The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency,’ reads a quote from the book Great by Choice by Jim Collins and Morten Hansen.
According to the authors, if you want to be a tough-minded optimist, then your priorities have to stay consistent in good and bad times.
There are no two ways about it.
Not in Zimbabwe, though, where policy discrepancies have been institutionalised by the government.
For example, in an attempt to add value and stop lithium smuggling over the nation's porous borders to neighbouring countries, the government outlawed the export of raw lithium in December last year.
The public supported the programme because they believed it would enable the nation to better utilise its resources.
However, flip flopping started to appear a few months later after President Emmerson Mnangagwa gave the Zimbabwe Defence Industries a raw lithium export licence at the beginning of this year.
The development triggered public outcry, culminating in the stalling of the deal.
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In addition, the President reportedly granted Terrestrial Holdings a licence to export one million tonnes of raw lithium ore per year, as we have reported elsewhere in this issue.
If this is not the mother of all policy flip flopping, then we don’t know what is.
In 2020, the government established the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX), and introduced a number of incentives, including the 100% foreign currency retention incentive on incremental exports on firms listed on the bourse.
As such, a number of companies migrated from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange to list on VFEX. But early this year, the government changed the rules, and removed the incentive, leaving investors looking stupid.
In its latest report, the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe also bemoaned policy inconsistencies in the country.
“Responses from key stakeholders reveal the mining industry policy as predominantly uncompetitive, unpredictable, uncertain and inconsistent. All respondents indicated that the mining policy environment is uncompetitive and unpredictable, while 83% of respondents viewed the policy environment as inconsistent and uncertain, respectively,” the report reads in part.
Inconsistency in policy is bad for the country since it deters investors.
Policies are designed to address specific issues or provide guidance regarding activities that could have negative consequences for a nation or society.
Therefore, if any significant development is to be achieved, a defined policy must be strictly followed in order to secure both progress and tranquillity.
We demand that the government uphold the laws it enacts. Policy inconsistency is bad for economic growth.
