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Chinamasa admit to economic meltdown but not to the only solution of Zanu PF resigning

by Wilbert Mukori
24 Sep 2014 at 04:22hrs | Views
It was a matter of time before this Zanu PF regime finally acknowledged that the economic meltdown affecting Zimbabwe is real, is getting worse and, most significantly, that the regime does not know what to do to stop this runaway train. The regime went China hoping to get some hard cash for budgetary support and the Chinese told President Mugabe to his face that he was "a bad debtor", according to Minister Chinamasa who was there with him.

Mugabe needed the budgetary to civil servant wages let alone pay for everything else.  

"I am embarrassed that our wage bill is some 76 percent of whatever revenue we receive. It's not good, it's not sustainable," Patrick Chinamasa told business leaders in Harare on Tuesday.

The very next week following his return from China empty-handed, Finance Minister Chinamasa announced to the impoverished and over taxed nation that taxes on fuel, mobile phones and everything else he could. Companies are closing and unemployment is a soaring 85% plus; the revenue base is shrinking fast increasing taxes therefore will not increase collected revenue.

Every rural boy knows that milking the cow three times a day will not increase the quantity of milk. The Zimbabwe cow is now being milked every hour on the hour!

After rigging the July 2013 elections President Mugabe was warned that unless he can rig the economic recovery too his hold on power will be tenuous! It is now over a year and the ZimAsset begging bowl has remained mockingly empty; a testimonial of his failure to rig the economic recovery.

The party has tried to pretend the mega-deals it signed with China and Russia will somehow make up for the empty ZimAsset begging bowl. The economic meltdown was not so easily fooled.

The solution to ending the economic meltdown is simple and straight forward: end the rampant corruption and restore the lost confidence of donors and investors alike in the country's commitment to the rule of law. Since Zanu PF rigged last year's elections this Zanu PF regime will never convince anyone it can be trusted to uphold and guarantee property rights, which is what the donors and investors want.

How can a regime that will contemptuously disregard the constitutional rights of millions of its own citizens to a meaningful free and fair vote be trusted to uphold the property rights of a foreigner? It should be noted here that the said regime has committed the treasonous act of rigging elections a number of times in the past just as it has violently seized the properties from foreigners and locals alike in the past.

The solution here is therefore first and foremost a political one; President Mugabe and Zanu PF must step down to allow the full implementation of the democratic reforms, that should have been implemented during the GNU, followed by the holding of fresh free, fair and credible elections. The government emerging from these elections will have the political mandate to do what is necessary to end corruptions and the confidence of donors and investors alike.     

"As to the solution... we have to create the necessary political climate, build consensus in order to tackle the issues. I can assure you that we are working on this issue," Chinamasa said without elaborating.

Just remember two things Minister; one, another political fudge like the last GNU is a waste of time. Two, the economic meltdown is affecting real people; 2 million Zimbabweans are living in abject poverty already and that number is increasing every day. Get on with it!


Source - Wilbert Mukori