Business Reporter
FINANCE Minister,Prof Mthuli Ncube Thursday laid bare his shock after revealing that his wife received a long list of license fees due for payment for a newly registered restaurant.
The country’s business community has cried foul over numerous and repetitive licence fees which must be paid by companies to smoothly run their businesses.
For instance, a single supermarket has to pay Bakery, Butchery, Restaurant and Liqour license fees to run different departments of this nature even when they are operating under one roof.
Speaking during a plenary discussion at the Women’s Prosperity Conference, Prof Ncube also laid bare his fruistrations.
“On the issue of licenses, I totally agree with what women in business are saying. Just recently my wife showed me a very long list of licenses that have to be paid by her before she opens a restaurant in Bulawayo. I mean you can’t believe it it’s just too much for a restaurant,” he said.
The Treasury boss promised to tackle the licensing challenges as part of work to perpetuate the Ease of Doing Business legacy left behind by the World Bank.
“So we are putting in place a team to look into that cost of doing business. We want to deal with this .We is aware of that. This is an issue. My family is in business and I have experienced this .There are no exceptions just because you are a Finance Minister it doesn’t mean that your wife or cousin can get a simple through pass .It doesn’t work like that,” he added.
