Biti Says Mutapa Fund Used For Secretive Privatisation Of Parastatals
Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti says the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF), previously known as the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Zimbabwe, has been used to covertly privatize the country’s most important parastatals.
The MIF is a state-owned investment fund established to manage and invest surplus funds generated from Zimbabwe’s natural resources.
Created through the Sovereign Wealth Fund Act in 2014, it was renamed in 2023 via Statutory Instrument 156.
The fund manages assets from various state-owned enterprises, including NetOne, National Railways of Zimbabwe, Air Zimbabwe, TelOne, and others.
Biti criticized the “privatization” of these parastatals, saying it was carried out without proper valuations or parliamentary oversight. Below are Biti’s comments on the MIF:
The Mutapa Fund has essentially been a back door privatization of 40 or so of the country’s biggest and most important parastatals that include Hwange, NRZ, IDC and NetOne.
The process was done without individual valuations of the different parastatals and parliamentary scrutiny.
The Mutapa Fund now controls a huge chunk of the country’s balance sheet and yet it is not accountable to Parliament or a line ministry.
It is a huge Asset Management Fund, privately controlled, yet it houses State Assets. This kind of arbitrage and theft is a national threat.
The repeal of section 22 of the Sovereign Wealth Fund Act which prevents the Mutapa Fund from securitising the shares of parastatals it now controls is proof of arbitrage on steroids.
This regime has no limits, nor elasticity, no shame. The Mutapa Fund and those who control it are a national threat to the country’s sovereignty.
A country can’t be run on the philosophy and polity of looting for the sake of looting. The class of 2017 is a cabal, a ruthless brood whose only interest is to loot Zimbabwe dry. Self-respecting decent wananchi should say NO.
More: Pindula News
