabwe became difficult and uncertain due to policy changes and problems with the currency, which has been unstable for many years.
When President Mnangagwa rose to power in 2017, he promised that Zimbabwe was open for business. He said the government would create a good environment for businesses to thrive. However, there was only a slight improvement before things went downhill again. The government introduced new taxes and increased existing ones, which made it harder for businesses to make a profit. People in Zimbabwe also don’t have the buying power because they are not earning good salaries.
