Abstract
The study seeks to examine the role of the board of directors in corporate governance in Zimbabwean state-owned enterprises (SOEs), with specific focus on the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA). The study begins with a historical overview of corporate governance of boards of directors in Zimbabwe. It provides an outline of the importance of corporate governance and the reasons organisations pursue it. Good corporate governance practices are known to increase the accountability, productivity, and competitiveness of organisations, while improving their attractiveness to investors (CIPE 2009:1,26). In addition, good corporate conduct also tends to reduce corruption and conflict of interest and improves business ethics.
The objective of this research is to identify the roles of the board of directors in implementing corporate governance in ZINWA. The research highlights that the board of directors is at the helm of corporate governance. The primary data for this study was gathered through open-ended questionnaires, and face-to-face interviews, while the secondary data was collected through a literature review, which included electronic journals, print media, published and unpublished documents, and official government documents.
The findings revealed that ZINWA has adopted legal and policy frameworks that govern corporate governance practices in Zimbabwe. Corporate governance in SOEs is constituted in the Zimbabwe Corporate Governance Framework Code of 2014 and the Corporate Governance Framework for State Enterprises and Parastatals in Zimbabwe of 2010. Some of the corporate governance principles implemented or applied at ZINWA are the board of directors, board committees, performance evaluation, internal audit, external audit, accountability, and defined roles and responsibilities. The findings also revealed that several factors such as political interference, poor resourcing of the board of directors’ activities, poor selection criteria for board members, and corruption affect the ability of the board of directors to implement or improve good corporate governance practices in ZINWA. The findings revealed that the roles of the board of directors include reviewing strategic plans and providing management, direction, and policy guidance in ZINWA’s operations. The study concludes with a number of recommendations to enhance...
M.A. (Public Management and Governance)