Zim’s reform agenda — One year on

IT is one year since the election of President Emmerson Mnangagwa to the helm of the State. This marks an important milestone for a new administration which has made reform a key priority, seeking to sweep away the decades of misrule and mismanagement which had become so synonymous with Zimbabwe during the First Republic.

Much has changed but, of course, very significant challenges remain — prime amongst them, the fragility of our economy as it transitions towards the path of sustainable growth, further impacted, now, by the serious effect of drought-induced food insecurity and the lingering aftermath of Cyclone Idai.

Managing the combination of all this would prove daunting to any government, especially one such as ours which is pursuing a serious, far- reaching reform agenda without any form of budgetary or other financial support from those institutions which, traditionally, would underwrite such economic restructuring. We are doing it largely on the basis of our own resources.

And, of course, as His Excellency has repeatedly acknowledged, Government is acutely aware of the painful effect these austerity measures are having upon the already long-suffering people of Zimbabwe. But as His Excellency has also said, these measures are necessary to ensure the stabilisation of our economy and to put the nation back on a path of growth and development.

On the basis of sustained primary budget surpluses, resources are being directed to cushion, wherever possible, the most vulnerable and needy within our society from the impact of these admittedly harsh measures.

We all need to be patient: to be disciplined and to trust that reform agenda being implemented will deliver us all from the depths to which the previous administration — so detached from the people and so contaminated by avarice and corruption — had taken

our beloved country.

As we celebrate the anniversary of the July 2018 election and its tragic aftermath, there will be those within opposition ranks and elsewhere who will seek to take advantage of our current economic hardships coupled with the emotion which, understandably such anniversaries tend to generate: and they will seek to add to the challenge confronting our nation by encouraging and promoting chaos on our streets.

Zimbabweans, of whichever political persuasion they are, should see through such obvious and cynical opportunism and simply refuse to be used as pawns by malcontents who, still, have no practical or workable vision of their own.

They oppose for the sake of opposition but their fractious immaturity and inconsistency offers little to our people and, frankly, is becoming tedious and somewhat threadbare both within Zimbabwe and amongst those beyond our shores who have supported them.

Government will not be deterred from pursuing the agreed reform agenda.

Already the political space is vastly freer and more open than ever it was under the first republic. The 2018 harmonised electoral process —observed by literally hundreds of observers both foreign and national and the very closeness of outcome provide eloquent testimony to this new reality.

The economic reform process, meticulously articulated the two- year Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) is now well advanced. International by-in for the homegrown austerity for economic recovery blueprint led to the signature of Staff Monitored Program with the IMF — itself another key step towards arrears clearance and a return to “good standing” with the major financial institutions.

We are approaching the first anniversary of the launch of the TSP. Progress has been impressive. Fiscal targets have been met. Government expenditure has been brought under strict control. Basic fundamentals are healthier than at any time in the past two decades and have permitted the monetary policy and currency reform process leading to the re-introduction of our own Zimdollar sometime later this year or early 2020.

With regards to alignment of our laws with the 2013 Cnstitution and legislative reform more broadly, very significant progress has been made. In fact, we have targeted mid-2020 as the deadline by which that process should have been fully concluded.

Of course, with regard to the repeal and placement of controversial laws such as POSA and AIPPA, progress has been slower than anticipated, but we are getting there, and to those critics both within and beyond Zimbabwe who dismiss the successor legislation as being “cosmetic” in terms of reform, we are confident that the new laws, when passed by Parliament, will be fully aligned with the Constitution in respect of the public freedoms they ensure as well as the obligations they impose upon us all.

The first anniversary of the July 2018 election also raises the issue of the recommendations proffered by the various domestic and international election observer missions. Much work has been done by the inter-ministerial task force set up by His Excellency the President in terms of examining and testing the relevance and practicality of each and every recommendation, and assessing to what extent those recommendations can be accommodated and can improve the existing electoral law.

A comprehensive matrix of recommendations is now ready for submission to Cabinet, complete with indicative timeframes within which various agreed amendments to laws and related regulations must be completed. In the vast majority of cases those indicative timeframes fall within calendar year 2020.

We do not anticipate difficulty in meeting those targets, although capacity and resource constraints remain a challenge to the overall reform exercise.

August 1 also raises the issue of the Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry and the recommendations contained in the report submitted to Government in the closing days of 2018.

Again, much progress has been made. A process of national dialogue has been initiated by His Excellency the President. Granted, it is not yet fully inclusive but that is due to the obduracy and inflated sense of self-importance which those who remain aloof from that process have arrogated unto themselves.

Compensation is being paid to the families of those who tragically lost their lives in the violence occurred on August 1 and the January 14/15 this year. That process should be complete by the end of 2019.

◆ Lt-Gen (Rtd) Sibusiso B. Moyo is the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade

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