Mnangagwa copying from Mugabe's book; 'how to fail'

Bulawayo South member of parliament hopeful Clayton Jones has said the recent skyrocketing prices of basic commodities and the general Cost Of Living in Zimbabwe is enough evidence that the Zanu-PF government, despite its illegitimate changing of its leader has no panacea to the deteriorating socio-economic and political situation obtaining in the country.

On Saturday 16 November, newspaper headlines screamed of a price hike in bread prices by between 10cents to 20cents margin, whilst prices of other commodities such as cooking oil, mealie-meal, sugar, laundry powder has been noted to have spiraled upwards in the recent months.

State media reports that a Consumer Council of Zimbabwe December 2017 report shows that the family food basket of six increased by about US$4.50 from US$593,55. CCZ attributes the increases to several factors such as fuel prices, multi-tier pricing by retailers and speculative demand driven hike owing to the festive season.

But Jones, a fierce contestant in the 2018 elections for the Bulawayo South seat under the People's Democratic Party (PDP) who are partners in the People's Rainbow Coalition (PRC) led by Dr Joice Mujuru, said Zimbabweans last month participated in the removal of Mugabe from power, yet the real problem facing the nation still stands, an incompetent Zanu-PF government.

"The president changed but the inept government has not changed, Zanu-PF is still there, the failed party has been reintroduced with the student of Mugabe-the-teacher as its leader so why would we expect anything different?

"We were given false hope, we accepted an illegitimate government which came into power through the military, a government that does not and has never had control of the economy so all this (price hikes) was expected," he said.

Jones, who is a Logistics, Customs and Conformity consultant, said the price hike is attributed to the hard currency which is being purchased at high premiums as suppliers and manufacturers seek the greenback to import products, raw materials or equipment outside the borders.

Despite President Emmerson Mnangagwa's campaign dubbed Operation Restore Legacy aimed at bringing back normalcy to the economy, it seems he is taking his cures from the same book as Mugabe whose thirty-seven-year rule was characterized by economic downturns.  

"The only thing that can change the economy is the removal of Zanu-Pf from power to usher in a new competent government through free and fair elections with no military intimidation. There are reports that military intimidation has started and needs to stop to promote an investor and business friendly environment.

"As PDP, and indeed PRC, we have the solution to a prosperous Zimbabwe where we believe political and economic discipline is the ingredient of a perfect economy that can be passed on from generation to generation. Zimbabwe is endowed with natural resources that are an important ingredient to turn this nation to be the envy of other African countries but under the current government, our aspirations are futile," he said.