Opinion / Columnist
Mnangagwa's so-called 'empowerment projects' are destroying Zimbabwe's economy
2 hrs ago |
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Short-term fixes often bring long-term harm.
Over the past few years, the President Emmerson Mnangagwa regime has proudly paraded what it calls "empowerment projects" - a series of government-funded loans or donations of equipment supposedly meant to help struggling Zimbabweans start small businesses or community income projects.
To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08
The government has poured millions into these schemes, claiming they are designed to fight poverty and uplift citizens.
But in reality, these so-called empowerment initiatives have done more harm than good.
They are not empowering anyone in the true sense.
Rather, they are entrenching poverty, deepening economic decay, and further weakening the country's already fragile tax base.
The irony is that these projects are being rolled out in a country where, according to both local and international institutions, nearly 70 percent of the population now lives below the poverty datum line.
Millions of Zimbabweans can barely put food on the table, send their children to school, or access basic medical care.
In a country where hospitals are empty shells and medicine must be purchased privately, survival has become a daily struggle.
Yet this is the same Zimbabwe that, in the 1980s and 1990s, was hailed as the "jewel of Africa" and the "breadbasket of southern Africa."
It once boasted one of the most vibrant economies on the continent.
Ordinary workers - from bus drivers to teachers and nurses - could build or buy decent homes, raise families with dignity, and look to the future with confidence.
Those glory days are long gone.
After more than four decades of ZANU-PF rule - first under Robert Mugabe and now under Emmerson Mnangagwa - Zimbabwe has been reduced to a shadow of its former self.
Rampant corruption, looting of public resources, and staggering incompetence have destroyed the once-thriving industrial base.
Major companies have closed, leaving millions jobless and pushing the unemployment rate to an estimated 90 percent.
What remains of the economy survives mainly in the informal sector, where millions of Zimbabweans are forced by desperation into vending and backyard hustles: selling tomatoes, breeding chickens, repairing cars, or making furniture.
These are not entrepreneurial dreams but survival mechanisms - a population eking out a living in a collapsed economy.
It is these activities that the Mnangagwa administration cynically celebrates as "empowerment."
Yet, by promoting such micro-survivalist initiatives as the cornerstone of economic policy, the regime is digging the country into a deeper fiscal hole.
These informal projects generate no tax revenue.
They are untaxed, unregulated, and unsustainable.
As more and more people are pushed into this informal sector - which the government claims to be empowering - Zimbabwe's formal economy continues to shrink.
This means the state collects far less through traditional income and corporate taxes, forcing Treasury to scramble for other sources of revenue.
That is why Zimbabweans have become some of the most heavily taxed people on the continent.
Those fortunate enough to still hold formal jobs are taxed on salaries as low as US$300 a month.
Then there is the notorious Intermediated Money Transfer Tax (IMTT), which slaps a levy on every electronic or mobile money transaction, making even basic business or personal payments unbearably expensive.
Add to that the sugar tax, punitive tollgate fees, and countless other levies introduced by the Treasury over the years.
Instead of fixing the root causes of economic collapse - corruption, mismanagement, and the destruction of the productive sector - the government continues to squeeze the few remaining taxpayers dry.
The absurdity is that while the government complains about a narrow tax base, it continues to promote policies that shrink that very base.
Instead of rebuilding industries that could employ thousands of workers - who in turn would pay taxes and support a healthy economy - the Mnangagwa regime chooses to push people further into informal backyard survival.
By doling out cash, chicks, or sewing machines under the guise of empowerment, the government is actually ensuring that fewer people and businesses fall within the taxable economy.
Treasury, faced with dwindling formal revenues, is then forced to invent even more desperate taxes to keep the state afloat.
This contradiction was clearly exposed recently.
At the ruling ZANU-PF's Annual People's Conference held in Mutare recently, delegates resolved that the government should scrap the much-hated IMTT tax.
But Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube flatly refused, openly stating during pre-budget consultations in Bulawayo that removing the IMTT would force him to raise Value Added Tax (VAT) from 15 percent to fill the gap.
His defiance of a party resolution - in a political system where the party claims to be superior to government - says it all.
Zimbabwe's economy has been reduced to such a desperate state that even cabinet ministers can publicly disregard party directives simply because there are no workable alternatives left.
The real tragedy is that none of this needed to happen.
If the government had dealt decisively with corruption, restored investor confidence, and adopted sound industrial policies, Zimbabwe could easily rebuild its manufacturing sector.
A functional economy would naturally expand the tax base - companies would pay corporate taxes, workers would pay income tax, and the state could fund public services without punitive levies.
But that would require political will and honesty, qualities in short supply within the ruling elite.
Instead, the government has chosen the easier, short-term path of distributing small handouts to desperate citizens.
These "projects" may buy temporary political loyalty, but they destroy the country's economic foundations.
Consider what genuine empowerment should look like.
It should mean creating an environment in which Zimbabweans can find formal, dignified work in industries such as agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and services.
It should mean companies like Irvine's or Pelham's expanding and hiring workers who enjoy decent pay, pensions, and social security benefits - not thousands of backyard operators raising a few chickens or making sofas for cash without protection or future prospects.
Empowerment should lift people into the formal economy, not entrench them in perpetual informality.
By glorifying survivalist activities and branding them as empowerment, the Mnangagwa administration is simply masking failure.
These schemes are a form of political sedative - a way to pacify a restless and impoverished population without addressing the real problems.
They give the illusion of productivity, but in truth, they perpetuate dependence and economic stagnation.
A nation cannot build prosperity on backyard chicken runs and vending stalls. I
t builds prosperity on factories, farms, industries, and innovation - underpinned by competent governance and accountability.
Zimbabwe's so-called empowerment projects are therefore not empowering at all.
They are weakening the economy, eroding the tax base, and deepening national poverty.
They represent a shortsighted, politically expedient strategy to manage discontent rather than to rebuild the nation.
Unless Zimbabwe abandons this deceptive narrative and focuses on policies that create real jobs, attract investment, and revive industry, the country will remain trapped in a vicious cycle of survival and taxation.
The government must stop pretending that poverty alleviation is the same as economic empowerment.
True empowerment is when citizens can earn a living wage, pay their taxes, and look to the future with dignity - not when they are reduced to breeding chickens in their backyards to stay alive.
© Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
Over the past few years, the President Emmerson Mnangagwa regime has proudly paraded what it calls "empowerment projects" - a series of government-funded loans or donations of equipment supposedly meant to help struggling Zimbabweans start small businesses or community income projects.
To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08
The government has poured millions into these schemes, claiming they are designed to fight poverty and uplift citizens.
But in reality, these so-called empowerment initiatives have done more harm than good.
They are not empowering anyone in the true sense.
Rather, they are entrenching poverty, deepening economic decay, and further weakening the country's already fragile tax base.
The irony is that these projects are being rolled out in a country where, according to both local and international institutions, nearly 70 percent of the population now lives below the poverty datum line.
Millions of Zimbabweans can barely put food on the table, send their children to school, or access basic medical care.
In a country where hospitals are empty shells and medicine must be purchased privately, survival has become a daily struggle.
Yet this is the same Zimbabwe that, in the 1980s and 1990s, was hailed as the "jewel of Africa" and the "breadbasket of southern Africa."
It once boasted one of the most vibrant economies on the continent.
Ordinary workers - from bus drivers to teachers and nurses - could build or buy decent homes, raise families with dignity, and look to the future with confidence.
Those glory days are long gone.
After more than four decades of ZANU-PF rule - first under Robert Mugabe and now under Emmerson Mnangagwa - Zimbabwe has been reduced to a shadow of its former self.
Rampant corruption, looting of public resources, and staggering incompetence have destroyed the once-thriving industrial base.
Major companies have closed, leaving millions jobless and pushing the unemployment rate to an estimated 90 percent.
What remains of the economy survives mainly in the informal sector, where millions of Zimbabweans are forced by desperation into vending and backyard hustles: selling tomatoes, breeding chickens, repairing cars, or making furniture.
These are not entrepreneurial dreams but survival mechanisms - a population eking out a living in a collapsed economy.
It is these activities that the Mnangagwa administration cynically celebrates as "empowerment."
Yet, by promoting such micro-survivalist initiatives as the cornerstone of economic policy, the regime is digging the country into a deeper fiscal hole.
These informal projects generate no tax revenue.
They are untaxed, unregulated, and unsustainable.
As more and more people are pushed into this informal sector - which the government claims to be empowering - Zimbabwe's formal economy continues to shrink.
This means the state collects far less through traditional income and corporate taxes, forcing Treasury to scramble for other sources of revenue.
That is why Zimbabweans have become some of the most heavily taxed people on the continent.
Those fortunate enough to still hold formal jobs are taxed on salaries as low as US$300 a month.
Then there is the notorious Intermediated Money Transfer Tax (IMTT), which slaps a levy on every electronic or mobile money transaction, making even basic business or personal payments unbearably expensive.
Add to that the sugar tax, punitive tollgate fees, and countless other levies introduced by the Treasury over the years.
Instead of fixing the root causes of economic collapse - corruption, mismanagement, and the destruction of the productive sector - the government continues to squeeze the few remaining taxpayers dry.
The absurdity is that while the government complains about a narrow tax base, it continues to promote policies that shrink that very base.
Instead of rebuilding industries that could employ thousands of workers - who in turn would pay taxes and support a healthy economy - the Mnangagwa regime chooses to push people further into informal backyard survival.
By doling out cash, chicks, or sewing machines under the guise of empowerment, the government is actually ensuring that fewer people and businesses fall within the taxable economy.
Treasury, faced with dwindling formal revenues, is then forced to invent even more desperate taxes to keep the state afloat.
This contradiction was clearly exposed recently.
At the ruling ZANU-PF's Annual People's Conference held in Mutare recently, delegates resolved that the government should scrap the much-hated IMTT tax.
But Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube flatly refused, openly stating during pre-budget consultations in Bulawayo that removing the IMTT would force him to raise Value Added Tax (VAT) from 15 percent to fill the gap.
His defiance of a party resolution - in a political system where the party claims to be superior to government - says it all.
Zimbabwe's economy has been reduced to such a desperate state that even cabinet ministers can publicly disregard party directives simply because there are no workable alternatives left.
The real tragedy is that none of this needed to happen.
If the government had dealt decisively with corruption, restored investor confidence, and adopted sound industrial policies, Zimbabwe could easily rebuild its manufacturing sector.
A functional economy would naturally expand the tax base - companies would pay corporate taxes, workers would pay income tax, and the state could fund public services without punitive levies.
But that would require political will and honesty, qualities in short supply within the ruling elite.
Instead, the government has chosen the easier, short-term path of distributing small handouts to desperate citizens.
These "projects" may buy temporary political loyalty, but they destroy the country's economic foundations.
Consider what genuine empowerment should look like.
It should mean creating an environment in which Zimbabweans can find formal, dignified work in industries such as agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and services.
It should mean companies like Irvine's or Pelham's expanding and hiring workers who enjoy decent pay, pensions, and social security benefits - not thousands of backyard operators raising a few chickens or making sofas for cash without protection or future prospects.
Empowerment should lift people into the formal economy, not entrench them in perpetual informality.
By glorifying survivalist activities and branding them as empowerment, the Mnangagwa administration is simply masking failure.
These schemes are a form of political sedative - a way to pacify a restless and impoverished population without addressing the real problems.
They give the illusion of productivity, but in truth, they perpetuate dependence and economic stagnation.
A nation cannot build prosperity on backyard chicken runs and vending stalls. I
t builds prosperity on factories, farms, industries, and innovation - underpinned by competent governance and accountability.
Zimbabwe's so-called empowerment projects are therefore not empowering at all.
They are weakening the economy, eroding the tax base, and deepening national poverty.
They represent a shortsighted, politically expedient strategy to manage discontent rather than to rebuild the nation.
Unless Zimbabwe abandons this deceptive narrative and focuses on policies that create real jobs, attract investment, and revive industry, the country will remain trapped in a vicious cycle of survival and taxation.
The government must stop pretending that poverty alleviation is the same as economic empowerment.
True empowerment is when citizens can earn a living wage, pay their taxes, and look to the future with dignity - not when they are reduced to breeding chickens in their backyards to stay alive.
© Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
Source - Tendai Ruben Mbofana
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