Former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon Gono

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s government is pursuing the introduction of Special Economic Zones in a bid to attract investment into the country. The Special Economic Zones Authority, which is spearheading the effort, has started taking shape following the appointment of an 11-member board chaired by former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon Gono, on June 26. The board is currently on the market hunting for a new chief executive officer. Our Business Editor John Kachembere discusses with the Special Economic Zones Authority chairman, Gono, the organisation’s plans for the economy. Below are excerpts of the interview.
Q: How are the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) going to help the country’s ailing economy?
A: The SEZs that government has decided to introduce across the country are not meant to displace – in the short to medium term – the old economy or existing industries that have sustained Zimbabwe during all forms and manner of the country’s socio-political, economic and financial tribulations and lean seasons of the last couple of years since the turn of the new millennium. However, these same old industries will have to quicken their pace of recapitalisation, retooling and technological adaptation to new competition that SEZ investors will usher in very soon.
Exports will be generated and alongside, jobs will be created for skilled and disciplined youths and adults in all SEZs provided they meet the required standards of discipline, hard work and qualifications required by investors. Equally strict will be the criteria for bringing in expatriates into those zones.
No unskilled labour will be allowed where such jobs can be done by locals. The current practices that have been allowed in our midst where manual jobs such as pushing wheel barrows, cleaning and laundry activities are taken up by foreigners coming in under whatever disguises or dispensations at the expense of our people will not find expression in the new economy. Prisoners and other forms of unskilled personnel must remain in their own countries serving their own people and are not to be accorded “diasporan status” in our SEZs as they end up sending out much needed foreign currency to their countries in the form of salaries and benefits which defeats our foreign currency generating Mandate.
Some “foreign investors” went as far as bringing wheel-barrows, pots, beds and even shovels and hoes, all of which could have been made or obtained locally and in other cases, the “foreign investors” have ended up “making clay bricks”, something that really should be done by locals if banks give them support. Such investments as brick-making by foreign investors will not qualify for SEZ status because we believe that those activities should be left to local entrepreneurs who should employ local general labour and not expatriates who end up remitting their earnings outside the country. No! That must stop.
Q: But does that not discriminate and stifle foreign currency inflows if we limit areas foreigners can invest in? From where you stand, what is the best way to kick-start our economy?
A: Let’s get our economy back onto the rails of sustainable recovery and use our miscalculations and mistakes of the past as formidable learning curves towards a growth oriented trajectory.
A nation that wastes time mourning over its past mistakes and doing nothing about them is never going to make it and I’m pleased that government has taken the Special Economic Zones route as a way of correcting its past shortcomings with regards to attracting foreign direct investment and my board and I are convinced that we will make it.
Obviously, we must be holistic in our approach. Supportive infrastructure such as water, power, rail, road and air traffic must be pulled in and upgraded immediately so that production as well as the movement of goods in and out can flow smoothly, and on time. The game of exports is about meeting customer deadlines, specificity, quality and competitiveness. We must not be lackadaisical as in the past, when each one of us is called upon to play our part. I’m afraid that we still have that business as usual mentality lurking and actually laying eggs on top of the shoulders and heads of some of our people in government and parastatals manning key positions, but I’m happy to say that action is being or will be taken by the relevant authorities as they move to complement our business thrust in the context of ease of doing business framework. Without dealing with these obstacles to progress, our mandate will just become one of those wish-lists that get said and forgotten about.
Because basic or generic infrastructure such as roads, rail, power, housing and ICT must precede factory-specific investments, we are inviting basic infrastructure planners and investors from the region and beyond, to come forward with their planning skills and investment proposals on whose back we can begin to leverage our march to fill in the developed infrastructure with occupants that meet different sectoral needs be it industrial, tourism, financial, agriculture and agro-processing, geo-prospecting, mining and mining value-addition, transport and services.
We are looking for planners and investors in the areas of SEZ power, roads, rail sidings, customs clearing and administration, logistics infrastructure, staff housing, water reticulation, waste management and ICT type entrepreneurs ready to partner with the authority in the advancement of its mandate.
Q: Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa is on record saying Zimbabwe has a new economy that is emerging in the form of the informal sector. How is the new economy going to fit into the Special Economic Zones plan?
A: The Minister of Finance and Economic Development Hon Patrick Chinamasa has been talking about a dying old economy and he is right. What we need today is the building or growing of a new broad-based, vibrant economy full of new entrepreneurs, new capital, new technologies and a new mind-set, born in this era of social media and marketing, an era of robotics, science and engineering, an era of multiple technologies, electronics and economies that are biased towards or driven by youthful inventions, youthful populations, youthful lifestyles, youthful tastes, youthful billionaires and markets.
Indeed the old economy and antiquated ways of doing things aren’t going to get us to first-world economic status if we don’t change and the SEZs are going to lead in those areas of needed change. Zimbabwe needs its own youthful billionaires in United States dollars not Zim dollars – we went that road long ago when I was governor and I can tell myself that it did not and does work. This is how we are thinking in the board, and not about building millionaires in local or bond notes but real foreign currency and not repeating our mistakes about the past. We want to see the emergence of tomorrow’s world economic giants out of our SEZs even if they start small today.
The SEZs are part of that new economic thrust, part of a well thought-out new mindset and a determination on the part of government to see our resource-based economy taking advantage of its abundant resources and inviting new capital from around the globe to help jump-start us into prosperity as will be measured by adequate foreign currency generation through increased exports, enough jobs for our people especially skilled Zimbabweans I have already talked about as well as our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora, reduced import through adequate local production for local needs and through the technological upliftment of our industrial, mining, tourism, financial sector and agro-processing base to internationally competitive levels .
Point 10 of the President’s 10 Point Plan was indeed what youngsters of today would call “on point” so to speak and we are happy as a board to be championing that cause.
Q: During your tenure as the central bank governor you consistently warned government against continued farm invasions, but your advice was ignored. What makes you believe that you’ll be in a position to protect investor interests in the SEZs?
A: The SEZ law guaranteed security of tenure for investors, protection against property seizures, immunity against the country’s controversial indigenisation and empowerment laws whose one-size-fits-all concept against which I fought running battles with Ministers and colleagues in government when I was central bank governor. Labour laws are also flexible as to be fair to both employers and employees alike and dispute resolution mechanisms will be so structured as to permit resolution of misunderstandings within not more that 10-30 days of such disputes arising.
The idea is to use the SEZ enclaves as models or laboratories to test what works and what does not work is a winning strategy, and, once a particular model has succeeded, it is easier to replicate or spread and roll it out across the whole country. That is how China and other countries have perfected their models to become leading economies in the world today.
We share a collective dream as a Board, a dream of a day in 10-20 years’ time when the whole of Zimbabwe would be transformed into a Special Economic Zone, a Switzerland, Singapore or South Korea of Africa so to speak with not just a few places dotted across provinces as SEZs, but everyone everywhere in Zimbabwe operating their business freely and without punitive taxation in a free economic zone called Zimbabwe so to speak. The SEZ concept we are trying to implement is generational in character … it is a model that will positively transform our economy beyond this generation, hence our appeal for support from everyone holding a position of influence in government, parastatals, local authorities, in politics or the church.
Fortunately there are over 2 500 SEZs in the world to learn from so chances of us wasting time re-inventing the wheel are minimal, and, while turning the whole country into Special Economic Zone in the long-term remains the ultimate goal on our radar, for the time being, the old economy will have to co-exist with the emerging new economy and one where the comparative advantage of each province or area becomes the basis s of our choice to declare it an SEZ.
We have moved a gear up in our mandate and the advert which your paper is carrying today for the post of chief executive officer for the authority is a process of trying reach out for the best man or woman out there to come and take charge of the day to day operations of this new organisation. It is our hope as a board that we will get the right candidate from wherever part of the world such a person could be right now, black, white, yellow, pink or brown…where colour, creed, sex or nationality are secondary credentials so to speak, as long as the person is qualified by credentials and carries proven track-record. Yes, even those from Britain and America can apply and if they qualify, and subscribe to our $10 billion dollar foreign direct investment inflow target in 30-36 months, we won’t deny them the job! That’s the Dengism theory we talk about … “so long as the cat catches mice!” We are not racists … instead, we are economic pragmatists who are guided by theorising conviction not convention.
Q: We only hear about you talking about the SEZs. Who are other people on your board?
A: There is Mrs Sithandile Ngwenya, our vice-chairperson who is a legal practioner and a partner at Coglan &Welsh in Bulawayo, Brigadier General (Retired) Thando Madzvamuse, who is the principal director in the Ministry of Macroeconomic Planning and Investment Promotion and Christopher Dube, a town clerk at Bulawayo City Council.
We also have Mrs Marry-Mubaiwa Chiwenga, a businesswoman and group chief executive officer of East Town Holdings (Pvt) Limited. She is also the founder and national chairperson of Musha Mukadzi, a charitable foundation.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries immediate Past President Busisa Moyo, who is also the chief executive officer of United Refineries, is also on board together with Onias Hove, a senior principal director in the Office of the President and Cabinet responsible for policy.
Other board members include Brigadier General (Retired) Godfrey Chanakira: principal director policy coordination and promotion: Office of the President and Cabinet, Mrs Constance Zhanje, director research and consumer services: Ministry of Industry and International Trade, Edwin Zvandasara, director- finance: Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and Erasmus Gapara, director human resources at the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Services.
Q: I understand that the Authority has been meeting frequently for the past few weeks, but you do not have an office yet. How can people reach you and your board when they are responding to the chief executive post?
A:We are currently in the process of looking for a home to operate from, but for the time being, hand-delivered or email documentation can be left/delivered to the attention of Mrs Belinda Chimudzi, acting ZIMSEZA board secretary, 6th Floor, Ministry of Macro-Economic Planning and Investment Promotion, New Government Complex, 4th Street/Central Avenue, Harare. Email:[email protected]. Or Dr G Gono, Chairman, Robert House, 6 Central Avenue, Cnr Second Street/Central Ave Harare. Email: [email protected]

[email protected]