Bureaucratic procedures scares away investors - Senator Mohadi

Zanu PF Senator for Beitbridge Tambudzani Mohadi has said the bureaucratic procedures scares away investors hence an need for the government to introduce measures that will promote foreign direct investment.

Speaking during senate seating, Mohadi said for a long time would be investors have complained about the cumbersome bureaucratic procedures that they have to go through in order to set up shop in the country.

"The result has been that a lot of them have turned to other countries where the processes are streamlined," said Mohadi.

"It is against this background that we welcome the pronouncement by the President that the Companies Act and related pieces of legislation will be overhauled in order to improve the business environment in the country. The State Procurement Board (SPB) has been operating in an opaque manner for a long time and in the process, has raised a lot of concerns relating to corrupt activities in the awarding of tenders."

" We have heard of instances where major tenders have been awarded to briefcase business people without the capacity to undertake the projects in question. For example Mr. President, if I can refer you to the Harare –Masvingo – Beitbridge tender, which was given to such people and it never took off because those people did not have enough money," she added.

Mohadi said the result has been the mushrooming of tender preneurs. We therefore welcome the indications by His Excellency that the State Procurement Amendment Bill, which seeks to improve efficiency in the public procurement system, will be tabled during this Session.

"We also welcome the announcement by His Excellency that the Special Economic Zones Bill, which seeks to promote exports, boost industrilisation and enhance skills transfer, will be tabled during this Session. For a long time, there has been talk of establishing these zones but the legislative framework has not been put in place. This is indeed a welcome development," Mohadi said. "We also welcome the indication by His Excellency that the Government is ready and willing to include the concerns of social partners in any future amendments of the Labour Relations Act."

Mohadi said His Excellency the President Robert Mugabe also alluded to the establishment of the Land Commission as provided for in Section 296 of the Constitution. Again, we welcome this development since there are many issues related to the Land Reform Programme that need to be addressed urgently.

"The issues include the issue of multiple ownership of farms, maximum farm sizes, and that of productivity on the land," she said.