ZIMBABWE’s greatness and its huge economic potential have never been in doubt, but there are many things that we take for granted such as the casual approach and the long time our systems take to process investment deals.
Is it corruption or incompetence?
Is it negative attitude or just arrogance?
Until last week, when Aliko Dangote, that great African businessman set foot in the country, most people were resigned, wondering whether the mega deals Harare signed with Beijing and Moscow will ever take off.
Then a high powered delegation of technocrats from Dangote arrived on Monday with a bold declaration that they will only leave the country when all business deals agreed between Zimbabwe and the Nigerian multi-billionaire last week are sealed.
And suddenly there is a flurry of activity with officials finding the willpower to process necessary documents for the fruition of the deals.
Since the Dangote flair hit the country, we are suddenly told investment proposals can be processed within 48 hours, something which was next to impossible in the past.
So what was stalling progress all along?
The swift action by Harare to expedite the deals is ample testimony that we can process investments with ease, but the question that will forever confront us is why it has taken long to implement other investment proposals with the same speed in the past.
Why do we have to be pushed by investors to do that which is right when it should be the other way round?
It is corruption?
More than a year after Zimbabwe signed mega deals with China and Russia, there has been little movement with The Patriot reliably informed that a lethargic approach by some of our officials being the reason behind the snail-pace in the implementation of the deals.
It has been a case of investors taking a step forward and us, in particular some of our officials, going backwards and dragging the nation’s progress with them.
The lightning speed with which the Dangote case has been handled exposes the corrupt tendencies that have set us back.
Could it have been the supervision of President Robert Mugabe and Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa in both the Dangote and Chinese deals that has resulted in this awakening by our officials?
Why does it have to be left to First Lady Amai Dr Grace Mugabe to go all the way to Binga to revive a project that was supposed to have been up and running in 2004 and have officials from the Agriculture Ministry demand US$1,8 million to kick-start a project they abandoned for more than a decade?
Why does it have to be Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko moving around the country not only to see, but correct the rot created by the now legendary incompetence of our officials in order to revive key national projects?
After a long spell of unabated silence on the Chinese deals, President Mugabe had to dispatch VP Mnangagwa in July to follow up on progress and again there is movement with China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) visiting Harare to start implementation of the deals.
It was in China that VP Mnangagwa announced measures that Government was putting in place to increase Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows into the country through the establishment of an Investor Roundtable following genuine concerns over the lax approach in handling investors by some officials.
The Investor Roundtable is designed to specifically handle Chinese businesspeople with minimum bureaucratic delays.
The important message that emerged from this announcement was that we have not been doing things the right way as a country.
In the first instance there is need to look at ourselves in the mirror and do a thorough diagnosis of where we have gone wrong when it comes to dealing with our economy and investments into the country.
There are many things that have been lacking on how we have conducted business with investors such as unnecessary bureaucratic processes that frustrate those with money.
It is those unnecessary bureaucratic tendencies that create room for corruption and there have been several reports of officials demanding bribes in order to facilitate investments.
For instance, a year after the US$3 billion Darwendale platinum deal was signed between Zimbabwe and Russia, there has been little movement in terms of implementation.
In China, VP Mnangagwa pointed out the fact that it was unacceptable for Zimbabwe to take between six to 24 months to get investments approval.
It has been a frustrating wait for Zimbabweans who have their hopes pinned on the August 2014 mega deals between Harare and Beijing.
“Why are we doing that (taking long to approve investment proposals)? This has to stop,” said VP Mnangagwa.
“What we are now doing is that when an investor from China comes, the first thing is we call a meeting with all the ministers whose ministries fall under the investor’s area of interest.
“It will be easier to know which ministries are doing what and then make a follow-up with the minister.
“In countries like Rwanda, it takes an investor six days to know if the investment will go ahead.
“All the necessary processes of approval will then follow.”
Zimbabwe should now be trying to be the epitome of economic development.
All that is required is to do things the right way and the reaction to Dangote deals must be the first step towards that goal.