Zim Asset

• Food security and nutrition;

• Social services and poverty reduction;

• Infrastructure and utilities; and

• Value addition and beneficiation.^[2]

Food Security and Nutrition

According to the blueprint Food Security and Nutrition revolves around the country's food producing and processing capabilities.^[3] There is also emphasis on the importance of expanding the country's agriculture through a number of ways such as provision of adequate inputs and value addition of agricultural products such as cotton and tobacco.^[3] Value addition involves processing of primary agricultural products into secondary consumable products in order to increase the standard and quality of the product which will ultimately fetch a higher prices on the international market. The ultimate goal of the Zim Asset in this regard is to restore Zimbabwe's bread basket status producing food enough to sustain not only the country but the whole region of Southern Africa.^[3]

Social Services and Poverty Reduction

The main thrust of the Social Services and Poverty Eradication cluster is to enable the Government of Zimbabwe to improve the living standards of the citizenry for an empowered society and a growing economy. It also endeavours to reduce poverty by creating employment opportunities for the youths in particular through its various initiatives. This chapter incorporates the following ministries; Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and Ministry of Local Government and Public Works. This cluster has the following key areas;

• Access to basic health services
• Indigenization and economic empowerment;
• Access to water and sanitation;
• Infrastructure;
• Access to land and agricultural inputs;
• Employment creation;
• Gender mainstreaming;
• Information communication technology;
• Resource mobilization.^[3]

Infrastructure and Utilities

The Infrastructure and Utilities cluster focuses on plans to restore sanity in the country's key assets as well as the recovery of the key utility services. Under this category, the Zim Asset blueprint gives precedence to restoration of the following aspects;

• Water and Sanitation infrastructure;
• Public Amenities;
• Information Communication Technology (ICT);
• Energy and Power Supply;
• Transport (road, rail, marine and air.^[3]

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Value addition and beneficiation

This chapter under the Zim Asset initiative attends to the need to re-establish the country's manufacturing industry in areas of energy production, agriculture and industry. There is also emphasis on value addition in the country's minerals such as gold, diamonds and platinum. This, according to Zim Asset, will be done through establishment of diamond polishing centres, establishment of agro-processing plants and strengthening the implementation of bio-fuels.^[3]

Criticism

The Zim Asset has been described as a flawed policy by both economists and politicians. Economists and academics criticised the very foundations of the policy by arguing that it was crafted at a time when political tension was very high and thus there was need to win the support of the electorate in the face of the Movement for Democratic Change.^[1] Hence the crafting of the policy did not involve the relevant stakeholders such as health service providers, multi-national companies, farmers and the commercial services providers such as financial institutions. Thus it has been rubbished as just a ZANU PF document which was sneaked into government.^[1] Furthermore, the Zim Asset has suffered much politisation and manipulation especially during Robert Mugabe "star rallies" held from June to July in 2013 before the watershed 2013 harmonised election. Analysts have also condemned the blueprint arguing that companies have continued to close, inflation has not declined, and the government is threatening retrenching civil servants, increase in unemployment rates and increase in poverty especially among the rural peasants.^[4] Thus by 2014, only a year after the document was adopted, some critics had already dismissed the blueprint as a flawed policy.

Success

Only a year after 2014, the ZANU PF had already indicated that the Zim Asset had attained plausible success in most regards. Finance and Economic Development former Deputy Minister, Samuel Undenge, said Government’s efforts of turning around the country through Zim Asset had started in earnest within a year since the launching of the blueprint.^[5]

References