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The role of parliamentarians in defending public services in light of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) in Zimbabwe and in the SADC
Roberta T. Muropa
June 14, 2006

Analyzing the given topic, a person might get baffled on what GATS is, whether it is a company or a foreign program that will be introduced in Zimbabwe, or anything mysterious. This cannot be disputed, because it would show how it is important for our policy makers to be well versed on issues relating to the protection of people’s livelihoods. In this article, I intend to show the importance of the civil society in building the capacity of policy makers in Zimbabwe, in understanding trade related issues, especially in the context of the privatization of services under GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services), and its impact on people’s lives as well. I strongly believe that since members of parliament in Zimbabwe and the SADC region represent people in various constituencies, if they have their capacities built and are able to articulate trade justice issues, people will have been sensitized on how they can contribute as a mass movement in advocating for fair trade policies that promote national and regional development, in a bid to protect local industries from foreign competition presented by the multinational companies.

Before I even go further with the presentation in analyzing the role of GATS, I’ll give brief background information on the origins of the World Trade Organization and its role in international trade.

In relation to GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services), it was created at the institutionalization of the WTO in 1994, and is a legally enforceable agreement, which covers trade and investment in services. GATS stipulates that WTO countries should liberalize their service industries and reduce barriers to trade, which are seen as impediments to competition and trade.

According to Sinclair (2000), a service is an activity/ tangible good, which aims to satisfy a human need, and ranges from providing a commodity such as water or education to providing labor /advice. It should also be pointed out that services make up about 60% of the global economy and is the fastest growing a sector of international trade, therefore the transnational companies have identified services as an important area to have access.

Under the WTO, services have been divided into the following sectors with special reference to the SADC region: a) water, b) electricity, c) education, d) telecommunications, e) fishery, f) tourism, g) banking, h) transportation, the list is endless. One might ask, what does GATS have to do with Zimbabwe? As I had stated before, GATS is a legally enforceable trade agreement, which Zimbabwe has signed to, and this has a huge impact on people’s lives in Zimbabwe and the SADC region as well.

I should point out that in any economic reform instituted, just like ESAPs (Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes), which had negative impacts on the Zimbabwe economy, where public services were reduced, many people suffered immensely, especially women and under GATS, the impact is even greater. As a member of the civil society, I strongly detest the way GATS has negatively affected people’s lives, in the sense that, it encourages the dismantling of people’s access to water, health care and education, hence undermining these basic rights by treating them as mere commodities. In other words, if the public services are put under the control of large private corporations, these companies would only have one goal of providing services in order to make a profit, and would not have responsibility to provide these services in order to make a profit, and would not have the responsibility to provide these services for the general welfare of people in both urban and rural areas.

Research, case studies and life testimonies have shown that it is women who suffer most under the privatization and dismantling of services, and when the state and market fail families, women are obligated to provide health care, education and safe food and water for their families. Furthermore, not only women provide services for their families, but also make up the majority of service workers in the world and often in the public sector, and are also the ones who suffer when they are retrenched when their jobs are privatized. To make matters worse, if the user fees in education are introduced, girls are the first to drop from school, hence increasing levels of poverty.

Some of the issues I have noted above are clearly evidenced on how some of the its public services in Zimbabwe’s cities have been privatized, as the city council authorities have abandoned its responsibility in providing services (water provision, road and infrastructure maintenance, sewage repairs among other aspects) for its citizens. In the business sector, some of the industries have been privatized, leaving many home providers unemployed. The other scenario that Zimbabwe should keep an eye open is the continuous infiltration of South African capital/companies in the SADC region, (especially in the banking sector, retail, transport, tourism, media, information technologies, etc). This has a negative impact of putting local industries out of business for good. This has already affected other states in the region, especially in Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, DRC among others, where their local producers of milk, chicken and other vegetable products are competing with the South African products, which would get more preference from the public as they are in most cases cheap and affordable, affecting the local farmer’s livelihood. The entry of Chinese goods in the region, is nothing to write home about, considering the fact that many local industries have been facing stiff competition and have been facing stiff competition, forcing them to eventually close down, leading not may women in the communities having to bear the brunt of this economic liberalization. I could spend the whole day pointing out the negative impact of the multinational companies’ activities in as far as people’s lives are concerned, but now what is important is to analyze the role of Zimbabwe and its people in ensuring that people are guaranteed full employment and their rights respected inspite of the power that multinational companies have on African countries, Zimbabwe not being spared from this scenario.

Civil society, the government and the private sector should come up with a strategic partnership in building the capacity of our policy makers in understanding trade related issues and its impact on people’s livelihoods. This would ensure that policy makers are able to empower their constituencies, especially women, and how they can rally behind the government in advocating for people centered trade agreements.

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