THE Mutapa Investment Fund deserves some commendation for its asserted intention to rebundle Zimbabwe’s state power utility group.
From where we stand, it seems to be a welcome act of active management that recognises hard-earned lessons from an experiment in fragmentation that, on all available evidence, delivered little to no sustainable benefit.
The central premise behind the earlier decision to unbundle the electricity provider was understandable in theory, create discrete units with specialised responsibilities and, through competition and focus, drive efficiency. Yet the reality was wildly different.
A proliferation of separate boards and senior management teams emerged, inevitably inflating overheads and multiplying bureaucratic channels without noticeably improving service delivery or operational efficiency. The resultant structure became a byword for duplication rather than dynamism.
Against that backdrop, the Fund’s leadership has signalled a refreshing willingness to confront what many observers saw as an institutional dead end. Rebundling the separate arms of the utility into a coherent whole gives the opportunity to eliminate needless administrative layers, promote unified strategy and oversight, and sharpen accountability across the enterprise.
There appears to be no credible evidence that the unbundled model produced genuine gains for the sector or, crucially, for power consumers who continue to bear the brunt of inconsistent supply and elevated costs.
What is especially laudable about this initiative is that it reflects an underlying philosophy of active stewardship rather than passive custodianship.
Where too many State institutions drift aimlessly under the illusion of autonomy, Mutapa Investment Fund has chosen to intervene decisively. By prioritising operational coherence over institutional vanity, it demonstrates a pragmatic understanding of governance, one that values efficiency and public value over adherence to an unproductive orthodoxy.
This is not an exercise in reversing history for its own sake. It is a sober acknowledgement that policy experiments must be judged by outcomes, not intentions.
The Fund’s proactive approach offers a constructive template for broader public sector reform, where entrenched structures can be reimagined in the interests of performance, sustainability and service delivery.
In applauding this direction, we hope it will be paired with rigorous performance measurement and transparent communication with stakeholders, so that rebundling can truly mark the beginning of improved fortunes for Zimbabwe’s vital power sector.
A toast to single-digit inflation