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Cde Nyasha Mandeya

Elections have come and gone. Zanu-PF as the winning party is working at forming a new government. Star FM presenter Morris Mkwate talks to Zanu-PF Director of Economic Affairs Cde Nyasha Mandeya on what the new Government should do to fulfil its promises.

MM: We just had our elections in Zimbabwe and Zanu-PF won resoundingly in the recently held July 31 elections what can Zimbabweans expect in the first six months from the Zanu-PF led government?

NM: First of all I would like to express my profound gratitude to all the Zimbabweans who rallied behind the revolutionary party and voted for Zanu-PF.

I must say it was based on credit as we had an ideologically supreme manifesto. In the first six months Zanu-PF is going to be very busy and we are expecting to start rolling out most of the promises we laid out in our manifesto.

First of all we are looking at the agrarian reform as we are faced with the 2013 farming season which Zanu-PF will treat as a matter of urgency and importance to be able to consolidate the gains of the agrarian reform.

The party will roll out several mechanisation and capitalisation programmes to ensure that farmers are adequately resourced to fully utilise the land for the benefit of the masses.

We are looking at some of the partners mentioned in the manifesto mainly AgriBank where Zanu-PF the governing party will avail quite a large amount of funds to be able to roll out these mechanisation input programmes to ensure that farmers are adequately resourced to use the land. We are also going to look at the budget and also on civil servants remuneration. And I am sure there is going to be quite handsome packages coming out through the budget.

We are also going to look at the mining sector where I’m sure there is going to be a lot of exploration as we believe that exploration is one of the key value-addition mechanisms whereby by at the end of the day as government will be able to quantify in value the mineral resource and riches that the country has and we will be able to roll out several programmes within the mining sector and also assist the small scale miners.

There will be bailout packages that the people’s party will roll out to so as to resuscitate the manufacturing sector and assist all the distressed industries. We are also looking at consolidating the gains made by the implementation of the indigenisation and economic policy as we speak right now there has been an avalanche of compliance plans by most of the companies that had adopted a wait and see attitude that if the election outcome gone otherwise there would probably have see a reversal of the indigenisation policy.

MM: You are talking of an avalanche how many companies have come forth?

NM: I am not at liberty to give those exact facts but we are looking over a 1000 companies coming with compliance plans. And as we speak we are hoping that there is going to be benefits accruing first and foremost to the employees of those companies and to the communities surrounding those companies. And also to benefits accruing to the sovereign wealth fund that is meant to actually be the buffer that will roll out most of the funds to the key sectors of the economy.

MM: The Zanu-PF manifesto had a cornerstone during the election campaign period and this was taking back the economy, indigenise, empower develop and create employment. In the manifesto the party promised to unlock value to the tune of US$7,3 billion dollars by indigenising 1 138 multi-national corporations operating in the country. Some of the issues the government seeks to tackle in the first six months of its being in office. Is this part of the process that is being expedited in that period or there is scope to expand it over a longer period.

NM: There is definitely a scope to go beyond the six months because there are a lot of modalities that also have to be taken into cognisance when you have to implement such paradigm shifting in programmes such as the indigenisation programme because there are also arms or pockets of resistance from some of us who are still in denial that this is the party that is in government and our manifesto is going to become a reality.

We are having an avalanche of companies that had not yet complied with the indigenisation policy that are already coming in with their plans on their own so I am sure that this is a positive development from industry whereby we do not have to be chasing after each other rather they have come to the acceptance of reality that indigenisation as a policy is indeed here to stay and is going to be fully implemented without leaving any stones unturned.

In the first six months there is going to be a lot of approving the plans and I am sure it will go beyond that as far as implementation is concerned it will go by case by case basis as regards to how each firm intends to operationise their indigenisation plan.

M.M: Analysts say there is the US$10 billion foreign debt, the abuse of the Constituency Development Fund, councils abusing funds and corruption that needs to nipped in the bud by the Government. This is a Zanu-PF Government, what is your response to that?
NM: I would like to agree that corruption needs to be attended to but also to mention that corruption has been positively correlated to the people incomes or poverty levels. As far as Zanu-PF wants to eradicate poverty through its pro-poor policies we would also hope that we have a positive change in the attitude towards corruption. In as far as legislators are concerned there will be a performance measurement scheme to ensure that legislators do not abuse the CDF.

Nature has it that those who misused the funds were met with resistance by the electorate who read into their activities and did not see development on the group. I am sure every Member of Parliament is sure that they need to be right on that level if they are to return their seats.

MM: The agricultural season is already upon us especially where tobacco is concerned and Zanu-PF promised to capacitate Agribank to the tune of US$2 billion to stimulate agricultural production can farms expect to see some action on this front or it is too early?

NM: The incoming Government is definitely going to up with clear measures and targets in as much as how much is going to be rolled out this season and as you know traditionally Zanu-PF has always had a plan for each and every season regardless of if it is in government of national unity or on its own. Farmers should definitely expect a huge bail out for inputs, irrigation schemes and other mechanisation programmes that improve agricultural output.

MM: Mrs Mandeya, you touched on the need for exploration or that the country may not have the actual figures of its mineral wealth. How far have we gone in having a body that explores the mineral wealth of this country and how soon can we expect to have that body set?

NM: Under the GNU arrangement we had a problem with the dysfunctional government where certain progressive programmes like that one could not be implemented as we faced a bit of resistance but through the ministry of mines we had already started on the programme to capacitate the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation to be able to embark on a vehicle that is responsible for exploration activities. There are funds that have been set aside and channelled towards that.

We hope to see that company fully operational within the first six months because exploration is one of the key value edition activities whereby we will be able to leverage economic development programmes and plans on how much exactly we have in terms of mineral resources.

We are talking of huge mineral deposits in uranium, diamond, platinum, gas and coal reserves and as we speak there are concerted efforts to ensure that we have the exact value of our mineral resources to be able to partner foreign investors and use the mining sector as a springboard for economic development.

MM: Talking of Indigenisation and Community Share Ownership schemes, how are various projects that are meant to benefit communities arrived at, because you are talking of just a few individuals, few elites gaining much from Community Share Ownership schemes obviously we need to look at the processes and this is where the disparities emerge if there are any. How is the process done, don’t the views come from the grass roots, is it from top down or the other way round?

NM: In terms of management of the Community Share Ownership Schemes there is actually a management community which has got representatives from council, society, traditional chiefs for instance if it is in the rural areas and other representatives from the community stand there to communicate the needs and priorities of the people in the grassroots.

It is a concept that was started within the GNU and it’s a concept that we now consolidating to ensure that as fully in operation and that all those funds that were pledged by companies who complied with the Indigenisation Policy are made the funds available. We want to start seeing activities and action in as for making sure the Community Share Ownership schemes live up to their name of being community based and benefiting largely the community.

For instance you are looking at projects of building schools, repairing clinics and assisting youths and women who have their projects within those communities so it is important that we have these schemes funded and start to be operational and make sure the objectives are met.

MM: Every time we talk about the economy, one of the major issues that emerge is that of unemployment. Various figures have been thrown around some say the unemployment rate in the country is 70 percent while others prefer to cut it down to halve it and so on. But you spoke of indigenisation and economic empowerment being a vehicle through which the country can actually eradicate unemployment and also create employers rather than employees, and we are talking about the first six months of the government here. Is it possible to cut down this unemployment rate within the first six months were indigenisation or any other process will be implemented to ensure that we have tangible results?

NM: I’ve seen some trying to release sensationalised figures coming up as high as 90 percent and that gets us back to the drawing board as far as how we defining unemployment.

If we are looking at ideological perspective of Zanu-PF indigenisation and economic empowerment programme we are looking at us being our own employers, self employment as one aspect that may not be contextualised within the international definitions of unemployment. So as such scary of those 90 percent will be mentioned in the instance of Zimbabwe and I think we actually need to move from that definition to a more progressive definition where we see ourselves being owners of our own resources and having control of the means of production.

So through the indigenous and economic policy we should be creating more of the employers that will also have that multiplier effect throughout the economy where we have our own brothers and sisters being capacitated through financial credit, skills, capacity development, start their own projects and employ fellow brothers and sisters and such it is achievable within the governing framework to be able to reduce those figures drastically change the mindset to a proper and more progressive definition.

MM: Does indigenisation support those who benefit from already existing companies or it also supports those who started their own projects?

NM: Indigenisation is meant to support already existing projects so that they reach their full potential as well as green fields and any other new projects as well as what you are doing makes economic sense and is a bankable project that is profitable and able to economically sustain the people that it has to employ.

So I would say it is a broad-based and all encompassing policy.

MM: What are you doing to ensure that we cut down on imports and support local industry?

NM: It will be one of the government’s key priorities to protect local industry — various measures such as the import substitution where there will be duties and other charges to dissuade importation of goods and services from outside the country at the expense of local industry.

I believe that it is going to be complemented by concessionary funding facilities and other incentives such as tax exemptions meant to protect our companies. We will also have laws that compel local industries to buy raw materials locally and retailers to buy locally.