Zimbabwe improves governance but still ranked lowest in SADC

Zimbabwe has recorded the second largest improvement in governance in Africa since 2011 but it is still anchored at the bottom of the 12 southern African countries, according to the latest Mo Ibrahim African Governance Index released yesterday.

Zimbabwe was ranked 44^th in Africa and came only second to Cote d’ Ivoire in terms of improvement. Cote d’ Ivoire was ranked 35^th.

In southern Africa, it is behind Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia.

Mauritius tops the index in the whole of Africa, with Botswana in number 3, South Africa in fourth place and Namibia in fifth place.

Zimbabwe scored 40.6 out of 100. The average score for the 54 countries in Africa was 50.1. Half the African countries were below that average.

It scored the highest in Africa in terms of national security but very poorly in accountability.

The country’s biggest set-back, however, was in sustainable economic opportunity where it scored 24.6 out of 100.

The Mo Ibrahim Index looks at four broad categories: safety and rule of law; participation and human rights; sustainable economic opportunity; and human development.

The categories are divided into 14-sub-categories: rule of law, accountability, personal safety, national security, participation, rights, gender, public management, business environment, infrastructure, rural sector, welfare, education and health.

Zimbabwe has proposed more than a dozen laws that will be debated in Parliament to improve ease of doing business in the country.

This was viewed in some circles as backtracking on its indigenisation programme which has been blamed for the poor investor interest but Empowerment Minister Patrick Zhuwao, who is President Robert Mugabe’s nephew, said there was no going back on indigenisation because this was the platform on which ZANU-PF won the 2013 elections and is enshrined in the national constitution.

Zhuwao said, the government was instead, thinking of introducing an empowerment levy that could be as high as 10 percent with those who have already indigenised getting discounts.

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