Brian Rungano Temba
Treasury has funded the establishment of a dedicated Joint Resource Mobilisation Committee (JRMC) Project Office manned by a full-time Secretariat.
The JRMC is a committee that Cabinet instructed treasury to establish in order to oversee the achievement of the Global Compensation Deed (GCD).
This announcement was made on yesterday, in a public statement by Minister of Finance and Economic Development and Chairman of the JRMC Professor Mthuli Ncube.
“The Project Office is also receiving technical assistance support from our international cooperating partners.
The office is now operational and has given impetus to the joint resource mobilisation process,” read the statement by Minister Ncube.
Minister Ncube highlighted that funds utilised in the setting up of the JRMC project office came from Treasury’s budget towards the GCD that was signed in July 2020.
The GCD was signed between Government of Zimbabwe and Former Farm Owners (FFOs) in commitment to move the Vision 2030 agenda forward and to ensure its timely realisation through increased agricultural productivity, among other initiatives.
The JRMC managed to mobilise funds that are being disbursed to distressed FFOs as interim relief payments.
“In the 2021 National Budget, Government committed an amount of Z$2 billion towards the compensation of FFOs.
In addition, on 18 December 2020 Government secured USD250 million towards the compensation process through the donation of a shareholding of equal value in a mining asset – Kuvimba Mining House, to a special purpose vehicle specifically created to raise funds for the GCA.
The first dividend from this long term shareholding was paid on 23 June 2021. An amount of USD1million was declared in favour of the fund for compensating former farm owners and this amount will be applied towards partial settlement of the agreed global compensation figure,” read the statement.
Minister Ncube added that Treasury has completed and the contract to set up an advisory board with the Financial Advisors-Newstate Partners, which was signed on 21 April 2021.
The Financial Advisors have already commenced work with the JRMC supporting its capital-rasing efforts.
“In compliance with the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDPA) Act [Chapter 22:23], the procurement of Financial Advisory Services for the joint resources mobilization process began with the issuance, through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, of an international call for Expressions of Interest (E01s) in September 2020.
The procurement process went through several stages which took longer than had been originally anticipated,” further read the statement.
Minister also stated that due to delays caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic the JRMC will be pushing back the paying the first instalment of compensation for FFOs.
“The longer than had been anticipated period for the appointment of the Financial Advisors alluded to above and the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the resource mobilisation process. The Parties to the GCD, therefore agreed to extend the period for the first payment from 31 July 2021 to 31 July 2022. The Parties signed an Addendum to the GCD on 7 May 2021 to give legal effect to their agreement,” read the statement.
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