Posted by Own Staff Friday, 05 March 2010 01:24

The government has set up two committees that will review the performance of parastatals in an attempt to spearhead their revival, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s office Mr. Gorden Moyo has said.

Addressing residents at a community meeting organised by Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) and Bulawayo Agenda in Mabutweni, Mr Moyo said government had resolved to set up two committees that will spearhead the growth and revival of parastatals.

“When the Inclusive Government was formed last year one of the problems we faced was the operations of the parastatals, that were failing to function optimally. We have resolved as cabinet to set up two committees that will help revive the parastatals’ operations,” he said.

He echoed the public’s sentiments that the parastatals were charging very high rates which were being channeled towards salaries (mostly for executives who get hefty incentives) and emoluments. He said that this left parastatals with very little operating capital to adequately service and meet the needs of their customers.

“It is true that some parastatals are paying their staff very large salaries and this has resulted in services dwindling further. We have resolved to have two committees, one that will look at the utilities and ensure that they are run smoothly while also ensuring that tariffs are reduced. The other committee will look at the country's resources and also see how these can be fully utilised to help revive our economy,”he said.

He noted another anomaly, that of sub division of some parastals, particularly Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has been divided into five entities which has resulted in duplication of work in some cases,and has also resulted in a large workers population that is proving hard to maintain.

“In other parastals the problem we have noted is that they built five or more companies within the utilities, which all do basically the same function but need very high salaries,” he said.

Mr Moyo said that he was confident that with the setting up of the committee, the mystery surrounding Chiadzwa diamond fields which are reported to have the capacity to solve Zimbabwe's economic problems will be cleared.

“Our country has a lot of resources which can be used to revive our economy, for example, operating at full capacity, Chiadzwa diamond mines have the possibility to bring in approximately two billion United States dollars a week.  Considering that our 2010 budget is 1,44 billion, this means that Chiadzwa alone can help revive our economy.”he said.

He called on the government to develop mechanisms that will ensure the generation of funds in the country to spearhead the revival of the economy.