Zimbabwe and Tanzania enjoy a long, historical and strategic relation that can be traced back to the early 1960s. Political and economic bilateral relations were forged during the days of the liberation struggle and they have continued to strengthen since then.

In an exclusive interview with Review & Mail, Tanzanian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Professor Emmanuel Mbennah gave us an insight into the relations between the two countries. He also shared with us tips on how his country managed to achieve the upper middle-income economy status five years ahead of the projected time and promote one of the most stable currencies in the region.

Below is the full excerpt of the interview between Albert Chavhunduka (AC) and His Excellency Professor Mbennah.

AC: In 2019, Tanzania managed to achieve an upper middle income economy status and in Zimbabwe, this is also part of President Emerson Mnangagwa’s government plans to make sure that Zimbabwe becomes a middle income country by 2030. Can you share with us how you managed to achieve this?

 Prof Mbennah: In 2019, Tanzania achieved the upper middle income economy status five years ahead of projected time which could have been in 2025. What enabled Tanzania to achieve that status, it’s really about working on the economy because middle income status has to do with the economy.

It’s really a matter of building the economy and what Tanzania did especially under President Magufuli, but he built on the work of the previous president; was to mobilise resources to make sure the economy grows, to deal with corruption, to increase productivity, to safeguard the national resources of the country so the natural resources of the country benefit the country as they should. Before then, even though Tanzania is endowed with a lot of natural resources, minerals, wildlife and such, there was not much benefit coming from those because of the mining companies or companies investing in Tanzania. They were not necessarily fulfilling the responsibilities to make sure their economic activities benefit the economy of the country.

Some things have to do with the contracts that were in place and what the late president John Magufuli did was to call for a review of those contracts to make sure the country benefitted from mining and from wildlife and other sectors. So productivity, safeguarding natural resources and dealing with all aspects that will siphon away the economic strength of the country.

We also included dealing with some internal issues; for example if you have spending that is unchecked, you have state institutions or parastatals board of directors having meetings in very expensive places or outside the country instead of having their meetings in boardrooms or a place not too expensive. So dealing with spending, increasing productivity and maximising collection of taxes and all that made sure that the country benefitted from its natural resources.

I think those were the means by which president Magufuli was able to lead us into the middle income economy status five years ahead of time. More productivity, less consumption, controlled spending and optimum benefit from our natural resources are some of the things we worked hard on.

I think his Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa here is working very much the same, he is very keen about productivity, it’s one of his important works. Productivity means producing more for less and more within a shorter time. You can produce so much volume but if it costs so much or takes forever to gather there, it’s not productive. So he’s very keen to produce optimum volume of output within reasonable time but at the right costs.

He’s also dealing with corruption and he is very keen about how much he spends and he is also inviting investors and making sure the economy grows with participation of people doing the right thing to grow the economy. The engagement agenda that he is doing is bearing fruit and I have no doubt that the goal to attain upper middle income economy status by 2030 is very much within reach.

AC: Zimbabwe and Tanzania in 2019 signed a number of MOUs under the Zimbabwe-Tanzania Joint Permanent Commission Cooperation. How fruitful has been that partnership so far, what has it achieved?

Prof Mbennah: We have MOUs which were signed some time back and these have been implemented at different levels and some not as much as we would like to see, but in terms of trade and cooperation, there has been an opening of space for companies, individuals or traders from Zimbabwe to go to Tanzania.

We have many traders that go to Tanzania to buy merchandise and bring over to Zimbabwe to sell. The two airlines, Air Zimbabwe goes to Tanzania and is functioning very well and that is facilitating trade between the two countries. Then the Tanzania airline also has three flights every week between Harare and Dar as Salaam.

So those are business avenues that are now in place facilitating commerce, the movement of people and that of goods. Since then the roads have been clear, we have bus companies operating between Dar as Salaam and Harare. We have a lot of transportation business and trucks between Tanzania and Zimbabwe bringing different goods between the two countries.

Some economic activities in general have been going on since that time. I would like to see more of that, I cannot say we are where we wanted to be in terms of volumes, variety and scopes of interaction business wise. I think more can be done.

A few MOUs did not take place due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic situation because they are executed through interaction by different stakeholders; sometimes coming together and exchanging visits and this has not been possible. We hope now with the easing of the situation, this will be revived and I hope that the people of Zimbabwe here will take very good use of the opportunities that exist to do business.

Tanzania is very much open for business just like Zimbabwe is open for business, the two countries are great friends. We hope implementation of some of the MOUs that were on schedule will now pick up and go to the next level.

AC: Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Security Initiative which basically calls for sustainabl The real reason why South Africans want Zimbabweans ‘to go’ e cooperation of all states to achieve global peace and development. Do you think Africa as a continent should support this initiative and in what ways will it benefit our countries?

Prof Mbennah: I think global peace is very fundamental, you cannot debate whether or not we should pursue stable global peace, that discussion is concluded.

You cannot entertain an environment where peace is very tentative, you want the existence of peace, you want sustainable peace. It is within the context of peace that nations can engage to address issues that are inhibiting development and there are many of them. You need collaboration on certain issues, you need assignments, one side to do one bit in order for the other to do the other bit and for everyone to gain.

That kind of collaboration requires an environment of peace. So whether or not we should have peace is not something we should negotiate, we need peace. It must always be considered to be very unfortunate when there is no peace or team peace is being endangered.

So the call to have a focus on global peace, it’s a very important call, it’s timely, needed and appropriate. There may only be issues of modalities to promote that global peace. The idea of peace is it’s generated by the possibility of conflict and war and sometimes the idea of peace is generated by the feeling of deficits in trust relations.

If there is no trust between nations, to think that we are at peace is very difficult, so it implies that we need to build trust among and across nations. Trust has to do with not just what actions people are likely to do, but even the wishes others will have on another country.

So I think it’s a timely proposal and it should be supported. There may be issues of defining the modalities, issues to do with the willingness to let go of certain assumptions on certain parts. Our world historically, you can trace that the desire to be powerful has always been part of the human history and the desire to be the only one who is powerful has characterised many nations in history.

I think the call to pursue peace would mean maybe review your desire to be powerful, to review your desire to want to be the only one who is powerful. Let’s say we are all part of the globe, we are all part of the human race and we all have something to contribute to our good and safe existence, let’s love, trust and build an environment that is good for all of us.

So where should Africa stand? I cannot speak for all of Africa but in my view and as a Professor, I think Africa would want peace for the world. Africa has a very huge development agenda and it is part of the globe, we cannot say we are in Africa and we don’t want to fight with any big nation, we only want to consider only our environment, we are part of the globe and we cannot stay away from a call for a global peace process.

When the world is at peace, Africa has a lot of resources, a very young population and it’s a big market, so we stand to gain economically in many ways if and when there is peace in the world. So it’s good for Africa that the world is at peace, therefore the call by President Xi Jinping is a good call at least from the perspective of Africa.

AC: How is the business climate in Zimbabwe in terms of ease of doing business?

Prof Mbennah: Zimbabwe has come a long way in terms of business environment and every single day you have a leap in terms of improvements. So the government of His Excellency President Mnangagwa can be commended for very steady improvements in terms of doing business.

I think what Zimbabweans can do is to continue to cooperate with the government because the efforts and intentions are very clear and the prospects of success are very obvious. Zimbabwe is Open for Business is very true, we have mining companies coming here, investors coming here and it’s very encouraging.

AC: Your Excellency, Zimbabwe has been plagued by a currency crisis; and you have one of the most stable currencies in the region, the Tanzanian Shilling. How did you manage to have such a currency that is very competitive even against other global currencies?

Prof Mbennah: There are a number of things that you have to do and one of them of course has to do with the economy, it has to be stable. The country has to produce, in order to sell outside and export more than import.

Tanzania also had to look at its financial fiscal policies and the laws in place and Tanzanians love the Tanzanian shilling, when I’m in Tanzania I want to transact using the Tanzanian shilling and the law also requires that you cannot dollarize and use hard currency in the market.

So I think the law, the policies and just the willingness of people to transact in the Tanzanian shilling has made the shilling very stable.  So it is the strength of an economy and the decision of the government and the willingness of the people to use the shilling. So it has been stable, with the same exchange rate for over five to ten years.

What can Zimbabwe do? Love your currency, cherish it. National currency has its own prestige and image and it’s good to value and protect it. I think government is making some efforts for example the willing buyer-willing seller and the auction system to make sure it remains strong and those efforts must continue and Zimbabweans must embrace their currency.