Opinion / Columnist
Mugabe, 'F grade SADC leader,' lectures A leaders and the region is stuck with him
17 Aug 2014 at 20:36hrs | Views
I am convinced the neurons that allow communication between the left side of Mugabe's brain and the right side are misfiring. He is now renowned for saying/doing one thing and doing/saying something else completely at odds with the first.
"Our continued over-reliance on the goodwill of our co-operation partners compromises our ownership of SADC," he told his fellow SADC Heads of State, for example.
"Our region has abundant resources which instead of being sold in raw form at very low prices must be exploited ... to add value to the products which we export."
Zimbabwe under his leadership is the one that is relying on donors for 98% of her medicine, for example. This is not new either but has been going on since 2008.
China is the one country in the world know for importing raw materials, with no value added and doing all the processing back in mother China. How many deals has Mugabe signed with China in which Zimbabwe will export the mineral or agricultural produce unprocessed?
Indeed Mugabe, desperate to raise cash for his ZimAsset plan, is selling country's mineral wealth still in the ground, which is worse than selling unprocessed mineral wealth. The World Bank has already warned against doing this because it is notorious difficult to know the true value of the minerals and so the tendency is for the buyer to underestimate the value of the mineral. The Chinese will know just how desperate Mugabe is to raise some money and therefore they will be driving an even harder bargain.
Mugabe is becoming one of those F students who like to preach to A students on how they could get an A+ grade. What is really annoying with Mugabe is that he has repeatedly under performed and has time and time again dragged the score of not just Zimbabwe but the whole SADC region into the D grade or worse.
The economic and political stability of the whole SADC region is hanging in the balance because of the serious on-going economic meltdown in Zimbabwe. Even if the rest of SADC Heads of State appreciated the urgency of the matter, there is very little the regional body can do now that Mugabe has assumed the chairmanship of the grouping.
For a year SADC will have its hands tied behind its back on any matters regarding Zimbabwe. How ironic that the man dragging SADC into the gutter should be the one lecturing them on good governance and economic prosperity!
"Our continued over-reliance on the goodwill of our co-operation partners compromises our ownership of SADC," he told his fellow SADC Heads of State, for example.
"Our region has abundant resources which instead of being sold in raw form at very low prices must be exploited ... to add value to the products which we export."
Zimbabwe under his leadership is the one that is relying on donors for 98% of her medicine, for example. This is not new either but has been going on since 2008.
Indeed Mugabe, desperate to raise cash for his ZimAsset plan, is selling country's mineral wealth still in the ground, which is worse than selling unprocessed mineral wealth. The World Bank has already warned against doing this because it is notorious difficult to know the true value of the minerals and so the tendency is for the buyer to underestimate the value of the mineral. The Chinese will know just how desperate Mugabe is to raise some money and therefore they will be driving an even harder bargain.
Mugabe is becoming one of those F students who like to preach to A students on how they could get an A+ grade. What is really annoying with Mugabe is that he has repeatedly under performed and has time and time again dragged the score of not just Zimbabwe but the whole SADC region into the D grade or worse.
The economic and political stability of the whole SADC region is hanging in the balance because of the serious on-going economic meltdown in Zimbabwe. Even if the rest of SADC Heads of State appreciated the urgency of the matter, there is very little the regional body can do now that Mugabe has assumed the chairmanship of the grouping.
For a year SADC will have its hands tied behind its back on any matters regarding Zimbabwe. How ironic that the man dragging SADC into the gutter should be the one lecturing them on good governance and economic prosperity!
Source - Wilbert Mukori
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