News / National
More doom and gloom for Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF
08 Aug 2014 at 13:33hrs | Views
In what could spell further doom and gloom for President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF, the economy continues to contract at a much steeper pace than previously indicated in the first half of the year.
Zimbabwe's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is falling precipitously, signifying the worst performance rate that could eclipse the 2008 economic crisis when hyperinflation ran riot.
Millions of people are struggling to make ends meet, while the Zanu-PF-led government, still caught up in the euphoria of trouncing the opposition in last year's contested harmonised elections, has failed to come up with policies to jump start the feeble economy.
The recovery from a decade-long recession is wavering as factories shut down and households come under increasing pressure because of delayed salary payments and job cuts by private companies.
GDP growth, which averaged 10 percent between 2009 and 2012, has been slashed to 3,1 percent this year by Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa from an overly optimistic projection of 6,1 percent.
Annual inflation fell for five straight months from February to June this year, data from the Zimbabwe Statistical Agency (Zimstat) shows.
Analysts attribute the deflation to weak demand in the ailing economy, and suggest radical measures to arrest the worrying trend which comes after years of hyperinflation which only ended with the adoption of multiple currencies in 2009.
With the Heroes and Defence Forces holidays only a few days away, most people interviewed by the Daily News said they were facing a bleak break this year amid rising poverty, food, water and power shortages and economic uncertainty. Some are describing it as the worst crisis since the collapse of the coalition government last year.
"I don't have much to look forward to this year," said a dejected former retail employee Josiah Mutimba.
"Since I lost my job in April when the shop I was working for closed, I have been doing menial jobs to keep my family alive."
With unemployment at 80 percent, many Zimbabweans have found it difficult to put food on the table.
A recent report by Econometer Global Capital (Econometer) showed that by year-end, unemployment would have topped 92 percent, with most companies intensifying staff rationalising exercises, including government controlled institutions such as Hwange and Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.
Econometer noted that an average of two medium-size corporates, five small enterprises and 0,5 large corporates close shop every month in Zimbabwe, with smaller towns the worst hit by de-industrialisation.
"This calls for the nation to urgently revise policies which directly and significantly impact negatively on the job creation prospects which includes the blanketing indigenisation policy, the revision of title deeds regime and toning down on racially biased language which discriminates Zimbabweans based on colour or creed," read the report.
Zimbabwe's economy is currently reeling from depressed industrial output due to lack of lines of credit to finance production. This has seen the country relying heavily on imports to meet most of its needs, resulting in a huge trade deficit of around $3,3 billion annually.
Amid doom and gloom, most Zimbabweans have been irked by Zanu-PF's seeming failure to find solutions to their plight. The party swept to a disputed victory through their Bhora mugedhi slogan and due to extreme poverty experienced since last year's election, the slogan has been renamed Bhora musango by the people.
Ahead of the July 31 2013 poll, President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF promised to deliver 2,2 million jobs, 250 000 low income housing units, 310 public schools and 300 clinics, but a year into his rule, he is yet to deliver on any of the promises.
Former Prime Minister and opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has noted that since the contested elections of 2013, the economy has failed to gain any traction.
"To the citizen, we have seen insecure jobs to the few that have them, unfulfilled promises to civil servants and inadequate remuneration as well as the disappearance and diminishing of any form of savings," Tsvangirai said.
"Systemic corruption and unbridled avarice have become an albatross of this economy. And this at a time when the country itself is seriously mired in debt, the external debt of which is in excess of $10 billion."
Tsvangirai said Zanu-PF had failed to mobilise a rescue package for the productive sector.
"There is unmitigated failure on the part of government to come up with a solution to rescue this abysmal situation," he said.
Statistics from various United Nations organs reveal that because of the present crisis, some 2,3 million people infected with the HIV virus have been forced to skip meals or cannot afford bus fare to clinics for treatment.
Critics blame Mugabe's policies, such as the Indigenisation Act and the often-violent sizure of white-owned farms for the economic dislocation.
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 34 years, blames Western sanctions,for the economic hardships.
Last week, Conferderation of Zimbabwe Industries CZI)'s past immediate president Kumbirayi Katsande questioned whether Mugabe was aware of Zimbabwe's economic dire straits.
Zimbabwe's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is falling precipitously, signifying the worst performance rate that could eclipse the 2008 economic crisis when hyperinflation ran riot.
Millions of people are struggling to make ends meet, while the Zanu-PF-led government, still caught up in the euphoria of trouncing the opposition in last year's contested harmonised elections, has failed to come up with policies to jump start the feeble economy.
The recovery from a decade-long recession is wavering as factories shut down and households come under increasing pressure because of delayed salary payments and job cuts by private companies.
GDP growth, which averaged 10 percent between 2009 and 2012, has been slashed to 3,1 percent this year by Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa from an overly optimistic projection of 6,1 percent.
Annual inflation fell for five straight months from February to June this year, data from the Zimbabwe Statistical Agency (Zimstat) shows.
Analysts attribute the deflation to weak demand in the ailing economy, and suggest radical measures to arrest the worrying trend which comes after years of hyperinflation which only ended with the adoption of multiple currencies in 2009.
With the Heroes and Defence Forces holidays only a few days away, most people interviewed by the Daily News said they were facing a bleak break this year amid rising poverty, food, water and power shortages and economic uncertainty. Some are describing it as the worst crisis since the collapse of the coalition government last year.
"I don't have much to look forward to this year," said a dejected former retail employee Josiah Mutimba.
"Since I lost my job in April when the shop I was working for closed, I have been doing menial jobs to keep my family alive."
With unemployment at 80 percent, many Zimbabweans have found it difficult to put food on the table.
A recent report by Econometer Global Capital (Econometer) showed that by year-end, unemployment would have topped 92 percent, with most companies intensifying staff rationalising exercises, including government controlled institutions such as Hwange and Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.
Econometer noted that an average of two medium-size corporates, five small enterprises and 0,5 large corporates close shop every month in Zimbabwe, with smaller towns the worst hit by de-industrialisation.
"This calls for the nation to urgently revise policies which directly and significantly impact negatively on the job creation prospects which includes the blanketing indigenisation policy, the revision of title deeds regime and toning down on racially biased language which discriminates Zimbabweans based on colour or creed," read the report.
Zimbabwe's economy is currently reeling from depressed industrial output due to lack of lines of credit to finance production. This has seen the country relying heavily on imports to meet most of its needs, resulting in a huge trade deficit of around $3,3 billion annually.
Amid doom and gloom, most Zimbabweans have been irked by Zanu-PF's seeming failure to find solutions to their plight. The party swept to a disputed victory through their Bhora mugedhi slogan and due to extreme poverty experienced since last year's election, the slogan has been renamed Bhora musango by the people.
Ahead of the July 31 2013 poll, President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF promised to deliver 2,2 million jobs, 250 000 low income housing units, 310 public schools and 300 clinics, but a year into his rule, he is yet to deliver on any of the promises.
Former Prime Minister and opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has noted that since the contested elections of 2013, the economy has failed to gain any traction.
"To the citizen, we have seen insecure jobs to the few that have them, unfulfilled promises to civil servants and inadequate remuneration as well as the disappearance and diminishing of any form of savings," Tsvangirai said.
"Systemic corruption and unbridled avarice have become an albatross of this economy. And this at a time when the country itself is seriously mired in debt, the external debt of which is in excess of $10 billion."
Tsvangirai said Zanu-PF had failed to mobilise a rescue package for the productive sector.
"There is unmitigated failure on the part of government to come up with a solution to rescue this abysmal situation," he said.
Statistics from various United Nations organs reveal that because of the present crisis, some 2,3 million people infected with the HIV virus have been forced to skip meals or cannot afford bus fare to clinics for treatment.
Critics blame Mugabe's policies, such as the Indigenisation Act and the often-violent sizure of white-owned farms for the economic dislocation.
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 34 years, blames Western sanctions,for the economic hardships.
Last week, Conferderation of Zimbabwe Industries CZI)'s past immediate president Kumbirayi Katsande questioned whether Mugabe was aware of Zimbabwe's economic dire straits.
Source - dailynews
