eBusiness Weekly
Kudzanai Sharara
Zimbabwe’s new Cabinet sat for the first time this week and each portfolio minister should now identify a minimum of five quick-win and high impact projects in order that work on them commences in earnest.
Plans are also going to be put in place to make sure that four or five ministers will make presentations during the course of a Cabinet meeting.
Following the presentation, the decision taken by Cabinet will be communicated to the nation every Wednesday, after Cabinet meetings. With such moves, it is expected Cabinet will speak with one voice.
President Mnangagwa said such an initiative will also entrench transparency and a culture of responsiveness.
Gone are the days, when stakeholders would not know whether the responsible minister would have taken suggestions or grievances to Cabinet as was the case in the past.
As ministers get straight to work in addressing the challenges we face, Business Weekly spoke to some key industrialists to hear their views on what the new Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu should prioritise.
Busisa Moyo,industrialist
Consensus building will be key. Consensus with private sector supra-bodies like the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe, Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ) and other business groupings and professional bodies, will give a quick scan and one can collect the “inventory” of pending issues to be tackled, said Moyo.
There is a lot of research and situational analyses that resides in these bodies.
For Moyo, the new ministers’ top priority should be the formulation of a widely consulted and supported National Economic Revival Plan, which touches on all key productive and service sectors.
“The elements of this are already known by various public and private sector players mentioned above as they have been work in progress for some time but need refreshing, collating and execution,” said Moyo.
From an industry point of view raw material localisation (for agri-based commodities), competitiveness and re-tooling are the main thrusts and focus areas.
He said there is need for minimum local content rules to buttress the BuyZimbabwe campaign; as well as policy cohesion between agriculture, mining, ZIMRA and industry.
Moyo also said softer but important issues include aligning skills of tertiary institutions to current industry trends and encouraging entrepreneurship among women, youth and the physically challenged to boost entrepreneurial activity.
Christopher Mugaga, ZNCC CEO
There are several policies that the newly appointed Industry Minister must urgently look at, said Mugaga. “The National Trade Policy must be fully formulated and implemented as it will act as a guiding tool as we open ourselves to the international community.”
In its preface, the National Trade Policy, which was expected to run between 2012-2016, outlined the key principles and strategies that would guide Zimbabwe’s strategic integration into the global markets whilst ensuring the availability of high quality and affordable goods and services to Zimbabwean consumers.
The then Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube, also said the National Trade Policy was developed to ensure the effective and meaningful participation of Zimbabwe in the global market.
Mugaga thus reckons such a policy is still important and a must have in “this world of protectionism versus liberalisation”.
“We have a lot of pressure, as you know Zimbabwe signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), but did so without a guiding policy on whether to ratify it or not and you need a trade policy to do that,” said Mugaga.
“The continent is facing imperious pressure from the world, everyone, the UK, German, China, all want to do deals with Africa and as for us, a National Trade Policy can be the only guiding tool.
Mugaga, said another policy that should be looked at urgently is the National Competition Policy which is aimed at creating a ‘level’ playing field which promotes competition. Markets with healthy competition are often characterised by lower prices, diverse choice for consumers and innovation, to mention but a few.
While Zimbabwe, launched the first foundational National Competition Policy late last year, Mugaga believes the market still has a lot of companies with uncompetitive behaviour.
“We need to redefine our rules on what constitutes uncompetitive behaviour because we have a lot of cases under the Competition and Tariffs Commission (CTC).”
Mugaga also called for consolidation of the private sector, arguing that having numerous bodies such as Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) among others is creating confusion for ministers.
Sifelani Jabangwe, CZI President
Government must improve the environment businesses operate in, Jabangwe said. “Zimbabwe must focus on being a competitive manufacturing hub and this requires improving the ease of doing business and reducing the cost of doing business.”
We need changes across the board, our labour is expensive and rigid, the cost of power against regional peers makes us uncompetitive, and for those who use a lot of water its also very expensive and erratic, said Jabangwe.
He also pointed out that the cost of regulations, the high cost of compliance, the tediousness of the country’s laws are some of the areas that need urgent attention. He said there was probably need for a National Competitive Council which works directly with the Office of the President (OPC) if these issues are to be addressed urgently.
Other areas that he talked about include issues to do with accessing working capital, as well as policies that support the import substitutions.
Walter Mandeya, Trigrams Investments
We need economic zones for import substitution purposes, said Mandeya. “These (economic zones) must be specifically designed for import substitution companies so that we value add before exporting things like tobacco, cotton and minerals.
“We also need a clear strategy to help innovation and research around our major industries. So the minister needs to create strong linkages between industry and research/tertiary institutions. This should have very clear deliverables in terms of outputs.”
