Opinion / Columnist
Tsvangirai set Mugabe up for failure
04 Jun 2014 at 18:30hrs | Views
When President Mugabe was re-elected almost 11 months ago, Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC was terribly bitter and, as has become customary, began to engage in a campaign of smear. They charged that President Mugabe's government was directionless, out of its depth and was doomed to fail.
In a way, they were right. By ordering people to withdraw huge chunks of their money from the banks, $2 billion to be exact, Mr Tsvangirai had set President Mugabe up for failure. However, as with his other self-serving schemes in the past, Tsvangirai has yet again failed to stop President Mugabe from fulfilling his election pledges.
Despite that it has only been 11 months since the last election and notwithstanding the liquidity problems which, as we now know, were engineered by Tsvangirai to create an artificial economic crisis, it is possible to make the provisional conclusion that President Mugabe's agenda is working reasonably well. A record of success is beginning to emerge.
Let's look at the facts. New ZimSteel, formerly Ziscosteel, is back and $650 million has been pledged towards the first phase of operations. The job opportunities that will come out of this project alone are too many to contemplate.
President Mugabe's government has also approved the setting up of a cement factory in Harare and Rushinga both estimated at around $100 million with thousands of job opportunities at stack as well.
Nor is that all.
Government recently commissioned a $160 million Fidelity Life Assurance housing scheme which is expected to build nearly 10 000 houses.
Just yesterday, government secured a $100 million loan facility which will go towards funding small scale mining activities.
Just to put this into perspective, the four projects mentioned above- which are only a portion of government's ZimAsset agenda- have a cumulative value of approximately $1 billion.
To break this further, we are talking of over R11 billion and over M30 billion (metical).
For a government that is reeling under severe economic sanctions, compounded by an artificial but equally terrible liquidity crisis, this is no small thing.
So why has President Mugabe's government been written off as pointless by Mr Tsvangirai and his supporters? I am afraid that the explanation explains the pettiness of our politics in Zimbabwe.
Opposition politics in Zimbabwe is known for plotting and scheming- a sad manifestation of a short-term, partisan culture that has taught them to place their own desires and aspirations first at the expense of nation.
Disappointingly, a sizeable chunk of our population is beginning to fall for this squalid trap. They listen to the MDC, look at a few economic indicators, conclude that things are terrible, and panic.
The ugly truth is that President Mugabe's administration is making steady progress in government. It may not be enough, but it is important to bear in mind that there are over 4 years to go still and, in politics, that is a lifetime.
In a way, they were right. By ordering people to withdraw huge chunks of their money from the banks, $2 billion to be exact, Mr Tsvangirai had set President Mugabe up for failure. However, as with his other self-serving schemes in the past, Tsvangirai has yet again failed to stop President Mugabe from fulfilling his election pledges.
Despite that it has only been 11 months since the last election and notwithstanding the liquidity problems which, as we now know, were engineered by Tsvangirai to create an artificial economic crisis, it is possible to make the provisional conclusion that President Mugabe's agenda is working reasonably well. A record of success is beginning to emerge.
Let's look at the facts. New ZimSteel, formerly Ziscosteel, is back and $650 million has been pledged towards the first phase of operations. The job opportunities that will come out of this project alone are too many to contemplate.
President Mugabe's government has also approved the setting up of a cement factory in Harare and Rushinga both estimated at around $100 million with thousands of job opportunities at stack as well.
Nor is that all.
Government recently commissioned a $160 million Fidelity Life Assurance housing scheme which is expected to build nearly 10 000 houses.
Just yesterday, government secured a $100 million loan facility which will go towards funding small scale mining activities.
Just to put this into perspective, the four projects mentioned above- which are only a portion of government's ZimAsset agenda- have a cumulative value of approximately $1 billion.
To break this further, we are talking of over R11 billion and over M30 billion (metical).
For a government that is reeling under severe economic sanctions, compounded by an artificial but equally terrible liquidity crisis, this is no small thing.
So why has President Mugabe's government been written off as pointless by Mr Tsvangirai and his supporters? I am afraid that the explanation explains the pettiness of our politics in Zimbabwe.
Opposition politics in Zimbabwe is known for plotting and scheming- a sad manifestation of a short-term, partisan culture that has taught them to place their own desires and aspirations first at the expense of nation.
Disappointingly, a sizeable chunk of our population is beginning to fall for this squalid trap. They listen to the MDC, look at a few economic indicators, conclude that things are terrible, and panic.
The ugly truth is that President Mugabe's administration is making steady progress in government. It may not be enough, but it is important to bear in mind that there are over 4 years to go still and, in politics, that is a lifetime.
Source - Psychology Maziwisa
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