ZIMASSET - The only game in town

The renewed energy and enthusiasm with which, the Zanu PF leadership has embraced and is running with the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Economic Transformation (Zimasset) gospel does not only rekindle hope in the multitudes of Zimbabweans yearning for economic recovery and growth but will go a long way in rallying the masses into partaking in the only new known game in town, in the mould of the economic blue print.

Already, the economic blue print has unsettled the country's detractors. Forget about the calls for mass action being made by Morgan Tsvangirai, those should be understood in the context from which Zimasset has generated uneasiness within believers of white supremacy. It is no coincidence that some Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have also joined Tsvangirai in his futile calls.

These side shows should not detract the leadership in Zanu PF as Zimasset is an all-State –actor's game. It starts and ends with the State, where it is either won or lost. The State in this case being defined as all public and private institutions operating under the laws of Zimbabwe.

In this regard, firstly it is within the State that the implementing arms of Zimasset are found and these come in the form of parastatals or companies owned by Government. Some that easily come to mind include the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM), Netone, Telone, Agricultural Development Authority (ARDA), National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), Industrial Development Coporation (IDC) just to name a few. Private companies are also included. Secondly, you have those who are monitoring the implementation, such as the security agencies, the National Economic Commission Inspectorate (NECI), Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) just to name a few.

The success of Zimasset, therefore, partly but critically lies in the full capacitation of these monitoring institutions in terms of both human and financial resources. It is therefore very crucial for Government to ensure as it mobilises financial resources to flow into industry it prioritises the capacitation of these monitoring institutions. It is an open secret that Government provides the largest business opportunities in any given economy, hence the need for a robust system to overseer its day to day running.

In this vein, the same manner that ExxonMobil is the mainstay of the American company, so should ZMDC be to Zimbabwe, considering the abundant natural resources that we have in this country. It is interesting to note that ExxonMobil even enjoys more security than any American Embassy that you can think of the world over. This is the esteem with which the Americans hold their cash cow.

Sad though for Zimbabwe, is the stubborn fact that it is the only country that has over the years run a non-profit making communications company as epitomised by Tel One.

It is for that reason that under Zimasset establishment of institutions such as the Border Authority of Zimbabwe should be expedited as it comes with robust systems to eliminate leakages at the country's borders. Establishment of such does not need any line of credit nor FDI's but only the political will as the project can be self-financing.

Another evil that we have to deal with to make Zimasset a success is externalisation. In as much as seeking lines of credit and FDI is important, safeguarding the forex within the country is equally a huge responsibility. Therein lies the concept of externalisation an issue that has always been looked from a point of view of big business. In Zimbabwe It has never been viewed from the vantage of "unconscious" externalisation.

As we speak, the civil servants wage bill is estimated at $155 million per month. The bulk of each and every individual civil servant is on recurrent expenditure; domestic consumption to be precise, notwithstanding other expenses like payments of school fees and rentals. The products consumed by the same civil servants are largely imported mostly from South Africa. Most of these products fetch profit margins which are above 100 per cent of which the bulk of the proceeds are not banked in the country but find their way back to South Africa. This way, civil servants and the generality of the people become an unconscious conduit of externalisation of the hard earned forex.

There is also the Angels craze that has also hit town, mainly specialising in clothing. People make orders in advance for clothes bought in South Africa at lesser prices than those in our local shops. This may necessitate an investigation on the rules of origins of some of the products being sold here in Zimbabwe and presumably from South Africa. But then this is a subject for another day.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development the country has at least 25 000 registered small scale miners. Zimbabwe Artisanal and Small Scale Miners Association (ZASSMA) contends that the country has at least 1,5 million "illegal" panners. To be extremely conservative imagine each one of these panners mining a gramme of gold per month! Unfortunately, this is the same gold that finds its way out through our porous borders.

One of the key projects being undertaken in Zimbabwe is road construction. A key component of this project is bitumen which is imported from South Africa. It comes in tanks and contains about 70 per cent water. Surely how can the country waste its hard earned forex importing water when there is plenty of it in this beautiful land?

On the challenges and solutions Zimbabweans needs to take  adopt on its path to economic recovery, Minister of Industry and Commerce Mike Bimha could not have summed it up better.

In an interview with a Zimbabwean local daily, The Zimbabwe Mail, Bimha is quoted as having said: "We are failing to achieve some of our economic goals because we are trying to follow economic models given to us by other nations. Some will come and suggest that follow what Nigeria has done, others will come and say try the road used by China. That is where we are losing it.

"Take for instance in the area of Special Economic Zones, every country had their own way of doing things. We need to come up with our own solutions that address challenges that our economy is facing and we should always have that in mind."

Rightly said Mike. Home grown solutions is the way to go. Let the Zimasset games begin.