By Aldridge Dzvene
In the majestic setting of Victoria Falls, amid6 the business heartbeat of Zimbabwe’s private sector leaders, the Speaker of Parliament, Honourable Advocate Jacob Francis Nzwidamilimo Mudenda, delivered a speech that was more than policy rhetoric. It was a masterclass in legal foresight, a clarion call for systemic reinvention, and a bold declaration that the time for regulatory transformation is now, and the engine must be driven by business itself.
Dressed in statesmanship and armed with a razor-sharp command of constitutional and regional economic law, Honourable Mudenda took the ZNCC Annual Congress on an unapologetically honest journey through Zimbabwe’s labyrinthine business regulatory landscape. But unlike previous economic addresses, his was not an abstract policy sermon. It was a vivid map of what is broken, why it matters, and, most importantly, how it can be fixed.
“Our Constitution,” he said with steady gravitas, “is not just a document. It is a compact for commerce.” In that one sentence, Honourable Mudenda recast Zimbabwe’s supreme law not merely as a protector of civil rights, but as a living, breathing tool for economic emancipation. He cited Sections 13, 56, and 64 as direct mandates for business empowerment, urging private enterprise not to be passive recipients of policy, but active participants in the creation of enabling legislation.
His tone was respectful yet compellingly urgent. The Honourable Speaker dissected with surgical clarity the structural inefficiencies hampering business, from duplicated licensing regimes to fractured tax compliance systems, from regulatory overlaps that waste time and money to outdated statutes that suffocate innovation. “Why,” he asked pointedly, “have you not proposed amendments to Parliament? Have you ever moved in that direction?”
Honourable Mudenda did not tiptoe around statistics. He confronted the stark realities: it takes nine procedures to start a business in Zimbabwe, nearly double the sub-Saharan average and triple the OECD benchmark. The cost of compliance stands at an astonishing 76.6% of income per capita, and the country ranks 127 out of 141 economies in the 2019 Global Competitiveness Index. These figures are not just numbers, they are a wake-up call, and he rang the bell loudly.
“Regulation,” he declared, “must be a guardrail, not a cage.” Quoting thought leaders from across the continent, from Thabo Mbeki’s advocacy for ‘regulated liberalisation’ to Aliko Dangote’s frustration with bureaucracy as Africa’s ‘silent tax’, he framed the debate not just as a local challenge, but a continental inflection point. The question was no longer whether change is needed, but whether Zimbabwe’s business community has the courage and coordination to demand it.
Yet this was not a lament. It was a legislative invitation. Honourable Mudenda urged the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce to leverage Section 149 of the Constitution, which gives every citizen the right to petition Parliament to enact or amend legislation. He described Parliament not as a distant institution, but as an available ally, waiting for business to bring forward reform proposals. “The laws are not sacred relics,” he reminded them. “They are tools. They can be sharpened.”
His solutions were precise and actionable. He called for the consolidation of fragmented tax and licensing laws into and AI-driven single economic statute. He proposed streamlining ZIDA procedures with local authority requirements. He encouraged collaboration between ZNCC and legal faculties to draft composite legislation that reflects the modern business environment. And most powerfully, he envisioned a legislative ecosystem where compliance is not an impediment but an advantage, where Zimbabwe’s legal frameworks become a magnet for capital, not a deterrent.
Through it all, Honourable Advocate Mudenda’s respect for business was clear. He sees the private sector not as a recipient of government policy, but as its co-author. “ZNCC,” he said, “must transition from mere compliance to becoming powerful advocates for business law reform.” He urged them to look to Zambia’s Business Regulatory Act, Botswana’s streamlined compliance models, and South Africa’s regulatory impact assessments as blueprints for Zimbabwe’s legislative future.
By the time his speech concluded, what lingered was not just the applause, but the feeling that something had shifted. In Honourable Mudenda’s address, the legal and economic story of Zimbabwe was not one of stagnation, but of untapped potential, of a country poised for reinvention if only its private sector would rise to meet the moment.
As delegates left the congress, there was no mistaking the weight of the challenge. But there was also no doubt about the road ahead. The Honourable Speaker had made it clear: the reform Zimbabwe seeks will not come from political will alone. It must come from a collaborative constitutional awakening, led by industry, steered by lawmakers, and rooted in vision.
It was a speech not to be archived, but to be acted upon. And perhaps, in the grand halls of Victoria Falls, it was also the beginning of a new social contract, between Parliament and production, between legal frameworks and economic freedom, between potential and performance.
