MORE than 50 people applied for the job to head the Special
Economic Zones Authority (SEZA), which was on the market for a chief executive
officer.
SEZA’s chairman, Gideon Gono , said his organisation had
been overwhelmed with the applications from across the world.
“A total of 54 applicants responded and we carried out
interviews over a two-day period on 27 and 28 September and came up with a
unanimous decision regarding who to recommend to the appointing authorities as
the inaugural SEZA chief executive officer in terms of Section 22 of our Act,”
he said.
“On 5 October, we wrote to the Minister (of Macro-Economic
Planning and Investment Promotion) with our recommendations. We hope to receive
feedback by mid to end of October so that the candidate can assume full time
occupation of the authority and take over the day-to-day running of the show
from the chairman and also lighten the burden of my board members,” Gono said.
Zimbabwe promulgated the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Act
into law in October last year to attract foreign direct investment (FDI),
generate employment and promote exports.
SEZs were first introduced successfully in the People’s
Republic of China under Deng Xiaoping in the early 1990s as part and parcel of
its “open the door, change the system”
policy.
A number of countries were inspired by the Chinese and
followed suit, including many African countries such as Ethiopia, Madagascar,
Lesotho, Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana and Mauritius.
In many of these African countries, however, SEZs have
resulted in the creation of “enclaves” with weak linkages to the rest of the
national, regional and global economies, thereby limiting their macro-economic
and developmental impacts.
Economist Prosper Chitambara said the failure of SEZs in
other countries should not deter the country, but rather provide useful lessons
for the southern African nation.
“For SEZs to be a success in Zimbabwe, there are a number
of key success factors that will need to be addressed. First and foremost, the
success of SEZs is a function of how competitive and strong the domestic
economy is,” he said.
International evidence has shown that SEZs are hindered by
the same problems affecting the rest of the economy, such as inadequate
infrastructure and institutional weaknesses, among others, he said.
“In other words, the success of SEZs does not just depend
on the incentives offered in the zone, but more importantly on the economy-wide
conditions prevailing in the country. In particular, the policy and
institutional environment are very important,” Chitambara added.
He noted that the more business-friendly and competitive
the environment, the greater the potential SEZs have to stimulate economic
activity both within and outside the zones.
“Currently, the investment climate in the country remains
highly problematic with both foreign and domestic investment remaining largely
subdued. This represents a big threat to the success of SEZs,” he said.
Financial gazette
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