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Vandudzayi Zirebwa Buy Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe’s assumption of the SADC chairmanship while most welcome has also placed the country in a catch 22 position economically.
On one hand as incoming chair she must be seen to lead in the process of facilitating the opening up of her borders to the rest of regional bloc and at the same time she needs to balance her self interest and national survival with the demand to fully liberalise.
This comes as she is trying to ensure that the economy remains on an upward trajectory despite several challenges such as economic sanctions as well as low levels of foreign direct investment.

The option open to her is talking to the other states so they grant her some limited derogation to sort out the serious liquidity crunch and high import bill so that in a few years this very rich country can fully participate in socio economic development in ways that stabilise the region.

In fact it must be understood by all our neighbours that due to Zimbabwe’s geographic centrality and importance to security of the region her economic well being must be guarded jealously to ensure that Southern Africa retains her status as the most stable region in Africa and indeed the entire world.

However, Zimbabwe must also impress upon SADC that due to the peculiarity of her challenges, tariffs alone are difficult to enforce.
The simple appreciation of the dollar which the country has no control over totally renders such instruments ineffective against the tide of imports that are choking industrial productivity.

As such Zimbabwe must be given an opportunity to self correct by seeking first to save the money she is generating and minimizing imports through a raft of measures some of which must be statutory and protective of her economic interests.

At the just ended Buy Zimbabwe Public Procurement Conference it emerged that we can learn a lot from our neighbours South Africa, who at present have a smart way of managing their public procurement.

In that country companies bidding for tenders are required not only to provide a tax clearance certificate but should also tender applications with a Proudly South African certificate of compliance which among other things defines; what they produce, percentage of local content, number of people employed and related items.

Marks are assigned to each of those requirements and it is the company with not only the best price but highest scores on local compliance who actually win the tender. Prior to release of money an audit must actually be done to verify the details provided.

In the case of multinationals that do not wish to provide such compliance certificate the requirement is that a certain percentage of the amount they get from the tender is channelled into a fund that is used to promote South African enterprises.

The beauty of this arrangement is that not only does it create new enterprises but frees up space for domestic competition and has become a key instrument by the South African Government to tie its public procurement process to developmental programmes such as job creation, empowering youths and using national resource in a targeted way.

It does seem only reasonable that SADC will not deny Zimbabwe as the chair the opportunity to try out such a method and a few others that the rest her neighbours are implementing.

After all we are now being touted as the most liberal market though our competitiveness is still way below our peers.
Interestingly as Zimbabwe is in the midst of debating these issues, the African Union recently issued a position paper that sought to advise countries on the continent that effective entry into the global market can only succeed when they grow their domestic markets.

In the paper the African Union warns against an appetite for imports that lack any relationship with local industry.
The irony of it all is that as Zimbabwe dilly dallies on which way to go between so called protectionist measures and economic liberalization the United Kingdom who have an even more stable economy and do not suffer from liquidity crunch issues, have been much more resolute.

On July 20, the British Prime, David Cameron issued directive to British public institutions to give preference to local manufacturers in their procurement.
In that directive, public institutions were advised against giving overdue weight to issues of price by ensuring that even in instances where British suppliers are 40 percent higher that imported products they are given contracts.

About the same time as the British were coming with these directives, the US imposed 165 percent duties on solar panels from China allegedly because such products were being dumped and killing the American industry.

The long and short of this is that countries the world over have always focused on job creation and self preservation as top priority in their trade negotiation.
Zimbabwe must follow suit. The time to Buy Zimbabwe is now.

Till we meet again, Happy Heroes Holiday and please remember with due care zero harm is possible on the road. God Bless.

[email protected], 0773751878.