By Gideon Madzikatidze/Simbarashe Sithole
HARARE – Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Honourable Barbara Rwodzi has clarified government’s position on local procurement in tourism, saying the state will not impose a procurement system on private operators, but will instead train local communities, youths, women and SMEs to meet industry standards so they can compete for business.
Rwodzi was responding to questions during the Launch of the National Committee for the International Year of Sustainable and Resilient Tourism (IYSRT) 2027, where she was asked about the procurement framework and sustainability of operators sourcing supplies from local communities as part of empowering them.
She said Zimbabwe’s tourism sector is private-sector driven, and operators retain the right to choose their suppliers.
“We cannot give a procurement system to the private sector. That would be very unfair. We can’t do that. We are private-sector driven. The private sector chooses whom to take from,” Rwodzi said.
Instead, she said, government’s role is facilitation, training, quality assurance and market linkage, through the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) which has a whole department for standards and grading.
“We promote our own people by training them. As a regulator, through the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, we know what is needed in our industry,” she said.
“Whether it is about bedding, whether it is about soaps to be used, whether it is about supplying food, or anything else that is in the value chain of the tourism industry, we know what can be needed,” the Minister added.
Rwodzi said communities are trained on exactly what operators require, then must go out and compete for business like any other supplier, because standards in tourism facilities cannot be compromised.
“We train them on what we know is needed by the industry. And they go out there, like anyone else, to look for business. Because we want to maintain our standards within our facilities,” she said.
The Minister stressed that sustainability of procurement and sustainability of supply is a shared responsibility between communities and operators.
“Sustainability for procuring, sustainability for supply, comes from the supply side,” she said.
“Who needs to sustain that? It is both the communities and the operator himself. So together, we need to put them together and to encourage them,” Rwodzi added.
She said government will continue to sit down with operators to ask why they are not promoting particular communities, while also training those communities on how to do it, learning from best practice in the region and beyond.
“Otherwise we are going to be sitting down with them and telling them, why not promote this community, why not promote that community, and also train them on how to do it. Kenya is doing that very well,” she said.
On financing, Rwodzi said where funding is available to help youths, women, SMEs and others in the industry, government will direct them accordingly, but will not dictate procurement decisions.
“If there is any funding that is coming from wherever, to help our young ones, to help our women, or to help our SMEs, or anyone who is in this industry, we direct them accordingly,” she said.
She said the ultimate guarantee government offers is quality and sustainability from those it promotes.
“Our job is to ensure that quality and sustainability from those that we are promoting is guaranteed,” she said.
Rwodzi said the model ensures that once communities are part of production as a facility, they will produce what operators want, creating a tourism value chain where local empowerment does not come at the expense of the visitor experience, destination competitiveness and the Zimbabwe brand.
The message was clear: Government will open the door through training, standards and funding linkages, but communities must walk through it by producing to standard, and operators must be willing partners in sustaining that supply.