The effectiveness of Parliament’s oversight mandate depends on the consistent and assiduous enforcement of accountability mechanisms. This brings us back to the monthly, quarterly and annual reporting obligations under the Public Finance Management Act [Chapter 22:19]. Reports are oftensubmitted long after financial matters have been overtaken by events, rendering their scrutiny a belated formality. You are encouraged, therefore, to brook no systemic delay and seriously consider whether the statutory windows themselvesshould be shortened. Where Accounting Officers persistently fail to comply, invoke disciplinary remedies as outlined insections 85, 86, 87, 88 and 91 of the PFMA, including publicly summoning them to explain non-compliance on the record. To that end, section 35 of the PFMA read together with section 309 of the Constitution, obliges all MDAs to submit their accounts for audit.

Relatedly, the commitment to continue promoting value addition and beneficiation of minerals and agricultural products is integral to the same economic transformation agenda. Nowhere is the imperative more vivid than in the lithium sector, where the country exported 520.9 thousand metric tonnes of lithium concentrate in the first half of 2026 alone, earning US$671.7 million. One can only imagine the value that would have accrued to the country had the concentrate been refined locally into battery-grade lithium! Other resource-endowed nations have demonstrated that this gap can be narrowed. Indonesia's 2020 ban on exporting raw nickel ore drew substantial smelting and refining investment onshore and multiplied the value of its nickel exports. The2027 Budget must drive Zimbabwe’s own beneficiation agenda through targeted incentives that build domestic value chains and convert the mineral endowment into industrial capacity, employment and enduring national wealth.