The passage of the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (ZIDA) Bill through Parliament last week marks a milestone by the Second Republic to improve, in a significant way, the ease of doing business in the country.
Mr Speaker Sir, it will be recalled that there was a lot of interest and debate that was generated by ZIDA Bill during the Second Reading Stage and Committee Stage, with legislators proposing amendments which they felt would go a long way in improving it.
Quite clearly, Mr Speaker Sir, once the Bill is signed into law by President Mnangagwa it will inevitably mark an important milestone in the road towards making Zimbabwe a middle-income country by 2030, as it is crucial to wealth creation, job creation and to individual and social empowerment.
The objective of the Bill is to unlock the much needed foreign direct investment into the country and is modelled along successful stories in other countries like Rwanda and Botswana that are great examples of countries operating successful one stop investment centres in Africa.
Equally important, Mr Speaker Sir, it is anchored on the Transitional Stabilisation Programme, which is underpinned by the call to undertake structural reform measures to mitigate the challenge and risks faced by the economy, in particular, the low investment in the country.
Last year, President Mnangagwa was charmed by the efficient governance systems in Rwanda when he visited Kigali and had to invite that country’s governance expert Ms Clare Akamanzi to share experiences with Cabinet Ministers, Politburo members, senior Government officials and members of the private sector.
Ms Akamanzi, who is the Rwandan Development Board (RDB) chief executive, held several meetings aimed at sharing experiences on how that country has achieved efficiency.
Tapping from the experience, Zimbabwe structured ZIDA Bill in a manner that seeks to achieve those broad objectives.
The Bill combines the mandates of three existing pieces of legislation that deal with investment, namely the Zimbabwe Investment Authority Act, the Special Economic Zones Act and the Joint Ventures Act.
At the apex of the new Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency, as will be recalled, will be the chief executive officer, appointed by the President himself in the first instance (or, in the future, the minister or Vice President administering the Act).
The CEO will be assisted by an Advisory Board of ZIDA, and will ultimately be accountable to Parliament through his or her annual reports, which in itself is the basic tenet of corporate governance.
The Zimbabwe Investment Authority, which is one of the legal instruments to be absorbed by ZIDA Bill, was responsible for issuing licences to foreign and domestic investors and smoothing the way for the commencement of the licensees’ operations.
The Special Economic Zones Act establishes SEZs wherein investors primarily involved in the export trade enjoyed certain privileges, such as exemption from ordinary customs tariffs.
It will also be recalled, Mr Speaker Sir, that the Joint Venture Act was concerned with the exploitation by foreign and domestic investors of State–owned resources, such as land, contracts for Government utilities in the power, transport and water resource field, and the like.
