As predicted the delivery of the new corporate governance code has been moved to October 2010 from the planned May delivery. This timetable is still tight given how quickly time flies. Apparently the initiative is being funded by US$3.5m which appears sufficient to mobilise the required level of resources and focus everyone’s attentions.
Zimbabwe executives do not have the time to donate to an initiative of this nature. Neither do they have the ability to rent seek from services and products related to governance after the event (unlike the accounting firms in South Africa who have a significant critical mass to which to market their products and services). I hope therefore that part of the US$3.5m is set aside to pay executives for their insight into what is relevant for Zimbabwe given their personal insights and experiences. They should not participate in one off events either, they need to be involved on the whole process. There are enough grey haired executives still around to add value and insight. Part of the problem of with the last corporate governance initiative was that senior executives handed down the responsibilities of input to spring chicken staff. The result was that no one bought into the process.
On our part we have offered an interactive website solution to the IOD to harness the power of the web to solicit, receive and manage feedback from a diverse range of stakeholders in Zimbabwe’s capital markets. We look forward to their response. Unless the Internet is used as a focus of input and interactivity the levels of outreach expected of an initiative of this nature will not be met.
We will also provide input into the process as the King III code is remarkably light on hard and fast recommendations on using technology to communicate. We will also push for more checklists in the Zim code to provide directors some form of practical guidance.
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