Njabulo Ncube, Assistant Editor
A HIGH-POWERED Zi-mbabwe government and business delegation is expected to feature at an investment conference in London today (Thursday), headed by Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara, as the shaky coalition administration pins its hope on cash injection from the diaspora.
Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, has publicly admitted the nearly two-year-old government of national unity is technically broke as traditional international donors have been reluctant to pump cash into the tottering economy, citing alleged insincerity in the implementation of the Global Political Agreement inked by President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsva-ngirai and Mutambara.
The government needs at least US$10 billion to rejuvenate the economy as well as revive its social services which have broken down in the past decade owing to an economic melt down coupled with political impasse between ZA-NU-PF and the Move-ment for Democratic Change (MDC) formations.
Zimbabweans in the diaspora have also not overwhelmingly respo-nded to the coalition government’s call to come back and invest in the country, which has experienced some semblance of economic revival following the consummation of the power-sharing truce in February last year.
Information obta-ined by The Financial Gazette shows that Mutambara would info-rm delegates to the investment conference today in London that “for Zimbabwe’s economy to be globally competitive, the country must sort its infrastructure first”, according to a statement released by his office.
The two-day Zimb-abwe Infrastructure In-vestment Conference, convened by the Zimb-abwe Institute of Engineers (ZIE), will also hear from Water Resources Minister, Sam Sipepa Nkomo, Public Works, Minister Joel Gabbuza, Econet chief executive officer, Douglas Mboweni, the vice president and chief operating Officer of the Africa Development Bank, Nkosana Moyo, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the United Kingdom , Gabriel Mac-hinga and senior civil servants from the Transport, Information Communication Tech-nology, Energy and Water Ministries.
According to ZIE the conference is “intended to bring together the government of Zimb-abwe, diplomats, engineers, consultants, inv-estors, financiers, fund managers and multi-national companies to examine infrastructure investment opportunities in the four key areas of water, sanitation, transportation, energy and ICTs.”
“There will be a mix of keynote speakers, offered papers, exhibitions and networking opportunities at the conference.
“It is expected to make this a crucial event for all stakeholders mainly engineers, investors, policy makers, governments, consultants, contractors and academics,” ZIE said in a statement.
Mutambara, who is the head of the delegation, will speak on the subject: “Getting Zim-babwe’s infrastructure back on track, the Government of Zimb-abwe’s perspective and strategy.”
He is expected to highlight Zimbabwe’s potential as an investment destination, while addressing concerns around property rights and investor protection.
The Deputy Prime Minister, set to address a public meeting in London on Saturday night, will explain to the conference that “infrastructure is the key enabler of the economy”, according to advance excerpts of his speech distributed to journalists.
“If we are to drive the economy forward, we need to solve infrastructure issues. To make the economy competitive, we must address infrastructure problems.
“To do that, you need money, you need private sector involvement because governments cannot do it on their own, hence this conference,” Mutamb-ara will say.
Show/Hide commentswritten by jojo wepambare, July 30, 2010
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written by kulu Mafa, July 29, 2010
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written by peter matongo, July 27, 2010
I used to work for City of Harare Dept of Works. Each year we had a budget allocation to surface a given portion of roads in areas like Highfield, Glen View, Budiriro (Mabvuku, Tafara and others were built complete with tarred roads). Fast forward to this year and we are destroying the very same roads by failing to carry out basic maintenance. The City collects about $8 million monthly and it all goes to salaries and expenses, nothing goes to service provision. The Directors think its m*re important to buy an ML for the Mayor, Prados for themselves and huge salaries/ benefits on top of that.
Then we have the audacity to say sanctions have destroyed the country and go all the way to London to beg for investments from the very same sons and daughters who have fled corruption and mismanagement.
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written by Fidza Hasha, July 24, 2010
First is to make the point that the GNU is probably the best arrangement we have for Zimbabwe at the moment. At least the basic life giving commodities are available; the country is experiencing relative peace at the moment; the government is planning for the future; people are not being routienely harrased. However, there are some very strong people around the president who just can not see any other way for Zimbabwe except to keep under ZANU PF rule, and especially under Mugabe. this is mostly for selfish rather than for progressive reasons.
Credit must be given to ZANU PF and to Mugabe especially for having secured independence and for having created a very successful programme of national development in the first ten to fifteen years of our new nationhood. Equal credit must be given to the people of Zimbabwe for having made sacrifices that have led to our new found freedom. However, there is a time and place for everything. The Chimurenga approach to post war governance has limited usefulness. We need to find new ways of governing a nation which is no longer at war and sometimes, that means we have to change leadership. I am not suggesting that the MDC or indeed any other party in Zimbabwe has the right to displace ZANU PF. Indeed ZANU PF will always have role to play in post war Zimbabwe. But it has to modernise and move on with the times, otherwise it runs the risk of being seen as irrelevant at best, and as a huge distraction to progress at worst.
The second issue is that the MDC itself is extremely inexperienced and has allowed itself to play the role of a junior partner in the coalition. That is why its role has been reduced to firefighting and to become the credible face in this begging game which Mutambara etc are involved in.
For me, and I believe for many others, the real test will be the next general elections. A number of things will help ensure that we use that opportunity to secure a new Zimbabwe that will rise again to its former glory.
1. Ensure that no one, and I mean not a single person becomes subjected to any form of pressure to support or not support a party of their preference. Party leaders need to use the same platform to make such announcements and the national papers should carry the same messages in the clearest of terms.
2. The Police needs to tranform itself into a professional force and not be a party instrument to further the interests of any particular political party.
3. Everything possible should be done to ensure a free and fair vote, including allowing teams of international observers anf journalists to a*sess and comment on what is taking place.
4. leaders should make a pledge to the people of Zimbabwe that they will accept the result of a free and fair election even if the results are not in their favour.
The GNU owes it to the people of Zimbabwe to restore a credible government to oversee a fresh start in the sad story of our beloved country.
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written by Tofirei Sifelani, July 24, 2010
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written by Chinhakwe, July 23, 2010
Mutambara is known for vilifying the West: what is he doing in London not in Teheran or Beijing?
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