eBusiness Weekly
Business Writer
Over 40 companies, among them Zimbabwe’s largest media group, Zimpapers, were honoured for championing the local procurement agenda at the Buy Zimbabwe public procurement conference and awards held in Harare yesterday.
The awards sought to honour firms that are leading in the procurement of local goods and services in the country.
Zimpapers the country’s biggest and only listed diversified media company, was among the scores of firms recognised at the event for their roles in promoting local procurement and contributing to the import substitution drive as enunciated by the Government’s vision.
The Buy Zimbabwe campaign is an initiative designed to complement the Government’s efforts to promote growth and competitiveness of local industry to reduce the import bill, particularly on goods that can be acquired locally.
Local procurement has been on the increase in recent years driven mainly by dam and road construction projects, which were awarded to local companies.
In an interview, Zimpapers Group Chief Finance Officer (CFO) Farai Matanhire, said the company’s model has always been focused on promoting import substitution in the group’s procurement process.
“We look at promoting local firms before we look at imports because we understand the need for import substitution, therefore we always look if there are opportunities to procure locally and if prices make sense, that will be the preferred option because there are also challenges associated with getting foreign currency for you to be able to import, ” said Matanhire.
Buy Zimbabwe chairperson, Munyaradzi Hwengwere, said the Government, as the biggest spender in the country, should continue its local procurement drive to enhance the growth of the domestic industry.
“Government came up with local content policy and said we should work together with the private sector to say how can we better our procurement, today, we have mining sector growth target of US$12 billion by 2023, agriculture (growth target of ) US$8,2 billion, (manufacturing) industry (target of) US$8 billion; these are sectors critical for substituting imports and this is where public procurement must be directed,” said Hwengwere.
He added that the Government had a commanding share of expenditure of about 68 percent, and the government should use the public purse to deepen value chains and promote public procurement.
He pleaded with the Government to channel at least 20 percent of its budget towards local procurement to stimulate growth of local industries.
Speaking at the event President Mnangagwa noted that due diligence and meticulous administration of tenders across Government ministries, departments, agencies, public entities and state-owned enterprises must remain key components of public procurement.
“Under the Second Republic, deserving, capable and competent service providers with demonstrable local content should be awarded tenders and contracts,” he said.
Meanwhile President Mnangagwa said Government is instituting several reforms to the public procurement process to plug corruption in the system and to ensure that contracts are awarded on merit.
The Mnangagwa, who was speaking at the same event acknowledged that public procurement was one of the government activities most vulnerable to corruption and manipulation.
“It is noteworthy that this conference and awards ceremony comes at a time when the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe is working on a number of reforms to plug corruption. Due diligence and meticulous administration of tenders across government Ministries, departments, agencies, public entities and state owned enterprises must remain key components of public procurement,” he said.
“Under the Second Republic, deserving, capable and competent service providers with demonstrable local content should be awarded tenders and contracts. Meanwhile, the adoption and use of e-procurement and e-payment systems must be speeded up to lessen face- to-face interface between bidders and those doing the tendering process.”
He added; “The volume of transactions and the financial interests at stake compound corruption risks, which are exacerbated by the complexity of the process, the close interaction between public officials and businesses, and the multitude of stakeholders.
“It is imperative that our public procurement ensures value for money, whilst entrenching a culture of competition and promoting transparency, accountability as well as the prudent use of public resources.
Additionally, fair and just business practices must be ingrained in our procurement cycle.”
President Mnangagwa said local procurement would help empower Zimbabwean entrepreneurs while also inculcating a culture of innovation, production and productivity.
“Similarly, research and development as well as the registration of patents, support for innovation and inventions are being scaled up in a bid to have more locally made goods and services. The Second Republic is thus determined to support an entrepreneurial and innovative culture that will see our own young people answer the day to day needs of our country’s fast evolving and modernising socio-economic landscape,” he said.
“Public procurement must be deployed responsibly and in the national interest, not only as an empowerment vehicle but most importantly to accelerate sustainable national development. It is against this background that all public procurement entities are exhorted to utilise public resources in the most efficient, transparent, accountable, responsive and ethical manner.”
When he was inaugurated in 2017, President Mnangagwa vowed to open a new chapter in the fight against corruption, which festered under the previous administration.
