GWERU mayor Martin Chivhoko has announced that the local authority’s beer concern, Go Beer will commence production in November this year.
Chivhoko said a memorandum of agreement had been signed with a local investor that he could not disclose.
“So far we have managed to engage a partner to resuscitate Go Beer Breweries,” Chivhoko said during an ordinary council meeting yesterday
“The preliminary works have now commenced and production is expected to commence in eight months.”
Chivhoko said the revamping of Go Beer was part of council’s efforts to widen its revenue base and not only rely on rates.
Plans to revive the defunct entity have, however, been on the drawing board for years.
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In July 2020, council announced that it had partnered an unnamed “giant” opaque beer manufacturer to revive Go Beer, but the deal reportedly collapsed.
The previous council led by former mayor Hamutendi Kombayi once called on management to compile a report on Go Beer Breweries before the local authority entertained any plans to resuscitate the business.
But no report was ever availed.
Several residents who spoke to NewsDay said the reopening of Go Beer was long overdue.
“We have always said we want our favourite beer brand to come back but council has taken years,” said James Chiromo of Mtapa suburb.
Go Beer was closed in 2014 after years of plunder by the management of the firm.
During that same year, after the council announced it had shut down Go Beer, municipal police and auditors immediately moved in and locked beerhalls around the city to institute a probe on the company’s business activities, but to date no culprits have been brought to book.
At its closure, the beer establishment was reeling under a US$2,6 million debt and was failing to honour its obligations at the Local Authorities Pension Fund.
Since the dollarisation of the economy in 2009, the cash-strapped local authority has been bankrolling the beer concern to the tune of US$2 208 914, channelled towards payment of former Go-Beer creditors and employees who sued the council.
The beer concern lost equipment and cattle, which were attached to cover retrenchment costs, although council in 2018 managed to pay all retrenched workers.