Progress is being made in reform of 10 key State Enterprises

Business Reporter

THERE has been progress in the reform of 10 key State Enterprises but effective turnaround may take time given the size and operational complexity of some of the parastatals, a senior Government official has said. Addressing a workshop on Baseline Data and Corporate Governance Workshop yesterday, Secretary for Corporate Governance, State Enterprises and Delivery Unit in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Ambassador Stuart Comberbach said there has been “encouraging” progress in the restructuring process.

“We are all aware of the identification, by Cabinet, of 10 key State Enterprises for prioritised reform and/or restructuring and of the slow but nevertheless encouraging progress which is being made with regard to that process,” said Ambassador Comberbach.

“Given the size, structure and operational complexity of some of those entities- not to mention the legacy debt issues associated with many — effective restructuring and turn around may well take some time. But, progress is being made,” he said.

The workshop assessed the overall performance of the State Enterprises sector and at the global SEP performance and to see how the portfolio as a whole is affecting the country.

In parallel to the reform and restructuring process, Government has intensified its focus on addressing corporate governance deficiencies within the public sector.

“Of primary significance in this regard are the launch in April 2015 of the National Code of Corporate Governance, the ongoing preparation of a Public Sector or Public Entities Corporate Governance Bill to give legal effect and consequence to the provisions of the National Code and the process of amending existing legislation relevant to corporate governance practices with a view to enhancing transparency and accountability in both the public and private sectors and in so doing, to address constraints to the Ease of Doing Business in and with Zimbabwe,” said Ambassador Comberbach.

He said the Draft Corporate Governance Bill is now well advanced.

Understanding the reasons why the entities to be restructured were established, to what extent their mandates are still relevant today and to what extent are the entities adhering to their mandates is a key consideration during the reform process.

Addressing the same workshop, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development Willard Manungo said the data to be collated at the workshop will allow Treasury to quantify the assets Government holds as well as the contingent liabilities.

“This will allow us to set targets for all the State Owned Enterprises and make prudent provision for the risks and to identify opportunities,” said Mr Manungo.

He said SEP performance is Government’s top priority so that they positively contribute to the turnaround of the economy and “stop being a drain to the fiscus”.