Opinion / Columnist
Mugabe's incomprehensible optimism
31 Jul 2014 at 13:52hrs | Views
Zimbabwe's future prosperity cannot be engineered through economic blue prints or development aid.
It is shocking, disappointing, insensitive, naive and utterly disconcerting for President Mugabe to announce that the economy is on the rebound. I guess he knows something we don't- China loan perhaps?
Added to this are the recent comments by Finance Minister Chinamasa and John Magundya, the new Reserve Bank governor, that Zimbabweans are too negative and are eternal pessimists while foreigners are more bullish about the country. Goodness what do you expect given the abuse that Zimbabweans have experienced.
For the avoidance of any doubt, let me be clear that I am a patriotic Zimbabwean who feels that our country certainly has the potential for a bright and prosperous future. However, I still need to be convinced that those that have taken the responsibility of moving our country forward are not only competent to do so, but are passionate enough to create the Zimbabwe we want.
No country will ever create sustainable development without private property rights and the rule of law. No country that has extractive political institutions can ever create an inclusive and growing economy. An extractive political culture is where an oligarchy is in place and the economy is structured to the benefit of political elite at the expense of the majority. Such an economy does not encourage innovation and free enterprise and the state deliberately limits growth and dominates commerce through unnecessary state intervention and state monopolies.
Because of our extractive political culture, we have a mining sector that has been usurped by the state and characterised by opacity, corruption and inefficiencies. We have an industrial sector that continues to suffer because of inconsistent government policies and indigenisation. Added to that are its out-dated production methods and machinery, it can hardly produce competitively priced products.
Our public sector is a political cesspit that gobbles billions each year and only acts as cadre deployment platform. Our growing informal sector is essentially a trader's paradise and produces nothing of note while importing almost everything it sells. It is survivalist and insecure. We have an agricultural sector that is dominated by rag tag small holder farmers who have no security of tenure and are mainly producing tobacco. They cannot feed the nation. That is a hardly a platform for an economic rebound.
What is it that makes us allocate USD200 million for the President to spend as he wishes and yet we beg the British to pay school fees for our disadvantaged children? What is that makes government ministries and our city councils borrow millions to buy luxury cars while the country is battling to pay wages? I shudder to imagine what a USD10 billion Chinese loan will be used for- only 1% on luxury cars- that's a cool USD 100 million by the way! Chiiko chinoita kuti tidaro? Unoto shaya kuti zvirikumbo famba seyi.
Look at the incompetence in our sporting bodies and how politics is a cancerous thread in how we manage sport in the country. I will not even talk here about local government and how Ignatius Chombo runs them with impunity like his own backyard. This man has cost this county so much and caused so much suffering and pain.
Billions of pension monies have been mismanaged by organisations such as NSSA and these funds could have been productively invested in our economy; all this while our pensioners get a measly USD90 per month. That is scandalous.
I have never seen a country whose development has been sabotaged by its own leadership who are actually very confident in their folly. Zimbabweans deserve better and for me, the only way for this economy to revive is to clean up first our politicians and second our institutions.
Zimbabwe's future prosperity cannot be engineered through economic blue prints or through aid; it can only change through a profound paradigm shift at the political front. The root cause of our decline is ZANU (PF) and their role in creating the circumstances we now face. For me, therefore, as long as they preside over the affairs of this country, we are unlikely to see sustainable economic recovery in this generation. Any progress will be temporary simply because the political architecture and foundation of this country is not suitable to create a robust inclusive economy that is underpinned by pluralistic democratic institutions that put the people first.
If you ask me, we are in for a long fight, a rough and long fight as we seek to create a modern state in Zimbabwe. It will take some doing and yet we really don't have much choice.
In my opinion therefore, President Mugabe has no choice but to be optimistic that things might change since he is the chief architect of our current dismal economic condition. However, some of us with some brains between our ears can't afford to believe in him anymore, he has let us down and cost us far too much and for far too long.
Vince Musewe is an economist and author based in Harare. You may contact him on vtmusewe@gmail.com
Source - Vince Musewe
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