Zimbabwe: Parastatals Dead – Gorden Moyo
By Nyasha Chingono – Minister of State Enterprises and Development, Gorden Moyo has blamed poor performance of parastatals on policy inconsistency by line ministries, describing the state owned companies as dead.
“Parastatals are dead. I am not proud of it, though I have done my best to design policies, but arrogance by some line ministers is killing our companies, “Moyo said.
An upbeat Moyo was speaking during a National Indaba on minority languages in Bulawayo on Wednesday and said government does not have money to revive the parastatals that are at the brink of collapse.
“We don’t have money, but surprising there is diamond money from Chiadzwa which is not remitted to treasury.
“If money from Chiadzwa is remitted faithfully into treasury things will be a lot better, “Moyo said.
There are reported cases of corruption, misuse of diamond money from the reserves, whilst treasury has not received the projected US$600 million from the diamond industry.
Moyo said Zimbabwe should follow the example of Angola who through her oil resources has managed to totally transform their economy.
Zimbabwe’s parastatals have since “collapsed” for the past decade due to policy inconsistency and economic meltdown, rendering them unprofitable.
Parastatals like National Railways of Zimbabwe, ZESA and GMB among others are operating below capacity because of mismanagement, with reports of NRZ failing to pay its workers since early this year.
ZESA on the other hand has been inconsistent in generating and supplying electricity affecting Zimbabwe’s ailing industry, irrigation and even the health sector.
The once flourishing parastatals have since become a pale shadow of their past, hence calls to resuscitate the parastatals in order to reduce levels of unemployment.
