States, the world over, are called upon to put in place enabling policy frameworks to ensure successful implementation of public enterprise sector reforms. This requires profound reformation of the institutional, legal, regulatory and control networks in which the public enterprise has been embedded, often for decades. The creation of such enabling contexts largely hinges on the natjire of the state and its political will to transform its role from that of an entrepreneur to a mere facilitator in the reform process. This article contributes to this challenge by analysing the socio-political, institutional, legal and regulatory contexts within which public enterprise sector reforms are implemented in Zimbabwe.

Public administration is the bedrock of every government; the central instrument through which national policies and programs are implemented. However, its effectiveness largely depends on how its frameworks are constituted. This article examines the frameworks of public administration in Zimbabwe-interrogating the extent to which they provide enabling contexts for best practices of public administration. Research findings point to frameworks that are stressed at both the legal and institutional level. Thirty years down the line, a stable constitutional framework is yet to be established. While the institutional framework is fairly comprehensive and generally comparable with regional trends, its operational framework is largely emaciated in terms of autonomy and resource base. The framework of public administration needs reconfiguration and strengthening at both the legal and institutional level.

Centre-local relations have been an area of controversy in Zimbabwean local governance both as a discipline and as a practice. Local authorities have traded blows with central government particularly accusing the responsible Ministry of reducing them to spectators in their own field through excessive ministerial intervention. Meanwhile the ministry of local government has cracked the whip on local authorities accusing them of mismanagement and compromised service delivery. The independent media has described the scenario as a “Bloodbath” in local authorities. What appears to be misconstrued by many however is the fact that the governing legal and institutional framework of local governance in Zimbabwe provides room for the responsible Minister to legally enable or disable local authority administration. This governing framework has been and is still the “Achilles heel” of local authorities and the raison d’être of ministerial intervention in Zimbabwe.

Sound public expenditure management forms the bedrock of public administration. It facilitates prudence, efficiency, transparency and accountability in expenditure processes at various levels of government. This serves as a long term barricade against debt trap. This article responds to these fundamental concerns by examining the nature, processes and challenges of public expenditure management in Zimbabwe. Reviews of expenditure management systems in Zimbabwe show general consistence with those in Anglophone Africa. Ministries of finance, working closely with spending ministries, Accounting Officers, Public Accounts Committees of Parliament, Auditor Generals and internal auditors-constitute key players in the public expenditure management process. Notwithstanding this, overall expenditure over the decades remained sticky downwards due to inflationary pressures, unbudgeted expenditures and weak expenditure management systems. Robust measures should be put to institutionalize a culture of compliance with extant expenditure management frameworks at both the macro and micro levels of government.

Public Audit Offices are the guardian of the national purse and the pivot of the system of parliamentary control over finance. They help to institutionalize and nurture a culture of accountability, integrity, legitimacy and value for money in the conduct of public business. This in the long term serves as antidotes against institutional corruption. Study findings indicate that Zimbabwe’s audit systems are in the main consistent with regional and global experiences. Efforts are being undertaken to reconstitute and strengthen legal frameworks governing public auditing. Notwithstanding this, legal frameworks did not go deep enough to strengthen the independence of supreme audit institutions. Appointment, funding and reporting frameworks still have peeling effects on the operational independence of the Comptroller and Auditor General. Scenarios aground also suggest that the political will to comply with extant frameworks is low note. Audit recommendations are not seriously taken by Treasury, Accounting Officers and government ministers. There is need to update legal and regulatory frameworks to strengthen the operational independence of the C&AG and also to give it sanction powers to compel Ministries and departments to observe and comply with the Treasury Instructions and other regulations regarding submissions of returns. Efforts should also be directed towards capacitating the C&AG in term of attracting and retaining skilled and experienced staff in the legal and accounting field.