The Sunday Mail
Editor’s Brief
Victoria Ruzvidzo
The Private sector should be applauded for the great work it has done to help keep the economy afloat, at times under the most trying circumstances. It has not been an economy for the weak.
Firms and their executives have largely been resilient over the years and have even come up with survival strategies not just for themselves but for the economy at large.
We have seen many rise to the occasion to launch an international public relations campaign to lure trade and investment while correcting the generally warped narrative about Zimbabwe.
Some have even secured deals for this economy that have kept it standing despite a myriad of challenges that could have drowned even the most resilient of economies.
In fact a solid and formidable private sector has been a key cornerstone of Zimbabwe’s economic revival. Government has often commended the sector for complementing its effort to restore the economy, in some instances going out of its way to ensure the economy does not sink.
The economy has enjoyed explorations into new and foreign markets thanks to the innovative mind-sets prevalent in the private sector.
Furthermore, previously unchartered territories are now being fully exploited and, together with links with Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, penetration into new markets and attainment of modern ways of doing business in the ever-changing economic landscape has been made easier. Credit here also going to the private sector.
The notable and very commendable increase in exports, to US$4 billion in 2020 can be, in no small measure, also attributable to efforts by the private sector.
Although retrenchments have been experienced in the sector, many companies have remained in operation, trying every trick in and outside the book to retain staff. This has kept many families with at least two meals a day and a roof above their heads.
A few business executives have even been appointed as President Mnangagwa’s advisers as a strategy to jointly find solutions to economic challenges. This has helped a great deal according to the President.
“I created what we call the Presidential Advisory Council where the big guns in industry and commerce come and discuss with me, as President, and my colleagues and discuss what we should do to modernise, to mechanise and industrialise our economy.
“We have the responsibility to create an economic environment where such things can thrive and e discuss, and this is what is happening,” said President Mnangagwa in an interview published last week.
The smart partnerships between Government and business, and the prosper-thy-neighbour tenets inherent in such co-operation are obviously critical as Zimbabwe looks to grow its economy and achieve an upper middle-income economy by 2030.
This target is no fallacy and Zimbabwe has potential to achieve it sooner rather than later.
However, while all this is plausible, a few bad apples in the private sector have been involved in deals and transactions that are throwing spanners in the works being done to rebuild the economy. Authorities need to be watchful of these.
During the interview last week, the President lamented that some financial institutions were involved in deals to sabotage the economy. This is most unfortunate and a dereliction of their responsibility as the heart of the economy.
While we are not yet privy to their latest shenanigans, the President is aware and has made his pronouncements.
“There are sharks in the financial sector. We know who they are. We are dealing with them,” said the President.
We cannot afford to have the sector and the economy messed by a few at the expense of the majority.
Over the last few weeks the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has reported investigations into illicit foreign currency transactions by some companies on the foreign exchange auction market.
They are misdirecting funds in some instances while also fuelling activities in the parallel market as they myopically see “opportunities to make fast and quick bucks” on a market that almost singlehandedly brought the economy to its knees.
We support the strong handed approach by the central bank. We understand its financial intelligence unit is not sleeping at all as it combs through transactions to weed out the poisonous ones.
The central bank should press hard and press ahead to ensure every cent applied for is put to the intended use. Those caught with their hands in the cookie jar must be dealt with decisively.
Zimbabwe need corporate citizens and business executives singing from the same hymn book as Government and other stakeholders. Any discordant acts should be stopped by all means.
The economy has stabilised over the past few months following the launch of the foreign currency auction system that has brought sanity to a market in which illegal activities were ruling the roost and destabilising the economy.
It always boggles the mind why anyone would want to jeopardise national efforts to restore an economy in which they themselves are resident, in the full knowledge of the repercussions.
Illicit forex trading heavily destabilised the financial sector and economy at large and almost brought the sector down to its knees were it not for the intervention of our revered President through formulation and implementation of various policies, frameworks and pieces of legislation.
We had banks pumping money into runner’s accounts to get foreign currency on the black market
We had banks misusing depositors’ hard earned money to finance these illicit deals resulting in untold suffering of their clients who were on many occasions unable to access money that was supposed to be in their accounts.
Rampant money laundering by private companies depriving the economy of the much needed forex was the order of the day.
We do not want to go back to those days. In fact the economy cannot afford to recede to those levels again.
Indeed a lot of the flouting of financial regulations has been spearheaded by the private sector in chase of a quick buck, albeit at the expense of the rest of the economy.
On the other hand, Zimbabwe losses an estimated US$100 million a month through gold smuggling. This is a figure that could boost the economy in many ways. Irresponsible corporate citizens involved in such games should not go unpunished. Other minerals are also said to be suffering the same fate. Such destructive tendencies are costly to the economy and should not be allowed to stand in the way of progress.
Furthermore, local and regional courts are handling cases of externalisation, under invoicing and other such, where Zimbabwean firms are prejudicing the country of millions of dollars.
A former giant mining firm disbanded recently was also in the news for prejudicing the country of millions of dollars in revenue before it was disbanded. Its executives were said to have been siphoning large sums of money.
Executives from a sugar giant were also caught manipulating systems and company results, costing the economy in the process.
On their part retailers and wholesalers withholding or dumping products to attain various ends must desist from this. For example, some pharmacies are heavily involved in the illegal black market trade of broncleer and other drug deals prevalent on the streets and being used as recreational drugs by youths.
This has haemorrhaged the medical industry, the education sector and the economy at large while laying waste a lot of the potential resident in the victims who mostly become redundant and mentally deranged, among other physiological hazards. This, at a time when the country is in need of every brain cell it can get to contribute to nation building and economic advancement.
Furthermore, some pharmacies are charging exorbitant prices in United States Dollars or black market equivalent Zimbabwe dollar rates for prescription drugs leaving them out of reach of many.
We have also witnessed in recent weeks some shops increasing prices of basic goods such as sugar, cooking oil, milk and mealie meal without justification.
Tax evasion has also been the order of the day with many private companies importing products worth millions of dollars but paying little or nothing to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority.
Law enforcement agents need not relent in their quest to bring offenders to book. All systems must be summoned to sanitise the country of such bad corporate citizens.
Such platforms as the Tripartite Negotiation Forum and the National Economic Consultative Forum should impress upon all stakeholders the need to for all stakeholders to play ball.
Economic targets under the National Development Strategy should not be too difficult to meet if we all do our best.
Those working in the dark to undo efforts to attain economic growth should think again.
In God I Trust!
Twitter handle: @VictoriaRuzvid2; Email: [email protected]; [email protected]; WhatsApp number: 0772 129 992.
