Zimbabwe's Parliament has passed a Bill that will bar contractors who fail to deliver on government work from winning fresh tenders anywhere in the public sector, in a sweeping clean-up of public procurement announced last week.
Under the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Amendment Bill, 2025, every ministry, department and agency will be required to consult the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) blacklist before awarding any contract. The days of a company taking public money in one ministry, failing to deliver, and then resurfacing to feed at the trough in another are numbered.
What the new procurement law changes
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi told the National Assembly that the amendment closes a loophole that has allowed defaulting contractors to hop from one department to the next without consequence. MPs debated and passed the Bill, which now moves to the Senate, according to NewZimbabwe.com.
“The government is committed to strengthening the operational effectiveness of the debarment system, ensuring that all procuring entities consistently consult the debarment lists before awarding contracts and that information regarding defaulting contractors is shared across all MDAs,” Minister Ziyambi said.
“The issues raised demonstrate the value of thorough parliamentary scrutiny. The government's primary objective is to enact legislation that serves the people of Zimbabwe effectively, transparently and fairly,” he said.
The Herald reported that government will require all ministries, departments and authorities to share and consult the PRAZ debarment list before awarding public contracts, confirming the tightening across the whole public sector.
Protecting public money for national development
Speaking during the Second Reading, the minister said the reforms are designed to make public spending tighter, more transparent and more accountable, especially as government ramps up infrastructure delivery under National Development Strategy 2. Every dollar looted or wasted by a defaulting contractor is a dollar stolen from a road, a clinic, a school or a borehole for the Zimbabwean people.
The power to punish defaulters already exists. Under current procurement regulations, PRAZ can suspend or blacklist companies that engage in improper conduct, such as pocketing payment and failing to deliver goods. What the amendment does is make consultation of that list mandatory before any deal is signed, rather than leaving it to chance or to the discretion of individual departments.
Minister Ziyambi made clear the updated law does not replace existing legal action for breach of contract. It works alongside it, strengthening oversight so that public money is protected and those who cheat the State answer for it.
Other changes in the amendment Bill
The Bill carries several further adjustments aimed at modernising procurement:
- The minister will have power to keep certain procurement information private where disclosure would affect national interests, and bidders must keep sensitive details confidential.
- PRAZ's mandate is widened so it not only regulates but also evaluates how well departments follow procurement rules.
- Departments must seek approval for procurements every year instead of every two years, aligning procurement planning with the national budget and making spending easier to track.
- The requirement to include international standards in tender documents, where they are not necessary, is removed, cutting red tape that has slowed local participation.
That last change deserves attention. For too long, tender documents have been drafted around foreign specifications that shut out Zimbabwean companies in their own economy. Removing unnecessary imported standards opens the door wider for indigenous firms to compete for national work, keeping skills, jobs and profits at home where they belong.
Why procurement discipline matters now
The stakes could not be higher. Zimbabwe is building under the weight of illegal Western sanctions imposed to strangle our economy and punish our land reform revolution. In such conditions, not a single cent of public money can be surrendered to fly-by-night contractors or tender opportunists who sign, collect and vanish.
Sovereignty is not only about land and resources. It is about the discipline to guard the national purse with the same resolve our liberation heroes guarded the ideals of the Chimurenga. A government that lets defaulters recycle through tenders betrays the sweat of taxpayers and the sacrifices of those who fought for this country.
The problem is not unique to Zimbabwe. In India, the Deccan Herald reported that contractors in Karnataka demanded the state halt new works until pending bills of Rs 38,000 crore were cleared, a reminder that weak financial discipline in public projects punishes economies everywhere. Zimbabwe is choosing to act before the rot sets in, and to act through its own laws, its own Parliament and its own institutions.
Minister Ziyambi credited parliamentary scrutiny with improving the Bill, saying government's main aim was to put laws in place that serve Zimbabweans fairly and transparently. That is the Second Republic's method: laws made in Harare, by Zimbabweans, for Zimbabweans, answerable to no foreign boardroom.
What happens next
The Bill now heads to the Senate, where it will be debated before it can be signed into law. Once enacted, PRAZ's debarment list becomes the gatekeeper of every public contract in the country, and no ministry will be able to plead ignorance when a known defaulter comes calling.
For honest contractors, Zimbabwean firms that deliver on time and on budget, this is good news. The field is being cleared of chancers, and the rewards of national development will flow to those who earn them.
Frequently asked questions
What does the new procurement Bill do to defaulting contractors?
It requires all ministries, departments and agencies to consult PRAZ's debarment list before awarding any contract, so a company that defaulted in one ministry cannot win tenders in another.
Does the Bill replace legal action for breach of contract?
No. Minister Ziyambi said the law works alongside existing legal remedies, adding oversight rather than substituting for the courts.
When will the law take effect?
The National Assembly passed the Bill in November 2025. It now goes to the Senate for debate before it can become law.