Mugabe full speech at the official opening of Parliament

Madame President, Mr. Speaker, Sir,

It is pleasing to note that gold deliveries to Fidelity Printers and Refineries are on an upward trend. Aurex, the jewellery manufacturing firm owned by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, is now on a recovery path. Even though mining remains a leading source of export earnings for our economy, there is still need to maximize the sector’s earnings through encouraging local value addition and beneficiation as well as the effective exploitation of mineral claims.

The long awaited Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill will thus be tabled before Parliament. As a matter of fact, the growth of mining is anchored on intensive exploration of mineral deposits. To facilitate increased mineral exploration, therefore, the Minerals Exploration and Marketing Corporation Bill, which will integrate the current Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe and the Mining Promotion Corporation, will be brought before this Parliament.  Measures to plug mineral leakages outside the country and other underhand dealings that deny the country full enjoyment of rewards from its mineral endowment will be intensified.

Madame President, Mr. Speaker, Sir,

In the energy sector, the prime focus is on boosting local power generation capacity. To this end, I am pleased to note that the Kariba South Power Expansion Project is now about 60 per cent complete, with the first 150 MW unit expected to be ready by December 2017. The Hwange Power Station extension project is expected before the end of this year, thus paving way for commencement of the actual work in the first quarter of 2017.  For this reason, Government has come up with the Dema Diesel Power Generating Plant.  Work is also underway to establish a natural gas powered electricity generating plant and three 100 MW solar power generating plants. The Ministry is in the process of crafting, for presentation to Parliament, the Renewable Energy Policy and an Independent Power Producers (IPPs) Framework which should help to enhance private sector investment in the energy sector.

Madame President, Mr. Speaker, Sir,

Our manufacturing sector faces numerous challenges which militate against our capacity to compete in the regional and global market place. The challenges include dumping of cheap imports in our country, reliance on obsolete equipment, high cost of utilities and lack of access to cheaper lines of credit. The Bill for the establishment of the National Competitiveness Commission, which will coordinate the crafting and implementation of measures to improve the competitiveness of local companies, will be tabled in Parliament during this Session. The Bill will also repeal the National Incomes and Pricing Commission Act, which has outlived its purpose.

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