We should not give Zanu PF more time to destroy economy

The problems we face in Zimbabwe can never be resolved at the same level of thinking which created them in the first place.

Zimbabwe is now one of Africa's poorest and most repressed economies as reported by the latest Heritage Foundation's Economic Freedom Index.

The Index considers key areas of economies which include rule of law, government size, regulatory efficiency and open markets. Zimbabwe has been ranked 175 only ahead of Venezuela Cuba and North Korea.

Under the rule of law the index considers property rights and freedom from corruption. Under the Government size it looks at fiscal freedom and government spending.

Regulatory efficiency considers business, monetary and labour freedoms while under open markets the index measures trade, investment and financial freedom.

Zimbabwe fails on all these issues which are made worse by the ill-informed government policy on indigenisation, the diamond revenues scandal, the rampant corruption within state enterprises and a general lack of direction and leadership which is resulting in hotchpotch economics.

As far as PDP is concerned, Zanu PF politicians are experts at destroying value. This started with agriculture in 2000 and then our national currency in 2009 followed now by the destruction of our formal business sector.

We can then add the property demolitions, a dilapidating infrastructure, continued farm invasions and lately the plunder of our diamond sector as clear examples of who we are dealing with here.

We are dealing with gang of plunderers who have no conscience whatsoever and whose greed knows no bounds.

Despite the minister of finance, Patrick Chinamasa, promise to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to implement supportive economic reforms, all we hear now is the intention to force companies to adhere to a moribund indigenisation policy or face closure.

As PDP, we are not convinced that this government is serious about any reforms whatsoever under the leadership of Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabweans must, therefore, not expect any substantial reforms, whether political or economic, in the short to medium term as long as Mugabe stays at State House.

Our stance against this regime is clear; a corrupt and unethical leadership cannot create an inclusive democracy.

A corrupt and unethical leadership can never deal thoroughly with corruption and the plunder of our national resources simply because they are part of the problem.

A corrupt and unethical leadership is fearful of any reforms including free and fair competition at the ballot box.

In our view, the only way forward is the establishment of a National Transitional Authority (NTA) to arrest the social and economic decline and begin to implement political and economic reforms as a matter of urgency.

Zimbabweans cannot afford to give Zanu PF more time to damage the economy and wait for 2018 where there is no guarantee of free and fair elections anyway.

We are also actively promoting the idea of a grand coalition of democratic forces to challenge the Zanu PF hegemony once and for all.

It is time Zimbabweans realise that change will not come from Zanu PF or from Mugabe but only from our collective action as progressive democrats.