Three Decades of Public Enterprise Restructuring in Zimbabwe a will-Of-The-Wisp Chase?
Dr Gideon Zhou

Abstract
The public enterprise sector in Zimbabwe has over the past three decades gone through various phases of restructurings, each decade reflecting a distinct restructuring approach. First decade public enterprise restructurings were state-initiated and expansionary, fundamentally concerned with reconstituting public enterprises into majority-interest-driven entities. Second decade restructurings had an external-driven bias, emphasizing the rolling back of the public enterprise sector through liberalization, deregulation, commercialization and privatization. Third decade restructurings took the unbundling route, breaking state monopolies into small, business-oriented entities. However, three decades down the line, the public enterprise sector in Zimbabwe remains a sad tale of loss making and debt-ridden entities with a voracious appetite for fiscal support. Could this have been a case of misdiagnosing the ailment and prescribing a wrong prescription or a case of correct prescription in wrong hands? This article dissects this conundrum through a three-decade case study review of reform experiences in selected public enterprises.

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