By Own Correspondent| The government is set to establish an emergency relief fund to assists businesses that were looted during the January riots.

In an interview after a tour of looted and burnt shops in Bulawayo, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development Professor Mthuli Ncube said:

This loss is devastating and families have been affected and so are jobs, so we are putting in place a special fund to assist the victims so we want them to compile their losses so that when we call for submissions they must be ready with details.

It is estimated that 181 shops were affected in the western suburbs of Bulawayo and to date, the assessment indicates over $30 million worth of losses were incurred including production losses although the process of collecting this information is continuing.-StateMedia