[CONCLUSION AND WAY FORWARD]


• RECOMMENDATIONS : The Way Forward
• CLOSING REMARKS

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RECOMMENDATIONS : The Way Forward

1. A clear –cut policy on indigenisation and privatisation should be developed;

2. There should be transparency in the privatisation policy and an improvement in the quality of governance in the country;

3. Remove inconsistencies in government policies e.g. case of Strive Masiyiwa versus Government versus Indigenisation Policy;

4. Encourage that all privatisation proceeds be paid as cash up – front to the Government only if there is a cash budget;

5. Have an autonomous Privatisation Agency;

6. Have political will in our leaders;

7. Have a comprehensive stakeholder analysis of who should buy a parastatal to be privatised;

8. Promote privatisation with competition through breaking down companies or have the corporations to be privatized broken down into small units i.e. un-bundle Public Enterprises (PEs) before privatisation;

9. Government should have a policy to deal with parastatal debt overhand as a once –off exercise e.g. consider debt write –off;

10. Address the question of how the indigenous investors are to be financed for them to participate in the privatisation process;

11. Draw lessons from other countries rather than reinvent the wheel, e.g. have privatisation financed through the voucher system;

12. Ensure macroeconomic stability prevails in the country in order that privatisation or indigenisation succeeds. Government should make a concerted effort to correct the situation;

13. The way forward should not only look at Government and „others" in bad light „except us". There is need to take the challenge of reviewing what we can do to improve the situation, rather than continue to blame the Government and others except us;

14. Institute a Committee that links up with the Parliamentary Budget Committee on issues raised at this workshop;

15. Management in place before privatisation should not be the same as that management that will run the newly privatised company otherwise the non –performing managers who ran down a parastatal will perpetuate problems in the new company;

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16. Government should be encouraged to speak of developing the informal sector rather than indigenization, otherwise we cause unnecessary wars through what we say and do;

17. Allow the private sector to be represented at the Privatisation Agency for instance through inclusion on the Board;

18. Make use of existing structures in making the voice of the people heard, for instance through the National Economic Consultative Forum (NECF) and the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF);

19. Need to address capitalization issues of privatised companies;

20. Need for clear objectives of privatization. At present there are multiple objectives such as raising funds for the Government, increasing efficiency and indigenization and economic empowerment. Ensure that the objectives are not conflicting;

21. Need for Government commitment to privatisation for instance, the Millennium Budget proposes to raise $5 billion through the sale of state enterprises. This gives rise to an average of $1.4 billion a year; There is need to ensure that this is done;

22. There is need to speed up the privatization process as long promised by Government;

23. Need to involve employees in the privatisation process e.g. the privatisation of agricultural parastatals through involvement of small holder farmers;

24. Need to put in place new initiatives that facilitate the participation of disadvantaged groups in the privatisation process e.g. small scale farmers have shown limited capacity to acquire shares under a market-based financing vehicle;

25. The Privatisation Agency should consider other financing methods such as the use of deferred payments, the voucher system etc;

26. Government should consider making the Privatisation Agency a one-stop-shop for privatisation;

27. Need for sophisticated and rigorous regulatory structures to protect consumer interest. The Regulatory Authority has to be autonomous and it this should be provided for in the new constitution;

28. Need for a developed banking network that ensures availability of credit facilities; a functionally literate community that can mobilize required resources to purchase public enterprises and a pool of managers that have the right business acumen. These, among others, are necessary conditions for successful privatisation;

29. Need to eliminate monopolies by encouraging competition.

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CLOSING REMARKS

Mr Benard Mufute of the CZI officially closed the workshop. In his concluding remarks, Mr Mufute thanked all the participants for the valuable contributions made during the deliberations, particularly what emerged out of the one-and- half-day dialogue. He emphasised some of the issues raised on the way forward and advised that once the workshop report has been finalised, consideration is being made to present the findings to the authorities through existing structures such as the NECF and the TNF.

Mr Lovemore Kadenge extended apologies to the participants on behalf of some presenters who could not turn up at the workshop as agreed. These were the National Economic Planning Commission, with a paper on Privatisation Update – Zimbabwe’s Experience, Dr Mthuli Ncube with a paper entitled Privatisation as a Tool for Indigenisation and the presence of the Privatisation Agency.