ZimAsset Failure: Whats next

Echoes in my mind grow louder each time I wake up and realise I have had another day in this world with Mugabe still clinging to power, Biti fighting as Opposition to Tsvangirai and Tsvangirai still a professional Opposition Leader.

Its clear in the eyes of every Zimbabwean, be it Zanu PF sympathisers and those in the opposition that Zimbabwe's economy is a failed one.

The problem in Zimbabwe is not "sanctions" (whatever name you give them" or nikuv, but we have a strong leadership paralysis. We are deeply rooted in a leadership crunch that if not curbed soon we are all going for a head fall.

On top of the lack of legitimacy in our current leadership circles as our nation, the current government has had a major failure in policy formulation and implementation.

I will not dwell much on the previous economic blue prints that were made by Zanu PF which of cause never materialised. My worry is the current policy which for almost a year now has grabbed the whole Zimbabwe with so much hype.

Without critisising but I have noted three major shortfalls of ZimAsset as a Policy. The first drawbacks is that ZimAsset is a direct conversion of Zanu PF election manifesto to a policy. Its just nothing but a collection of speeches made by Presidedent Mugabe During his campaign trail. We all know politician say whatever they want just to convince the electorate to vote for them. Reminds me of this old MP back in my constituency who promised tp build us a bridge but to think of there is not any river in the area. A national policy should have a big input from all major stakeholders,that includes even an ordinary member of the electorate.

Secondly by reading the whole ZimAsset document, the whole Chapter 2 of the 262 document puts blame on sanctions (whatever way you can call them). The first step of problem solving is proper diagnosis. Ok lets say we are under sanctions, what have all the Professors and Doctors thought to get out of the situation in the midst of those sanctions.

Lastly the major hurdle that ZimAsset has as a policy is financing. Zimbabwe is choking on a debt amounting to US$10 billion. And to kickstart this policy we need US$27 Billion. Now in a country where the civil servants do not know when their next pay is, can that be possible?

Additionally ZimAssert bases itself on the Indigenisation and empowerment policy. This has been a major stumbling block regarding attraction of investors. This has been made worse due to the inconcistance withing our leadership. Zimbabwe stands low regarding investor friendliness. In as much as we need Foreign Direct Investiment (FDI), we have had Ministers conflicting each other regarding the clarity upon this policy. Also recently we have had a President making racist rantings that scares away investors.

Above all, as it stands the kick starting of our economy will never happen unless there is a complete overhaul of the current leadership. We cant solve our problems with the same mind that created them.

What Zimbabwe needs is a national dialogue. This should be done by Zimbabwe without any external interference. The dialoguea shouldnt be about power and politics but a focus on the economy and national building. This dialogues should come up with a Transitional Government that will run for 3years and will be voted of or against in a referendum governed by an independent board. I am sure if wewere given a choice to choose between GNU, Tsvangirai or Mugabe we would be in the GNU now considering the stability we had. Those are my thoughts
Till we meet again