Zim Snubs Sadc

Zimbabwe is lagging behind in the implementation of key aspects of a Sadc plan meant to enforce sound management and transparent public financial management raising questions on the country’s commitment to embrace scrutiny.

The Sadc Regional Indicative Strategic Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030 and its accompanying model law penned by the Sadc Parliamentary Forum.

The RISDP plan also focuses on accountability, first class banking, supervision and financial regulation and best practice corporate governance, among other areas.

Brian Dube, chairman of the parliamentary portfolio committee on Public Accounts, said the failure to implement RISDP is an attempt to run away from implementing best practice as Zimbabwe knows that “if you sign up for regional instruments you are then compelled to then act not outside or in violation”.

“Obviously aligning your policies and activities to the regional ones is the smartest thing to do. It actually helps you to standardise your operations and also to fight common challenges. You don’t become a member of regional bodies and then neglect or refuse to be part of everything that is suggested and is best practice,” Dube said.

The Southern African People Solidarity Network co-ordinator, Fambai Ngirande, said: “Compared to other countries on key aspects of the RISDP, Zimbabwe is lagging behind particularly in the formation of Sadc National Committees which are supposed to facilitate diverse multi stakeholder input on how Zimbabwe can fulfill its obligations within the RISDP.”

Ngirande said the government was blaming the high cost of implementing the Sadc plan.

“We have seen the costs for national implementation of the RISDP but we think the government can go a step further by ensuring that it is included in the national budget commitments particularly our contribution to the national development fund which is important for Sadc to sustainably and independently implement the RISDP without having to rely on debt or on the good will of our international partners,” Ngarande said.

He said Zimbabwe needs to recognise the shared value obtained from being a part of Sadc.

“Shared values entail our adherence to principles, values and guidelines which are upheld across the region. But, there is also a lot of benefit from us cooperating particularly in the industrialisation and market interpretation ambitions of Sadc which will enable us to connect our economies, increase and improve our competitive edge,” Ngirande said.

Director of corporate governance for the Sadc Parliamentary Forum, Clare Musonda, said: “This (lagging behind) is the kind of thing we are trying to look at. It may not be that a country takes it hook line and sinker and picks up the whole model but there could be areas where they are lagging behind and would like to change. We have an example, in Zimbabwe at the time that the model law was in the final stages, the Public Finance Management amendment was ongoing in the parliament of Zimbabwe for the second reading. Following the information when they realised what the model law contained there was a decision to kind of halt that process and wait for the conclusion and adoption.”

Other integration and development activities in RISDP include intensifying the fight against HIV and AIDS, gender mainstreaming and the empowerment of women, private sector development, rapid adoption and internationalisation of ICT, diversification of regional economies, trade liberalisation and development, climate change, health and agriculture, among others.

Former Public Accounts Committee chairman, Tendai Biti, said the government feared being held accountable.

“The whole idea is to achieve some sort of fiscal convergence, some kind of uniformity on basic macroeconomic figures such as debt, gross domestic product (GDP), per capita income and exchange rate stability,” Biti, a former finance minister, told Business Times.

He said Zimbabwe does not have the capacity of compliance.

“They [government] know that it’s ill-disciplined and don’t want outside scrutiny. It’s about accountability, responsibility, and about discipline. Government lacks all these things,” Biti said.

“Sadc is not trying to run the government. It’s simply saying let us have good governance, let’s have minimum standard on the way we manage our economy and of course you don’t need Sadc or the World Bank or anyone to tell you that inflation is terrible or that high levels of debt are not good you don’t need Sadc that high level of budget deficits are not good.”

All efforts to get comment from Finance and Economic Development, Mthuli Ncube were futile.

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi could not be reached to comment on the matter. BusinessTimes