Abstract
The study analysed the implementation of the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment (IEE) Act (No. 14 of 2007) in the mining sector of Zimbabwe. It examined the nature and experiences of implementing the IEE policy and underpinning laws and policies. This study analysed the key variables that influenced the IEE implementation, the statutory and institutional arrangements, policy instruments, models, and strategies used by the government in pursuing the goals and objectives of the IEE policy. The study was exploratory in nature, and as a result adopted a purely qualitative research approach. The research method entailed a case study of three mining companies. The study found that efforts to comply with the IEE policy and underpinning laws among foreign-owned mining firms were varied; where some companies were fully compliant, some were partially compliant, and others totally noncompliant. The study also found that the implementation of the IEE policy and laws was influenced by the entrenchment of elite corruption and state capture, negative public perception, and politicisation of the programme, as well as inappropriate indigenisation models and policy design. Another critical factor in terms of IEE implementation was the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front’s (ZANU-PF) intra-elite factional politics, which resulted in contestations on policy interpretation and implementation between two identified groups of policy actors, namely “policy radicals” and “policy moderates”. Their opposing approaches and divergent views resultantly created policy inconsistency and discord, and overall produced a confusing and confused process of implementing the IEE policy and laws. This research recommends that the government moves away from the discredited and elite-focused equity ownership model (EOM) (to a more widely used broad-based empowerment model underpinned by a credit-rating scorecard system. There is furthermore a need for the de-politicisation of the IEE programme, stakeholder consultation, and entrenchment of transparency and accountability in expediting indigenisation deals.
Ph.D. (Public Management and Governance)