THE Speaker of Parliament, Advocate Jacob Mudenda, has challenged the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) to spearhead efforts towards the consolidation of business laws to enhance the ease of doing business and boost the country’s competitiveness.
Advocate Mudenda made the remarks while addressing delegates at the ZNCC annual congress in Victoria Falls, which is running under the theme, “Interrogating the regulatory landscape in Zimbabwe and the region: learning from best practices to deepen policy quality, partnerships and enhance productivity.”
The Speaker noted that fragmented regulatory frameworks were contributing to high business costs and negatively impacting Zimbabwe’s competitiveness compared to regional peers.
“Zimbabwe has nine procedures to start a business compared with 7.4 for Sub-Saharan Africa and 4.9 for OECD high-income countries. The costs required to complete these procedures amount to 76.6 percent of income per capita, more than double the Sub-Saharan Africa’s 36.3 percent and 25 times the cost in OECD countries at three percent,” he said.
Advocate Mudenda urged ZNCC to move beyond compliance with existing laws and actively advocate for reforms through formal channels.
“ZNCC must transition from mere compliance with current regulatory frameworks to becoming powerful advocates for business law consolidation. ZNCC should learn to petition Parliament in terms of section 149 of our Constitution,” said Advocate Mudenda.
The Speaker said there were opportunities to harmonise business registration, taxation, labour laws and licensing requirements through legislative amendments.
“The Income Tax Act can be amended to collapse all taxation to be decoded under one omnibus taxation law undergirded by Artificial Intelligence applications. Consolidated law must be the assuring instrument of socio-economic development. Succeed, you must,” he said.
He highlighted that regional models such as Zambia’s Business Regulatory Act and Botswana’s regulatory reforms offer valuable lessons that Zimbabwe can adapt in its context to enhance the ease of doing business.
