TINASHE MAKICHI
The Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) has called for continuity in all national projects as guided by the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), Business Times can report.
ZIDA Chief Investments and Corporate Affairs Officer, Tino Kambasha, told Business Times that government projects go through a rigorous process and have Cabinet buy-in.
“The role of ZIDA is to ensure continuity of national projects, guided by NDS1. Projects go through a rigorous process which starts by due diligence being done by ZIDA,” Kambasha told Business Times.
He added: “They then go to an inter-ministerial committee chaired by the permanent Secretary of Finance, who then tables them to Cabinet. This way, all projects have the buy-in from all stakeholders in Government and will see continuity going forward.”
Kambasha’s remarks come at a time when several government projects have been cancelled soon after a new minister comes in.
The influence of ministers in parastatals has also been troubling Treasury, which continues to bail out perennial loss-making parastatals from fiscus.
Consequently, the Treasury is pushing for the management of parastatals to be under a centralised system away from line ministries, a move the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development hope will deal with efficiency of the State-owned entities and the influence of line ministers.
The existing model allows line ministers, who wield too much influence and have been cancelling investment deals, to a greater extent affecting continuity of national projects.
The new line ministers have also been firing boards and management, compromising continuity of national projects.
The cancellation of deals has sent a wrong signal to investors.
Kambasha said ZIDA has a clear mandate to ensure meaningful and impactful domestic and foreign direct investment flows into the country.
“We facilitate licensing, handle transactions, ensure deals flow and provide aftercare services to all our investors. We are courting long- term investors who are showing keen interest and investing in major capital projects that have a long term social and economic impact.”
State enterprises and parastatals are statutory bodies set up by an Act of Parliament and private companies, sometimes converted from statutory bodies, that are wholly or majority-owned by the State.
Zimbabwe has over 107 such enterprises, with most of them critical and with a potential to contribute over 40% of the country’s gross domestic product.
Corporate governance experts have since identified failures with the current decentralised model where the State enterprises and parastatals are controlled by line ministries.
Some of the challenges identified include poor and inadequate skills within boards and management of State enterprises and parastatals, resulting in poor performance.
