Business leaders are calling for an urgent meeting with President Emmerson Mnangagwa, warning that unresolved economic challenges need his direct intervention after ministries and regulators failed to deliver meaningful progress.
Industry executives argue that only the President’s leadership can fast-track reforms, restore confidence, and position Zimbabwe to compete under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Despite repeated engagements with Treasury, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), many concerns remain unaddressed.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) chief executive Sekai Kuvarika told a government–business dialogue this week that Minister of Industry and Commerce Mangaliso Ndlovu should facilitate an urgent meeting with Mnangagwa. Said Kuvarika:
“We really need this (whole reform agenda) to be given by the Head of State, not just the statement he made earlier and the committees that have been formed.
“We have something that we need the President to be saying continuously to the market.
“It will be such a confidence booster, and it will also whip everybody who is supposed to be in the market.
“We do believe that the regulatory reform is going to provide a good foundation for people to then address other factors of competitiveness.
“We are still not satisfied with the pace of the agenda, and we believe that it needs a Presidential drive, a clarion call of that magnitude to drive the whole reform agenda.
“What we want is to see a regulation being retired on a daily basis with the announcements made on weekly Cabinet briefings.
“Every week, we must be reporting that we have retired this regulation, and we are moving.”
She called for structured private sector involvement in technical committees to ensure reforms are practical, evidence-driven, and aligned with industry realities.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) president Tapiwa Karoro echoed the call, stressing that direct access to President Mnangagwa was critical.
Kuvarika further warned against the government’s narrow focus on growth, saying it often highlights the performance of blue-chip firms while neglecting struggling companies. She said:
“So, let’s look at the distressed entities as a key indicator of what we need. More than we look at those that are flying, the distressed companies are a very good indicator of the key distress points for companies in our economy. And we need to address that.”
CEO Africa Roundtable chairman Oswell Binha warned that the country’s economic stability remains fragile due to deep-seated structural weaknesses. Said Binha:
“We are deeply concerned about this fragile stability due to underlying facts, which include liquidity crunch, sub-optimal and managed exchange rate and rising levels of domestic debt [compounded by the Government’s inability to service its contracts – US$176m owed to exporters].
“We are concerned by high levels of informalisation – a negative consequence of the regulatory environment, a generally pessimistic confidence levels.”
Binha questioned why the Government has failed to act with the urgency required to resolve the energy crisis, which he noted has persisted for over three decades.
He further argued that the Government’s pledge to review and reform the regulatory environment and tax system on a sector-by-sector basis was largely tokenistic.
Binha also dismissed the de-dollarisation roadmap, describing it as “toxic news” for business. He said:
“The Government is a serious bad debtor, which is crippling the industry. The surrender requirements are expropriatory, and the failure by the Government to pay the ZiG component in time results in confidence and trust loss, ending in a deepening economic crisis.
“Delayed disbursement of the ZiG component creates liquidity and operational challenges.”
More: Business Times
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