The government has announced plans for a complete dissolution of all ZESA Holdings subsidiary boards saying the move is one of the priorities under the state enterprises and parastatals reform agenda. In his 2023 Budget presentation last week, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said:
State Enterprise and Parastatals reforms have been guided by the SEPs Short to Medium Term Reform Framework (SEPs-SMTRF), the National Development Strategy (NDS) 1 and Vision 2030. Drawing lessons from the successes and challenges faced in implementing the SEPs-SMTRF since 2018, it is envisaged that the SEPs reform priorities for 2023 will be guided by the following:
(a) Completion of the following on-going SEPs reforms: • Engagement of strategic partners for IDBZ, POSB, IDC Subsidiaries, TelOne and NetOne; • Merger of Genesis and Petrotrade; • Merger of BAZ with POTRAZ; • Merging of Powertel, Zarnet and Africom; • Complete dissolution of all subsidiary Boards for ZESA Holdings and allow ZPC to engage strategic partners for its power generation projects; • Implement approved reforms and capacity enhancement for ZIMPARKS;
• Capital raising strategies for Silo Foods, ZUPCO and Allied Timbers; and • Implementation of the short-term recapitalization strategy of the National Railways of Zimbabwe.
(b) Transform the Traffic Safety Council into a Traffic Safety Agency, with appropriate legal standing to effectively enforce road safety systems in the country.
(c) Undertake a holistic evaluation of public entities reforms through strategic portfolio reviews and comprehensive diagnostic analysis by sector. This will inform the best reform options for each entity on a case-by-case basis.
In this regard, line Ministries would be required to play a central role to ensure that all public entities under their purview are included in the reviewed Framework.
(d) A number of SOEs have been transformed and now operate viably, for example, Air Zimbabwe.
Government has over the years created investment vehicles and partnered private sector players through joint ventures, to invest in various.