eBusiness Weekly
Africa Moyo
Business has been excited by the ruling ZANU-PF’s theme for this year’s conference, saying it shows the party is pulling in the same direction with Government.Zanu-PF hosts its 17th Annual National People’s Conference next week from December 11-16 at Mzingwane High School in Esigodini, Matabeleland South province.
The conference will be held under the theme, “Zimbabwe is Open for Business: In unity and peace towards an upper middle-income economy by 2030”.
The theme dovetails with President Mnangagwa’s “Vision 2030” of transforming the economy in the next 11 years into an upper middle-income earner with a per capita GDP of $3 500.
President Mnangagwa also wants citizens to have decent jobs by 2030, hence his drive to attract both local and foreign investors to set up businesses in the country.
Industry Upbeat
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) chief executive officer Takunda Mugaga, told Business Weekly that it was encouraging to see the ruling party and Government pulling in the same direction.
“I think the fact that they are speaking with the mantra of the President, because the president of Zanu-PF is obviously different from the President of Zimbabwe; to me the ruling party is pushing the same agenda with Government,” said Mugaga.
Previously, there was policy inconsistency between Zanu-PF and Government resulting in capital flight and consequently a decline in the economy.
Mugaga said during deliberations, Zanu-PF should place issues affecting the economy such as foreign currency shortages and price increases, at the top of their agenda.
“The conference will have to look at the current issues happening in business. It should look at how to help investors repatriate their dividends. You know the issue of foreign currency; it has to be looked at too. In other words we need to find a lasting but urgent solution to this (foreign currency) challenge. So the agenda of the Zanu-PF conference should look at all those things with a keen eye,” said Mugaga.
Corruption is cancerous
He also wants the conference to thoroughly discuss the issue of corruption, particularly in the judiciary.
President Mnangagwa told traditional chiefs at the 2018 Annual Chiefs Conference in Kadoma on Monday that Government was deepening its fight against corruption in urban areas. However, the President said while all those suspected of corruption are being arraigned before the courts, the judiciary has also become compromised.
“We take all the cases of corruption to the judiciary (but) we are hearing now that there is a cartel of corruption starting from the highest court — Constitutional Court — to the magistrates’ court but we are going to deal with that,” said President Mnangagwa.
Mugaga said it was critical that corruption is fiercely fought if the country’s economy is to prosper.
He said reports that corruption is now affecting the judiciary are worrisome and require urgent redress.
“When you see corruption affecting the judiciary, it means one of the arms of the State has been disabled. And if an arm of State has been disabled, it means we are no longer ‘Open for Business’.
“So we need to take it as a matter of urgency to recover our beloved judiciary. So the President has to set an agenda at the conference on how to deal with such unscrupulous people in Government who are bent on tarnishing the image of the country,” said Mugaga.
South Africa-based economist Trinity Ncube, also says the Zanu-PF theme for the conference was crucial insofar as it shows that the ‘Open for Business’ mantra is “inclusive”.
“Zimbabwe being ‘open for business’ means following an inclusive growth agenda, where all Zimbabweans and all stakeholders in the African continent as well as the global community, can be involved in reviving the economy.
“The key sectors to achieve this strategy focus on manufacturing, agriculture, financial inclusion, and infrastructure (transport, telecommunications, among others).
“With high quality human capital and a healthier citizenry, we can push towards productivity and innovation in the above sectors,” said Ncube.
He added that given the energy challenges in the country, particularly fuel, there was greater need to involve youths and women in technology and innovation.
Ncube said it was important to attract foreign and domestic private investments especially through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to revive the economy and “improve the quality of lives of Zimbabweans and reach the upper middle-income per capita in the next decade”.
