Not a week a passes without someone from Zimbabwe talking about the problems with services being delivered by the electricity company, water company, train operator or the bain of every Zimbabwean in the diaspora, the national airline!. Not since the middle of the 1990s has there been consitent supply of service from any of these government owned companies and some attribute the fall in quality and supply of these utilities to the economic restructuring programme, the referendum and sanctions levelled against the country for a variety of reasons. But, and this is a big but no one seems to label any blame on the government ownership of the these services, why?. Is it because Zimbabweans expect the government to produce and provide the service. It appears not many people have thought about how the government can afford to provide consistent supply of the services given all that has gone on since the mid 1990s.

While there are differing opinions on who should own strategic services such as water, electricity, trains and the national airline, I feel there is need for internal assessment and honesty in all parties that have a vested interest in the consistent supply of these resources, be they government, lay men, businesses or community services providers. There are examples within Zmbabwe that show private ownership of strategic resources can be a good thing, look no further than the health industry and the education industry. Private operators have consistently supplied these services through all the problems and the challenges experienced by the country in the last 16 years. In health and education the government and private enterprise are operating in the same sectors without much friction, while this is a simplistic view of the issues that lie within the daily operations and provision of those serives, I feel there is enugh evidence for me to think that it is time for the government to seriously consider liberalising the provision of water, electricity, trains and aviation.

There is enough wealth within the people of Zimbabwe at home or abroad to bring consistency back to the supply of electricity, water, trains and aviation through expertise and financial resources that seem to elude the government at present. The roadmap to recovery must give freedom to private enterprise, must strive to adopt clean and sustainable technology as well as being affordable to the common man on the street. Achieving affordability will require significant change in the mindset of Zimbabwean business thinkers which will entail adopting a long term view to profitability rather than the current short term gains driven mentality which has led to local milk being more expensive than imported milk. Effectiveness and efficiency should be the sources of profitability rather than supernormal mark ups of 65% on cost which is the norm in Zimbabwe at the moment. The long term approach to profitability will require government support in creating an economic environment that is consistent in decision making, authorisation of permission to operate in the strategic sectors and the transperancy as a business culture.

Change of tune is not only the responsibility of the government, Zimbabweans in general must also change and look amongst themselves to find the solutions to the supply of strategic resources, maybe we should start seeing ourselves as airline operators, train operators and energy suppliers. Impossible is nothing for a determined people