Opinion / Columnist
Zimbabwe crisis is mainly centred on political will, legitimacy and productivity
04 Jan 2018 at 19:50hrs | Views
For Zimbabwe to meet global standards there are fundamental issues that certainly should be addressed if we are to have a quick economic recovery. We definitely have to listen to this voice that is writing this article and Zimbabwe will be definitely on track within eight months. First of all we need to inspect where we are coming from, then we look into the mirror and reflect ourselves from both ankles, economically and politically, then we have to adjust from the things we are used and re-organize ourselves properly. These three they move together when mending relations with the international partners, when we want to build a strong networking system with potential investors. First of all we have to address the issue of political will, and then we have to address the issue of legitimacy and finally productivity levels should then begin to rise effectively.
Political Will
We definitely have to reach certain standards for us to be accepted globally. We have to be politically correct, further than this we are out of the equation. The question is we accepted globally? What is political will? It's an attempt to pull together various threads in the academic literature on political will into one clear definition, broad enough to cover different circumstances and institutions but with enough substance to allow for analysis and action in individual situations.
It's a structured way to determine where and when political will exists, and, if it doesn't, what exactly is missing. It also illuminates why, in current hyperpolarized Zim politics, political will is so hard to come by. I found it helpful, so I thought I'd share it. There is distribution of preferences," which has to do with who wants what. There's "the authority, capacity, and legitimacy of key decision-makers or reformers," which has to do with whether those who want an outcome have the power and means to achieve it. And there's "commitment to preferences," which is the fuzzy-but-crucial metric of how strongly held the preferences of key decision-makers are. The authors try to wrap these together into a simple definition of political will: "the extent of committed support among key decision makers for a particular policy solution to a particular problem." Later they break it down into a somewhat more elaborate four-part definition: Political will exists when a sufficient set of decision-makers , with a common understanding of a particular problem on the formal agenda , is committed to supporting a commonly perceived, potentially effective policy solution. What makes us to be accepted globally? And what makes us not to be accepted globally? These are the fundamental issue that needs to be addressed. For comparison sake this what Mugabe failed to administer and addressing during his life time as the former head of state of Zimbabwe.
This is what ED Mnangagwa should address urgently. The issue of investors is not a big question when fundamental rights are established in the co- existing structures. Are we willing as a nation to adhere to principles of politics, are we prepared to accept the opposition as a main factor which provide checks and balance? Are we willing as a Government to accommodate other ethnic groups such as Mthakwazi, Ndebeles or shonas? Are we willing to accommodate the youth and women in our structures of governance? Are we using the mafia type of system to run the government? Do we respect the rights of investors? Are their properties well protected? The Government of Zimbabwe needs a strong information minister who can manage the political affairs of Zimbabwe, I would suggest someone like Ziyambi Ziyambi would be moved to information, he is a very sober guy, he is well respected in the legal fraternity of this country, he is level headed, remember we have a headache already, where do we get cash to come out of this deep hole, and how do we address our economic problems, so definitely we may have to sacrifice friends and those whom we think are so close to us and give these privileges to the right people. Someone must be there to manage our politics. Global partners should begin to accept our politics. How do we react to a political situation for example those who demonstrated in Bulawayo, what they did was very wrong, the President is well respected, he was in church, so why then do you carry placards and begin to demonstrate in church? Secondly how do we react to such kind of political situation?
Legitimacy
This is a very critical area that our Government has to work on. After the military takeover on the 24th November 2017, we had about 3-4 heads of State who came to E.D‘s inauguration which was an advantage to the Zimbabwean leader, but here comes a question, was the issue of legitimacy addressed rather? The word legitimacy is coined from the Latin word "legitimus" which means according to law. Therefore, legitimacy can be defined as the recognition and acceptance which the citizens give their leaders to rule them. For a government to rule successfully in a state, it must enjoy the full support and popular acceptance of the electorates or citizens. This is the reason why legitimacy/ political legitimacy remain important features of a Government. A legitimate government comes to power through the consent of the people by voting it in. Many people believe that legitimacy cannot be found in a coercive government (military government). However, the military can enjoy legitimacy by making popular government policies. In a legitimate government, obedience is not based on fear of sanctions but on loyalty to the ruler and the state. As far as I'm concerned we have a legitimate president that one is obvious and any attempt to label our president as illegitimate is totally wrong. We have legitimate president. The question then arise, will the legitimacy issue remain the same? What protects legitimacy? For me I would think, respect of human rights, fundamental reforms. We have elections six months away and the whole world will be focusing on Zimbabwe and there will be a test of legitimacy after August 2018.
Productivity
When we talk of productivity we are talking of a measure of the efficiency of a person, machine, factory, system, etc., in converting inputs into useful outputs. Productivity is computed by dividing average output per period by the total costs incurred or resources (capital, energy, material, personnel) consumed in that period. Productivity is a critical determinant of cost efficiency. To me if I were given a chance to advise the President on economic and development matters I would start with the issue of addressing macro and micro economic issues first before we talk of cash problems. I've heard that there is going to be 1.5 billion coming from Afrimex bank. To me the issue of money is not our main problem, but we have to look at our micro and macro-economic policies, so that we can be able to address the issue of production levels. We don't have the capacity as an economy to produce enough for exportation. We have been surviving on imports. So for how long are we going to survive on imports? This will definitely affect our balance of payments. Literary Zimbabwe is producing nothing, so how do we tackle the issue of production. We definitely need capital injection with correct policies on the ground to sustain the production capacity. Do we have the correct policies and right people on the ground to address the productivity question or we have the "tapinda tapinda" crew on the ground.
Asante Sana
Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo writes in his personal capacity as the head of Southern Institute of Policy Analysis and Research – SIPAR TRUST, which is responsible for policy analysis and research. He is also an academic and researcher. He holds a BA, MA from Solusi University, and he also holds a Masters of Development Studies from University of Lusaka, Zambia. He is currently enrolled at University of KwaZulu Natal University in South Africa (PhD in Development Studies). He is also an advisor to many financial and political institutions within and outside Zimbabwe. He can be contacted at southerninstitutepar@gmail.com.
Political Will
We definitely have to reach certain standards for us to be accepted globally. We have to be politically correct, further than this we are out of the equation. The question is we accepted globally? What is political will? It's an attempt to pull together various threads in the academic literature on political will into one clear definition, broad enough to cover different circumstances and institutions but with enough substance to allow for analysis and action in individual situations.
It's a structured way to determine where and when political will exists, and, if it doesn't, what exactly is missing. It also illuminates why, in current hyperpolarized Zim politics, political will is so hard to come by. I found it helpful, so I thought I'd share it. There is distribution of preferences," which has to do with who wants what. There's "the authority, capacity, and legitimacy of key decision-makers or reformers," which has to do with whether those who want an outcome have the power and means to achieve it. And there's "commitment to preferences," which is the fuzzy-but-crucial metric of how strongly held the preferences of key decision-makers are. The authors try to wrap these together into a simple definition of political will: "the extent of committed support among key decision makers for a particular policy solution to a particular problem." Later they break it down into a somewhat more elaborate four-part definition: Political will exists when a sufficient set of decision-makers , with a common understanding of a particular problem on the formal agenda , is committed to supporting a commonly perceived, potentially effective policy solution. What makes us to be accepted globally? And what makes us not to be accepted globally? These are the fundamental issue that needs to be addressed. For comparison sake this what Mugabe failed to administer and addressing during his life time as the former head of state of Zimbabwe.
This is what ED Mnangagwa should address urgently. The issue of investors is not a big question when fundamental rights are established in the co- existing structures. Are we willing as a nation to adhere to principles of politics, are we prepared to accept the opposition as a main factor which provide checks and balance? Are we willing as a Government to accommodate other ethnic groups such as Mthakwazi, Ndebeles or shonas? Are we willing to accommodate the youth and women in our structures of governance? Are we using the mafia type of system to run the government? Do we respect the rights of investors? Are their properties well protected? The Government of Zimbabwe needs a strong information minister who can manage the political affairs of Zimbabwe, I would suggest someone like Ziyambi Ziyambi would be moved to information, he is a very sober guy, he is well respected in the legal fraternity of this country, he is level headed, remember we have a headache already, where do we get cash to come out of this deep hole, and how do we address our economic problems, so definitely we may have to sacrifice friends and those whom we think are so close to us and give these privileges to the right people. Someone must be there to manage our politics. Global partners should begin to accept our politics. How do we react to a political situation for example those who demonstrated in Bulawayo, what they did was very wrong, the President is well respected, he was in church, so why then do you carry placards and begin to demonstrate in church? Secondly how do we react to such kind of political situation?
Legitimacy
This is a very critical area that our Government has to work on. After the military takeover on the 24th November 2017, we had about 3-4 heads of State who came to E.D‘s inauguration which was an advantage to the Zimbabwean leader, but here comes a question, was the issue of legitimacy addressed rather? The word legitimacy is coined from the Latin word "legitimus" which means according to law. Therefore, legitimacy can be defined as the recognition and acceptance which the citizens give their leaders to rule them. For a government to rule successfully in a state, it must enjoy the full support and popular acceptance of the electorates or citizens. This is the reason why legitimacy/ political legitimacy remain important features of a Government. A legitimate government comes to power through the consent of the people by voting it in. Many people believe that legitimacy cannot be found in a coercive government (military government). However, the military can enjoy legitimacy by making popular government policies. In a legitimate government, obedience is not based on fear of sanctions but on loyalty to the ruler and the state. As far as I'm concerned we have a legitimate president that one is obvious and any attempt to label our president as illegitimate is totally wrong. We have legitimate president. The question then arise, will the legitimacy issue remain the same? What protects legitimacy? For me I would think, respect of human rights, fundamental reforms. We have elections six months away and the whole world will be focusing on Zimbabwe and there will be a test of legitimacy after August 2018.
Productivity
When we talk of productivity we are talking of a measure of the efficiency of a person, machine, factory, system, etc., in converting inputs into useful outputs. Productivity is computed by dividing average output per period by the total costs incurred or resources (capital, energy, material, personnel) consumed in that period. Productivity is a critical determinant of cost efficiency. To me if I were given a chance to advise the President on economic and development matters I would start with the issue of addressing macro and micro economic issues first before we talk of cash problems. I've heard that there is going to be 1.5 billion coming from Afrimex bank. To me the issue of money is not our main problem, but we have to look at our micro and macro-economic policies, so that we can be able to address the issue of production levels. We don't have the capacity as an economy to produce enough for exportation. We have been surviving on imports. So for how long are we going to survive on imports? This will definitely affect our balance of payments. Literary Zimbabwe is producing nothing, so how do we tackle the issue of production. We definitely need capital injection with correct policies on the ground to sustain the production capacity. Do we have the correct policies and right people on the ground to address the productivity question or we have the "tapinda tapinda" crew on the ground.
Asante Sana
Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo writes in his personal capacity as the head of Southern Institute of Policy Analysis and Research – SIPAR TRUST, which is responsible for policy analysis and research. He is also an academic and researcher. He holds a BA, MA from Solusi University, and he also holds a Masters of Development Studies from University of Lusaka, Zambia. He is currently enrolled at University of KwaZulu Natal University in South Africa (PhD in Development Studies). He is also an advisor to many financial and political institutions within and outside Zimbabwe. He can be contacted at southerninstitutepar@gmail.com.
Source - Annitha Ndlovu based in UK
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