2% tax is right, 'right is not always popular' quoting Einstein - Mthuli Ncube, you are NOT Albert Einstein

"They say you can only know the true state of a car when you lift its bonnet and look inside. And so it was back in September, when I was appointed Minister of Finance, and got to take a look at the true state of our nation's finances," wrote Finance Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube.

It is not everyone who claims to be a car mechanic who knows what they are doing. It is not all who see who perceive and it is not all who hear who understand. Yes Minister Ncube, you opened the bonnet, looked inside but sadly came up with the wrong diagnosis and thus wrong cure.

"The budget deficit was huge, and growing at a rate of hundreds of millions of US Dollars per month, causing spiralling domestic debt and inflation with negative spillovers to the rest of the economy," continued Minister Ncube.

"If we were to have any chance to resurrect the Zimbabwean economy and build a better life for the people of this country, we would have to take tough decisions, and fast. What was required was to cut unnecessary spending, while at the same time seeking new revenue sources.

"One of the key elements of our strategy to get our finances back on track was the Intermediated Money Transfer Tax (IMTT), popularly referred to as the 2 percent Tax, which we introduced six months ago in October 2018, to replace the previous flat tax of 5 cents per transaction."

What touch decisions did you make to cut unnecessary spending such as the endless and expensive overseas trips for health care, begging, etc. by the ruling elite? The minister was himself on the high power entourage accompany President Mnangagwa on the 10 day jaunt to Asia and Europe in January 2019 in a hired 787-8 Dreamliner Jet costing the nation US$25 million.

Indeed, Mnangagwa announced the150% fuel increase, tough on the impoverished majority, before jumping on the luxury jet. When the people protested the fuel increase, the regime ruthlessly crashed the protests.

The 2% tax Minister Ncube is boasting about above, was specifically targeting the 90% unemployed who were not paying income tax. Most of these people are subsisting as vendors earning a misery US$30 per month or less in a country with the Poverty datum line set at US$ 650 per month. Minister Mthuli Ncube wanted his cut from their meagre earning, his pound of flesh, just like the William Shakespeare's Shylock.

"Government policies in Zimbabwe are worsening the country's economic crisis, causing immense hardship to those less well-off, and crushing the human rights of those who dare complain, a group of UN experts* has warned," report The Zimbabwean, quoting the ReliefWeb.

"We are gravely concerned that, as the situation in Zimbabwe deteriorates, the Government is pushing people further into poverty," the experts said.

"We are not aware of any Government measures to provide even minimal safety nets for those who are already living on an economic cliff-edge and who will suffer the most from these regressive policies.

"The impact of economic reforms on human rights must be assessed against international norms and standards, in line with the Guiding Principles on human rights impact assessments of economic reforms."

Zanu PF rigged last year's elections, corruption is rampant in Zimbabwe, there is brutal repression, there is criminal waste of resources by the filthy few rich ruling elite who are not democratically accountable to the filthy poor masses, etc. These are economic and political realities behind Zimbabwe's economic mess and anyone who thinks the country can ever achieve any meaningful economic recovery without addressing these problems first is naive.
 
Professor Mthuli Ncube has pointedly refused to accept the elections were rigged, that corruption is rampant, etc. He is naive but, worst of all, he is arrogant!
 
"In just six months, the 2 percent tax has helped us to cut the deficit, invest in vital infrastructure, and put aside a sizeable sum that is being used to mitigate the effects of Cyclone Idai," boasted Minister Ncube.

"We knew that the actions we needed to take would not necessarily make us popular, but they were necessary nonetheless.

"I was comforted in this realisation by the wise words of Albert Einstein, who famously wrote that "What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right."

Einstein's 'right' was based on sound scientific observation, logical analysis and even then was subjected to constant and vigorous peer review at all time. Your economic policies defy basic economics and common sense, they are voodoo economic imposed on a reluctant nation by a corrupt and tyrannical regime. After 38 years of these foolish Zanu PF voodoo economic policies the people know they will never work and that is why the policies and the dictatorial regime are unpopular.

What is right is not always popular, that is true; still that does not meaning everything that is not popular in right! Your 2% tax and all the other policies are not popular and they will never bring about the economic recover because they are wrong.

As for you, Minister of Finance Mthuli Ncube, you are not Zimbabwe's Albert Einstein genius of economics or anything!