What to include in a turnaround plan

As a short to medium term exercise, a turnaround plan cannot possibly solve all of the problems identified above. However, it should aim to solve the most pressing of them, to ensure that turnaround actions support rather than hinder solutions to those that it can't and to establish the financial platform to enable the government to do so in the future.

The long term plan that is a vital output of the turnaround should clearly address the longer term problems and provide an outline action plan for solving them.

The objectives of a turnaround

From a bird's eye view, the key to creating wealth and achieving lasting prosperity for all in Zimbabwe is to bring all of its people into the mainstream economy, either as entrepreneurs, farmers, managers, workers or civil servants, and to provide financial support to the disadvantaged in society, including the aged and the unemployed.

• Firstly, that means emancipating the 75% of the people who eke out a meagre living from subsistence farming. They derive no lasting rewards from this struggle, and therefore end up with little that they can pass on to their children, to give them a better start in life. Only when the feudal system we have has been abolished can we be confident in a secure long term future for every Zimbabwean.
• Secondly, it means ensuring that private business can thrive, in order to create the jobs and opportunities for all the people brought into the mainstream economy and to provide the government with adequate revenue to operate effectively and contribute to wealth creation.
• Thirdly, it means investment in public infrastructure, not only to create the environment for private business to thrive in, but also to provide the means to house and transport the increased workforce and generate further jobs and business opportunities.
• Fourthly, it means sound public finances, both to provide funding for investment in infrastructure and to create a positive and stable macro economy.

I am suggesting, therefore, that correcting the structural flaws I have identified above is the way to achieve these objectives in the long term.

Expected outcomes of the turnaround plan

Working from back to front, I would suggest that agricultural land use and industrialisation policies be targeted for implementation in the long term. They are extremely complicated issues and the other structural flaws will need to be corrected before they can be tackled successfully.

Whatever the shortcomings of the current rural land ownership system, it exists and it provides people with at least some living. Therefore, better to offer them something concrete to switch to than mere promises that have not yet been fulfilled.

Next, I would suggest that rural land ownership and a social safety net be targeted for medium term implementation, within three to five years.

Correction of the other flaws would be targeted for the short to medium term. As such, I would expect the achievement of this to be the planned outcome of the turnaround exercise.

In other words, I would consider the turnaround exercise a success once the country had been restored to a sound financial footing, government interference in business decisions had been eliminated, investor-friendly policies had been implemented to replace the current set of deterrents, steps had been taken to significantly improve Zimbabwe's export performance and an outline plan had been agreed for those long term corrections that can only be implemented in the long term.

The turnaround team

Having identified the ultimate objectives of the turnaround plan, it would be necessary to appoint the team and agree on the broad actions to achieve implementation. I would put money on the plan failing if external consultants led and dominated the turnaround team.

I remember them flooding in after Independence, to little effect. The job of most consultants is primarily to write reports and then leave. It takes years for an external consultant to learn how Zimbabwe works, and they're usually looking beyond their current assignment at the next one, long before they have managed to gain the understanding necessary to have a meaningful impact.

I am not suggesting consultants are crooks, they are very valuable in the right circumstances and I know some very good ones. But I also know some who have resigned from consultancies because their conscience could no longer stand the guilt of taking money from clients when all they did was write reports of little practical value.

Rather, my suggestion is based on our current national situation being desperate, which calls for some very radical and, initially, tough changes to be implemented quickly and in a hands-on manner, by people who understand how our system of government and society works.

This country has an abundance of home grown people in the fields of financial control and change management, including many who practise as consultants, who come with an inbuilt understanding of how the country works. Doesn't it seem that every second person you meet in management these days is a CA ?

I'm not a champion of CAs, in fact I think places like the UK have benefited from the dominance of marketing and sales professionals in corporate management. But it's a fact that CAs are one of the few professions to have flourished in Zimbabwe since 1965 and that after qualifying many of them have gone on to gain a wide variety of general business experience, as opposed to the narrow specialisation within finance, commonly found in other countries.

So my suggestion would be for the multi-disciplined turnaround team to be led and dominated by home-grown businessmen, consultants, civil servants and academics, with appropriately experienced external experts providing selected inputs.

Consensus building

With the team leadership selected and the broad plan in place, the next step would be to gain the consensus of all concerned, starting with the political leadership and then the civil service, labour, business and the citizenry at large.

It would be vital to have effective two-way communication in place from the very start, to ensure that all stakeholders, and the international community at large, were kept fully informed of the objectives and progress of the team and the reasons for changes taking place. This would be critical for confidence and, ultimately, a speedy result.

This consensus-building process would necessitate the finalisation of the plan. I would suggest a simple act of parliament to strengthen the legitimacy of the team and to provide for temporary changes to certain systems, in order to reduce the obstacles to efficient implementation of the exercise. For example, with the consent of the civil service, it might be desirable to streamline the operation of the Public Service Commission, given the workload that would result from the implementation of the turnaround.