The government has become evasive on the value accumulated by the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF) since its reconfiguration, with the entity's operations remaining opaque.
Formerly the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), the MIF was established by an Act of Parliament in 2024. It was renamed the Mutapa Fund through Statutory Instrument 156 of 2023 by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, using the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act.
The MIF oversees the operations of state-owned entities such as ZUPCO, the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), Kuvimba Mining House, and ZESA, among others.
However, concerns have been raised over the lack of transparency, shielding the MIF from scrutiny by taxpayers.
Recently, during a question-and-answer session, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) Senator Moses Manyengavana questioned the Minister of Justice Ziyambi Ziyambi on the value of the assets under the MIF.
"My question is people of Zimbabwe applaud the existence of the Sovereign Fund, which is a standard practice the world over but in our case and in the interest of transparency, it is in the national interest for the people of Zimbabwe to know the strength of the fund at the inception and where it is now. At what stage would the people of Zimbabwe begin to see the tangible benefits of the Mutapa Fund?" asked Manyengavana.
In response, Ziyambi said the MIF is still evaluating the assets more than a year after its restructuring.
"Actually, what the government has done is to lump all the government companies under the Mutapa Fund. So, what Mutapa Fund is doing now, is to quantify the actual value of the companies under Mutapa and once they finish that, then the public will be made aware of the value.
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"It is very good because it will allow us now to be credit-rated and we can actually borrow as a nation against that for any developments that we want. So, it is a very good question, but it is a work in progress that the fund is doing," said Ziyambi.
Last year, MIF Chief Executive Officer John Mangudya indicated that they had engaged an external partner to evaluate the assets, which would assist in the recapitalisation of some of the entities.
"So, that is what they are doing so that they will say, when we inherited, this is how we quantified it. They do not want to use historical data. They are doing it for themselves to say, we inherited ZUPCO, this is the status that it was like.
"We inherited ZESA. We inherited this and then they come up with a wholesome figure to say, as Mutapa Fund, these are our assets, these are our liabilities as at inception and that is what they are doing," added Ziyambi.
