TEXTILE AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA The Textile and Clothing Industry in Zimbabwe By Godfrey Kanyenze 1. Introduction: Policies and Growth of the Industrial Sector in Zimbabwe 1.1 The Era of Import-Substitution Industrialisation By moving to the north from his South African base, Cecil John Rhodes hoped to find a second gold rand north of the Limpopo River. When hopes of finding the second rand were dashed, especially following the collapse of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1900, a process of diversifying away from mining was launched, beginning with agriculture and extending into manufacturing in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. By 1940, the country already had a relatively developed industrial base, with the only integrated iron and steel plant in sub-Saharan Africa. It is estimated that by then, the manufacturing sector accounted for 10% of GDP and 8% of exports(Ndlela& Robinson, 1995). When the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland involving what is now Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe was established in 1953, this accelerated the process of industrialisation, with much of the invest­ment going to Rhodesia. The collapse of the Federation in 1963 was followed by the Unilateral Decla­ration of Independence(UDI) by the minority white regime in Rhodesia in 1965, which resulted in the imposition of sanctions by the international community. This ushered in a new era of inward looking Import Substitution Industrialisation (ISI) and an intensive process of industrialisation where the state played a central role in resource allocation. A centralised foreign exchange allocation system was introduced, with an elaborate system of state enterprises and price controls. This foreign exchange rationing benefited the companies that were in existence in the late 1960s, undermining new and especially small enterprise growth. However, the state machinery operated in close consultation with the predominantly white private sector. The 1964 bilateral agreement with South Africa provided a basis for sanction-busting and the generation of the much-needed foreign currency. Whereas the manufacturing sector accounted for 17% of GDP in 1965, its share had grown to 25% by the advent of independence in 1980. This is exceptional by Sub-Saharan African standards. While the share of manufacturing output in FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG 275