Zimbabwe President Vows to Remove Barriers to Modernisation

8 October 2024

The Herald (Harare)

Zvamaida Murwira — Zimbabwe is ready to embrace modern technology as part of its policy to leapfrog the modernisation and industrialisation agenda and is prepared to remove any bottleneck that might impede these objectives, President Mnangagwa has said.

The President said this yesterday while receiving a donation of an electric vehicle from Build Your Dream, a Chinese firm that sells vehicles that are 100 percent electric.

The firm donated the vehicle as part of efforts to promote the use of clean energy and embrace a carbon-free economy through the use of electric vehicles.

"We are a developing country and a country with a desire to modernise, and embrace the latest technology. Zimbabwe is one of the countries in the region which has a desire to adopt modern technology and this is the journey," said President Mnangagwa.

He said the Government was ready to engage the business sector and deal with possible challenges or bottlenecks that might act as obstacles to fully embracing modern technology.

The firm's chief executive officer, Dr Patrick Masocha, had earlier appealed to have duty on the vehicles reviewed given their importance in reducing carbon emissions.

In an interview, Dr Masocha said there are several advantages that the country stands to benefit from the use of electric vehicles.

"We have been selling (EVs) since 2019, so the beauty about these vehicles is that they are 100 percent electric and they have got the latest technology on the batteries which is called the blade batteries," he said.

"The challenge we have is the money we spend importing fuel, if we embrace this technology then that is done away with, and we do not have this problem anymore. But another challenge that we have as a business is the issue of duty, Value Added Tax, and for us to align with other developing and developed countries where they have eliminated a lot of charges around the electric vehicle, so as to promote that technology.

"So we need a lot of tax holidays, no duty, no carbon tax because people are still paying carbon tax when the vehicle does not emit any carbon."

Dr Masocha said the vehicle was user-friendly and cheap for ordinary Zimbabweans, particularly if the issue of duty was dealt with.

"It is affordable if we remove the duty component, we have different classes and models, we have prime brands and entry brands that are affordable to every Zimbabwean, we would be happy if duty is removed," he said.

Dr Masocha said electric vehicles did not require service because they do not have engines, neither do they have oil because they do not use fuel.

The battery has a 10-year warranty given its strength.

Zimbabwe has embraced Education 5.0 which is anchored on science, technology and innovation and the use of electric vehicles dovetails with that thrust.

Read the original article on The Herald.