'Our economic fundamentals are sound' - not whilst remain a pariah state

It is John Acton who said, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

In countries like Zimbabwe where the great majority of the people have no clue what is going on it is not surprising that those in positions of power and authority have always enjoyed absolute power and have, in turn, been thoroughly corrupted by it to the point of viewing themselves not just as "great men" but as infallible demigods! Eddie Cross is one such mediocre individual who views himself as a demigod whom we must all listen to or be damned!

 "Seeing things in perspective has never been more important in Zimbabwe. If we fail to do so, our view of the current problems we are encountering will be distorted and we may all make decisions we later regret," wrote former MDC MP, Eddie Cross on Bulawayo24.com

Rich, coming from a senior leader of the party that has failed to implement even one democratic reform in the MDC's 19 years in power and has never even acknowledge the betrayal much less regret it! In the article, Mr Cross claims that President Mnangagwa's economic policies, since assuming power in last November's coup,  have already been rewarded by "a sharp reduction in the fiscal deficit and we will be in surplus by Christmas." All nonsense, of course!

"In March 2017, when approached to consider a national government without an election in 2018, Mnangagwa had responded with the view that Zimbabwe had to hold a reasonably free and fair election if it was to gain international recognition and support," wrote Cross.

"In my view, he was to hold true to that view and in the process, put his whole political future on the line. He could easily have lost the election and the final margin of just 30 000 votes or 0,6%, was simply too tight to call. Or for comfort. But the gamble paid off.

"Again, perspective was important - what the opposition failed to see was that the international community was fed up with the constant crisis in Zimbabwe and wanted to engage and get the country's international relations back to normal. What they also failed to see was that the new President was determined to do just that."

President Mnangagwa failed to keep his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections; the regime failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll for Pete's sake. Even the British who had tried to bend over backwards to get the Mnangagwa regime accepted back into the fold of the commune of nations gave up in the end. Ambassador Catriona Laing's parting shot as outgoing UK ambassador to Zimbabwe was tell the Zanu PF regime the "election playing field was not level"!

So Mnangagwa blatantly rigs the elections and our MDC demigod, in his divinely "perspective", still insist the election was free, fair and credible!

The foreign investors and lenders, Mnangagwa was wooing with his "Zimbabwe is open for business!" clarion call, have shied away from investing in Zimbabwe. Who would want to invest in a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs!

"I now hear people saying that the resumption of shortages and fuel queues and the sudden emergence of a parallel market for hard currencies means that we are going back into the conditions we experienced in 2005 to 2008," Mr Cross maintained.

"Nothing could be further from the truth, our economic fundamentals are sound, exports and the gross domestic product growing rapidly and once the new team in the Finance ministry started to tackle the macro-economic problems of the country, they were immediately rewarded by a sharp reduction in the fiscal deficit and we will be in surplus by Christmas.

"At this pace, we will be in a different country by March 2019. Let's keep our current problems in perspective — if we do, they will not look so entrenched or formidable."

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state it is nonsensical to even suggest the country's "economic fundamentals are sound"! Zimbabwe is not going to get out of the political and economic mess without first implementing the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections.