daniel chigunwe
Thupeyo Muleya
Beitbridge Bureau
THE ruling Zanu PF party has deployed its senior Economic Development Cluster members on a two-day working visit to track and monitor the full implementation of its economic development policies at the Beitbridge Border Post.
It is understood that the move is part of the many resolutions made at the 21st Annual National People’s Conference held in Bulawayo in October last year.
The team is led by the party’s National Secretary for Economic Affairs, Retired Lieutenant-General Engelbert Rugeje, Secretary for Business Development Cde Elifasi Mashaba and the director of Economic Affairs, Cde Anastacia Ndlovu.
Speaking during the tour yesterday, Lt-Gen (Rtd) Rugeje, who is also a Politburo member, said the visit was, among other things, anchored on ensuring there was ease of doing business and smooth trade facilitation through the ports of entry.
He said Beitbridge Border Post was the nexus of regional and international trade and hence the need to ensure there was proper synchronisation and coordination between the party (Zanu PF) and the Government.
The US$300 million Beitbridge modernisation project has transformed the critical gateway, reducing congestion and clearing times for cargo and travellers that had become a major bottleneck to trade and free movement of people in the SADC region.
“As you may be aware the party (Zanu PF) is supreme to the Government and we deploy people and policies to drive national economic development,” said Lt-Gen (Rtd) Rugeje.
“So, the idea is that there must be proper coordination between the party and the Government which draws its programme from our manifesto and party resolutions made at various platforms such as the people’s conference, Central Committee and Politburo and so on.
“Our visit here is in line with many resolutions made by the party members in Bulawayo last year where we undertook to ensure that the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) working with the law enforcement agencies, develop and implement a robust system that curbs leakages of unprocessed natural resources and the smuggling of goods in and out of the country”.
He said indications were that the country was losing revenue due to intrusive leakages and the non-payment of customs duty.
Lt-Gen (Rtd) Rugeje said it was important for the duty payment regime to be implemented in a way that strikes a balance between the interests of the Government and the general citizenry.
He said the team was engaging cross border traders, transporters, small to medium enterprises, law enforcement agencies, informal traders among other actors to ensure that there was a clear understanding of the national economic development policies.
“We have had fruitful discussions and we are going to take the feedback from these meetings back to the Politburo for discussion,” said Lt-Gen (Rtd) Rugeje.
“You will note that we have developed a tracking system of all Government programmes in line with our party programmes and this falls under the Ministry of Presidential Affairs. So, here we are following up on the progress and making recommendations for reviews where necessary”.
He said the success of the economic development policies was critical to drive the envisaged vision 2030 where the country’s economy should grow to an upper middle income level.
The party’s national Secretary for Business Development, Cde Mashaba, said the Second Republic through a partnership with the Zimborders Consortium had invested a lot of resources into transforming the Beitbridge Border Post and it was necessary for service delivery to match the magnificent infrastructure.
“A lot of money was put into this project and our thinking is that there should be a change of attitude towards work,” he said.
Online Reporter
