Zimpapers Logo

Keith Guzah Correspondent
While it may be viewed as a policy climbdown by some, level-headed people across the Zimbabwean body politic consider the recent Government stance on revisions to the indigenisation laws as a triumph of pragmatism over mindless radicalism.As early as 1878, scholars like C. S. Pearce have identified pragmatism as a practical and “matter-of-factly” manner of resolving human development challenges based on the prospect of outcomes that are practically implementable.

The revision of the indigenisation law by the Zimbabwean Government opens avenues for realistic policy options which appeal to the common sense of sustainable business development.

The most conspicuous features of the new approach is the appeal to international best practice. Two models applied in the Middle East are: The Joint Empowerment Investment Model (JEIM) and the Production Sharing Model (PSM).

The PSM is a cluster of agreements signed between the Government and the extractive company indicating how much of the revenue each will get. This has been used extensively in the Middle East for the purposes of governing oil resources. The agreement is consonant with Indigenisation and Land Reform underlying principles whereby the autochthonous stakeholders remain with 100 percent ownership to mineral resources and agricultural land. Investors, on the other hand, recover start-up and get returns from investment (ROI) and rebates on operations costs before the sharing of the production outputs.

The JEIM facilitates joint ventures as a model for raising capital for building wholly Zimbabwean-owned enterprises. This way partners get immediate utility from the participation in the local economy while the locals immediately build capacity for future sustainability.

This applies to all the sectors except mining and agriculture. These are considered to be vital to the national strategic interests and also key determinants of national interest and security. Therefore, the Government has singled out these two for extra meticulous implementation.

More than ever before the Zimbabwean Government has demonstrated to the world that the indigenisation and empowerment agenda is not a retributive agenda but a corrective measure to inequalities which after their redress facilitate a return to business normality than can satisfy the basic laws of economics and business production.

The National Business Council of Zimbabwe (NBCZ) throws its weight behind this pragmatic approach. At the NBCZ from our very foundations, due to our thrust on sustainable development, we have built our framework based on continuous learning. The same introspection with which we recognised and implemented capacity support in the era of indigenisation, we also embrace this paradigmatic shift towards greater investor incentivisation thereby attracting a global flow of capital towards the economy, in the process becoming a driver for the successful implementation of Zim-Asset.

The Zimbabwean economy, having redefined itself along the lines of relative equitable distribution now actively integrates with the global market in full compliance with the ethos and norms of free market economics.

Recognising the wide platform for growth, the NBCZ pro-actively align our policies to the emerging national development needs by agitating for training to foment the most progressive path effectively pursuing dynamic socio-economic objectives.

It is therefore important that all symposia and training programmes shall be dynamically adjusted to meet the demands of this new path to sustainable development. The entrepreneurs have to be clear on the various opportunities that are available as a result of these new policies.

They need to integrate that into their business planning and market research in order to create sustainable business plans. On the other hand, the investors stand to gain a lot of confidence due to the predictability of the investment environment.