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The Sovereign Wealth Fund of Zimbabwe Bill seeking to establish a fund for the country’s investments was read for the second time on Wednesday in the National Assembly. Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who steered the Bill, proposed several amendments to the Bill during committee stage that were adopted by the House before they were referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee.
The Parliamentary Legal Committee will scrutinise it to establish if the amendments are consistent with the Constitution.
The Bill seeks to establish a fund to be administered by a board whose objective is to secure investments for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations of Zimbabweans.
Another objective of the Bill is to support the development objectives of the government, including its long-term economic and social development.
Clause 4 says the Bill seeks to support fiscal or macro-economic stabilisation, in particular to supplement the revenues of Zimbabwe when these are prejudiced by the fluctuation of prices payable for those minerals on which royalties and other taxes are collected for the benefit of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Ownership of the fund is vested in the Republic of Zimbabwe with the President acting as the trustee and patron.
Some of the amendments that were made include Section 2 where the phrase “public-private partnership agreement” were substituted with “joint ventures agreement.”
Clause six was also amended to give more clarity on the composition of the board and how it would be constituted.
Clause seven and 12 of the Bill were also amended to give more clarity on the reporting procedure of the board.
One of the requirements that have been included was the requirement by the board to submit quarterly reports to the Minister of Finance on its operations not later than 30 days after the end of each quarter.
A new clause was also inserted under Clause 21 prohibiting the use of the fund as collateral.
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