GOVERNMENT on Thursday said it would name all ailing and closed companies and parastatals in the next few days to attract investors to inject money into the businesses.
Industry and Commerce deputy minister Roy Bhila said this while addressing delegates at the Zimbabwe Institute of Strategic Thinking (ZIST) breakfast dialogue in Harare.
The event was held under the theme Rallying Zimbabwean Energies to Build Viable Economic Enterprise Through Thematic Committees and Clusters.
“We are going to name ailing and closed companies very soon so that those who have got money can inject into the companies,” Bhila said.
“Government supports both informal and formal traders because we are all Zimbabweans.
“There have been tremendous and remarkable achievements through ZIST’s strategic engagements towards attaining the goal of Vision 2030.”
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Several State-owned enterprises and parastatals are either bankrupt or teetering on the brink of collapse.
Government either partly or wholly owns over 90 companies, most of which have been making losses for years due to mismanagement, high operating costs and old equipment.
In 2016, 38 such parastatals ran losses totalling US$270 million, according to a report from the Office of the President and Cabinet.
Addressing the same gathering, economist Eddie Cross said the civil service in Zimbabwe had let the country down by being lazy and adopting bureaucratic tendencies.
“The civil service is not working in the country,” he said.
“I have been to Deeds and Survey offices, I have never seen such laziness in my life. This is a real problem we are facing as a country. There is bureaucracy in the civil service and this has let the country down,” he added.
ZIST boss Eric Muzamhindo was ecstatic after hosting the thematic and clusters meeting.