News / National
Mugabe, Zanu-PF have failed people
13 Feb 2015 at 14:38hrs | Views
Both political and economic commentators say President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF government have failed dismally to get Zimbabwe ticking and to implement a single one of the ruling party's 2013 election promises.
In interviews with the Daily News yesterday, the analysts said in a normal democracy, the Zanu-PF government would have long resigned to allow a new administration to try and pilot the country into less turbulent skies, given the extent of Zimbabwe's escalating political and economic crises.
They bemoaned that government had failed to implement just one of Zanu-PF's plethora of election promises, as well as the fact that the majority of Zimbabweans were now "decidedly worse off" than they were before the July 31, 2013 elections.
Political commentator Francis Mukora said the disastrous shrinkage of the economy and the country's collapsing social services, as witnessed over the past 18 months, had resulted in the fatal outcome that Zimbabwe's per capita economy was now at its lowest in 60 years.
"The government's failure to improve the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans stems from the fact that the ruling party has always prioritised the consolidation of its grip on power ahead of everything else, including service delivery," he said.
Mukora also noted that the "unholy trinity" of misplaced priorities, mismanagement and corruption - which seems to have permeated almost every government sector - made it even more difficult for the government to fulfil its service delivery mandate.
"Hence we continue to witness deteriorating social services, blossoming poverty and a ballooning national debt even after discovery of rich natural resources such as the Marange diamonds," Mukora added.
Economist Brains Muchemwa said the government had created the current economic mess that was being experienced in the country, adding that it also lacked the capacity to turn around the country's economic fortunes.
"We have got a government that has no capacity to stimulate economic activity. It is proving very difficult for them to run government in a stable environment where you can't print money," he said.
Muchemwa added that the country's economic growth prospects would "continuously shrink".
MDC spokesperson, Obert Gutu said Zanu-PF was irreparably divided and as a result, the government was completely unable to craft and implement a sustainable economic development trajectory for the country.
"As the MDC, we call upon the Zanu-PF regime to publicly admit that the economy is comatose and that they are clueless regarding the way forward.
"Thereafter, the people of Zimbabwe should then be allowed to call for the resignation of the Zanu-PF government in its entirety.
"After the government has resigned, the relevant constitutional provisions should be invoked leading to the holding of free and fair elections, preferably conducted under the auspices of Sadc and the African Union so that political legitimacy can be promptly restored in our country," Gutu said.
Gutu also asserted that Zimbabwe's main challenge was lack of political legitimacy.
"For as long as we fail to cleanse our electoral system and in the process regain political legitimacy for the government in power, the Zimbabwean economy shall remain in the doldrums," he said.
Zimbabwe's economy nearly collapsed during the hyperinflationary period between 2002 and 2009 and was only saved by the Government of National Unity which breathed a new lease of life into the economy by introducing a multi-currency system.
Experts also say the economy is slowly sliding into deflation after shrinking from a high point of 12 percent growth in 2011 and 10,7 percent in 2012 - before plummeting to growth levels below four percent in both 2013 and 2014.
As a result, economic analysts were predicting a zero economic growth rate this year, unless there were fundamental changes in the country. A recent report by local financial services firm, Inter-Horizon Group (IH Group), revealed that the government needed to urgently implement productive and proactive policy reforms in order to attract foreign direct investment, as the economy was buckling under increasing stress.
The report, which singled out policy inertia as the largest impediment to growth, in addition to panning the lack of a compromise solution to the indigenisation policy, also said that the economy was being weighed down by depressed aggregate demand, high unemployment, pervasive structural issues linked to poor funding and weak commodity prices in key sectors such as mining and agriculture.
"We believe that 2015 will see government becoming compelled to take a more moderate approach to indigenisation, with the focus shifting towards creating a more conducive environment for much needed investment," read part of the Economic Outlook survey.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya has said that there is need for the country to concentrate on competitiveness and rebalancing of the economy. This was after the country's trade balance had widened to $3,3 billion in the full year to December 2014.
"The subdued export performance reflected, in part, the retreat in international commodity prices, lack of competitiveness attributable to infrastructure deficits, high utility costs and high cost of capital and finance," Mangudya said in his 2015 Monetary Policy Statement this week.
In interviews with the Daily News yesterday, the analysts said in a normal democracy, the Zanu-PF government would have long resigned to allow a new administration to try and pilot the country into less turbulent skies, given the extent of Zimbabwe's escalating political and economic crises.
They bemoaned that government had failed to implement just one of Zanu-PF's plethora of election promises, as well as the fact that the majority of Zimbabweans were now "decidedly worse off" than they were before the July 31, 2013 elections.
Political commentator Francis Mukora said the disastrous shrinkage of the economy and the country's collapsing social services, as witnessed over the past 18 months, had resulted in the fatal outcome that Zimbabwe's per capita economy was now at its lowest in 60 years.
"The government's failure to improve the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans stems from the fact that the ruling party has always prioritised the consolidation of its grip on power ahead of everything else, including service delivery," he said.
Mukora also noted that the "unholy trinity" of misplaced priorities, mismanagement and corruption - which seems to have permeated almost every government sector - made it even more difficult for the government to fulfil its service delivery mandate.
"Hence we continue to witness deteriorating social services, blossoming poverty and a ballooning national debt even after discovery of rich natural resources such as the Marange diamonds," Mukora added.
Economist Brains Muchemwa said the government had created the current economic mess that was being experienced in the country, adding that it also lacked the capacity to turn around the country's economic fortunes.
"We have got a government that has no capacity to stimulate economic activity. It is proving very difficult for them to run government in a stable environment where you can't print money," he said.
Muchemwa added that the country's economic growth prospects would "continuously shrink".
MDC spokesperson, Obert Gutu said Zanu-PF was irreparably divided and as a result, the government was completely unable to craft and implement a sustainable economic development trajectory for the country.
"Thereafter, the people of Zimbabwe should then be allowed to call for the resignation of the Zanu-PF government in its entirety.
"After the government has resigned, the relevant constitutional provisions should be invoked leading to the holding of free and fair elections, preferably conducted under the auspices of Sadc and the African Union so that political legitimacy can be promptly restored in our country," Gutu said.
Gutu also asserted that Zimbabwe's main challenge was lack of political legitimacy.
"For as long as we fail to cleanse our electoral system and in the process regain political legitimacy for the government in power, the Zimbabwean economy shall remain in the doldrums," he said.
Zimbabwe's economy nearly collapsed during the hyperinflationary period between 2002 and 2009 and was only saved by the Government of National Unity which breathed a new lease of life into the economy by introducing a multi-currency system.
Experts also say the economy is slowly sliding into deflation after shrinking from a high point of 12 percent growth in 2011 and 10,7 percent in 2012 - before plummeting to growth levels below four percent in both 2013 and 2014.
As a result, economic analysts were predicting a zero economic growth rate this year, unless there were fundamental changes in the country. A recent report by local financial services firm, Inter-Horizon Group (IH Group), revealed that the government needed to urgently implement productive and proactive policy reforms in order to attract foreign direct investment, as the economy was buckling under increasing stress.
The report, which singled out policy inertia as the largest impediment to growth, in addition to panning the lack of a compromise solution to the indigenisation policy, also said that the economy was being weighed down by depressed aggregate demand, high unemployment, pervasive structural issues linked to poor funding and weak commodity prices in key sectors such as mining and agriculture.
"We believe that 2015 will see government becoming compelled to take a more moderate approach to indigenisation, with the focus shifting towards creating a more conducive environment for much needed investment," read part of the Economic Outlook survey.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya has said that there is need for the country to concentrate on competitiveness and rebalancing of the economy. This was after the country's trade balance had widened to $3,3 billion in the full year to December 2014.
"The subdued export performance reflected, in part, the retreat in international commodity prices, lack of competitiveness attributable to infrastructure deficits, high utility costs and high cost of capital and finance," Mangudya said in his 2015 Monetary Policy Statement this week.
Source - dailynews
