The Sunday Mail
Nobleman Runyanga
Recently, the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD), which describes itself as a socio-economic justice coalition, launched a campaign dubbed “How Far?”
It is running under the slogan “You deserve to know.”
It ostensibly seeks to establish how Government has fared in addressing various issues that affect the nation such as national debt, mineral leakages and investment deals.
Within the first few days of the campaign, tables had turned as Zimbabweans, mostly urbanites, used the campaign to train their guns on grossly underperforming MDC-Alliance faction-dominated urban local authorities.
Initially, the opposition and its allies were naturally excited, as they saw the campaign as an opportunity to score cheap political points by criticising Government in areas where they felt it was underperforming.
This, however, did not materialise.
The campaign reminded disgruntled residents that they are under inept MDC-Alliance councillors.
The tide turned and the opposition was on the receiving end.
This forced ZIMCODD to include local governments and legislators, and the motley of overexcited opposition was stunned into silence.
Far from the dynamics of the campaign, which ZIMCODD is pushing in the name of accountability, Government has acquitted itself well.
For example, ZIMCODD, like other Western-funded organisations that have been pushing a “Zimbabwean crisis” agenda, sensationally claimed that the country was “in an unsustainable debt crisis”.
It claimed that Zimbabwe owed US$10,5 billion in external debt and called for a debt audit.
While an audit is a noble idea, this does not make the issue a crisis as ZIMCODD desperately wishes it to be.
Any citizen can walk into the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development’s Debt Office in Harare and establish for themselves where the country stands in terms of its debt.
The Freedom of Information Act, which President Mnangagwa signed into law last year, provides for citizens to ask for such information from Government and other public and private institutions.
Instead of sensationalising the issue, ZIMCODD would serve Zimbabweans better by getting this information, engaging the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube, and publishing Government’s plan for dealing with the debt.
What about debtors
ZIMCODD did not address the question of how much Government is owed by both internal and external debtors and what it is doing to recover the money and plug further leakages.
An example is the estimated US$3 billon which the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) is owed by various individuals and organisations in unpaid tax.
Instead of sensationalising the debt, ZIMCODD could tell citizens how Zimra has also created a whistleblower system to facilitate the reporting of tax evaders.
It routinely rotates its staff to prevent connivance between its officers and smugglers, and carries out regular lifestyle audits to sniff out bad apples.
It also has issued several tax moratoriums to defaulters in the past five years to enable them to pay without being garnished as a way of encouraging the payment of outstanding taxes.
Relatedly, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) redflags delinquent importers and exporters who owe millions of dollars in non-acquittals by barring them from participating in the central bank’s CEPECS and CEBAS system.
RBZ also bars defaulters from participating at the foreign currency auction system to recover outstanding funds.
Following the high loan repayment default rates under the Command Agriculture Programme, Government roped in private sector players such as CBZ Bank, which ushered in a refreshingly different approach to agricultural financing in the country under the Smart Agriculture programme.
Unlike the Command Agriculture financing system, the new financing model focuses on the whole agriculture value chain. The model eradicates repayment defaults among farmers.
ZIMCODD also asked how far Government had gone in dealing with the alleged abuse of Covid-19 funds, which it said amounted to $330 million.
The nation is aware how Government regularly published information in various media houses on how funds and materials donated towards the Covid-19 fight have been deployed.
When Government established that one of the Covid-19 materials supplier, Drax, was inflating its prices, the company’s contract was cancelled immediately to avoid abuse of funds.
The then Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Obadiah Moyo, was arrested in June last year and charged with criminal abuse of office for awarding a US$60 million contract to Drax.
He was fired the following month and his case is pending before the courts.
ZIMCODD’s claim is vague because it did not specify the exact Covid-19 funds that it was referring to.
ZIMCODD stated that only 92 of the 356 recommendations in the 2018 Auditor-General’s report were fully implemented.
What ZIMCODD and other like-minded Zimbabweans and organisations should understand is that the recommendations by the Auditor-General require different treatment.
Some require internal remedies, while others such as those of a criminal nature need compilation of evidence before submission to the Attorney-General for assessment for possible prosecution.
Other recommendations could have been addressed through rotation of staff and automation of payments to create document audit trail or introduction of lifestyle audits.
Others are awaiting authentication through forensic audits.
Smuggling
Regarding corruption in the mining sector, ZIMCODD claimed that US$1,8 billion in revenue was being lost annually through smuggling.
This is a serious issue which Government is tackling head-on.
A multi-stakeholder Gold Mobilisation Taskforce was established in 2015 to promote and enforce transparency of gold deliveries through Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR).
Consequently, gold deliveries through FPR increased from 21,4 tonnes in 2016 to 33,2 tonnes in 2018 and 27,7 tonnes in 2019.
In 2020, as expected, deliveries went down to 19,05 tonnes owing to the impact of Covid-19 on mining operations.
The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development recently banned the export of unprocessed chrome and is pressing platinum mining companies to build a smelting plant as part of efforts to promote mineral value-addition and beneficiation.
RBZ treats gold miners as exporters, who benefit from generous export retention benefits as a way of discouraging smuggling.
ZIMRA’s regular lifestyle audits discourage collusion between its officers and smugglers.
The RBZ aligned gold prices with international rates to discourage gold smuggling. Those caught smuggling are being arrested.For example, Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) president Henrietta Rushwaya was arrested at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in October last year after she was allegedly caught with six kilogrammes of gold in her hand bag on her way out of the country.
Her case is pending before the courts.
Mega deals
On the investment front, ZICODD said: “Zimbabwe Open for Business: Ko tave papi nema Mega Deals?”
Government demonstrated its commitment to promoting investments in the country and pushing the President’s “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” campaign by operationalising the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) Act.
A lot of progress has been made regarding deals that Government signed with investors, including China.
This includes the expansion of the Victoria Falls Airport at a cost of US$150 million and the ongoing Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport expansion at the cost of US$153 million.
The US$200 million New Parliament building in Mt Hampden is almost complete.
The Hwange Power Station Units 7 and 8 expansion project, which is set to add 600 MW to the national grid, is nearing completion. The 150MW Kariba South Hydro-Power Station is now complete.
General Electric of America and Power China have been contracted to construct the US$4 billion Batoka hydro power project on the Zambezi River, which is set to benefit Zambia and Zimbabwe.
When completed, the project will generate 2 400 megawatts (MW) of electricity.
The US$109 million Kunzvi Dam, which has been on the table since the mid-1990s, is set to take off following award of the tender to China Nanchang Engineering this year. The contractor is set to move on the site anytime this month to commence work on the water body, which is set to see eastern and northern Harareans bidding farewell to the water woes that they have endured for decades.
In July 2020, Tel One completed a network enhancement project, the National Broadband Project, which was financed by the China Exim Bank to the tune of US$98 million. In March this year, President Mnangagwa officially commissioned the Zimbabwe Information Technology Company (ZITCO), which manufactures computers, electricity meters and smart water meters and other technology-related items. The company is a joint venture involving Tel One, a Chinese company Inspur and a Government-owned company, Flushcord Enterprises.
For those who still mistakenly think that major investment deals only originate from the East, let it be known that despite the sanctions and the propaganda against Zimbabwe, some wise Western companies are taking advantage of the investment opportunities.
These include the Australian firm Invictus, whose gas and oil mining project in the Muzarabani area of Mashonaland Central Province is taking shape.
