Time to change from our dogmatist approach

"Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest" Maya Angelou. The resonance of wise words by Maya Angelou allow for application for the situation that is and will continue to visit upon Nation of Zimbabwe until the full potential is realised.

The world has changed dramatically over the last 3 years. However it seems that the motherland is still haunted by issues from the past. The question often asked is why we continue to let the status quo remain. Surely our people deserve a whole lot more. The future needs to be uncoupled from our distant past and our dogmatist approach to government. What was desired and imagined by our forefathers and those who died in the liberation of our country and what is prevailing are ghastly to contemplate. Surely the tears and the pain being endured by all deserve some relief.

The country has fallen from the grace and pedestal as the emblem of great African countries to an archetype tin pot nation showing what not to do. Having analysed the words of the current Indigenisation Minister, one Patrick Zhuwao (a nephew and acolyte of the President), and the government's rhetoric and plans for the country to prosper through indigenisation of the nation's resources and businesses. I find that the policy is one of the most ludicrous policy ever thought of as it is arbitrary, selective and harebrained.

For a country that touts its self to be one of leading academics and intellectuals this policy shows the depth and calibre of the drafters to be nothing short of criminal. There are many within the government who fail to realise the world does not revolve around the country, the world is a global marketplace. Any attempt to usher an arbitrary transfer of business shares to a partner who may or may not have any know how is called theft. Zimbabwe is trying to achieve some objective of being a big player in the world minerals market or tobacco market and then at the same time signal to potential investors that at some point expect to surrender a percentage of your company to unnamed partners.

This incoherent and vindictive policy will not work as it is. To expect any serious investors to come and create jobs in such an environment is to live in a parallel delusional world that has no part in this tech driven world. The Indigenisation policy is a "Ponzi" Scheme. By nature such schemes benefit the original scheme members. Notice the proponents of the policy are all failed business people, the erstwhile Minister Kasukuwere and current Patrick Zhuwao are failed business people and this grand ponzi scheme they want to foist on the nation will fail. Any right thinking business person who invest in such an environment is either a conman like those who skimmed our diamonds or just fronts for the ruling elite.  

The current policies have led to continuing and deepening suffering of the nation characterised by high levels of poverty, untold deprivation and downright impoverishment. The collapse and crash of our national economy borne out by massive de-industrialisation, record unemployment can all be blamed on unplanned policies. There is no national savings to talk about, capital; foreign direct investment is nonexistent. The economic malaise will not be solved by countless trips to foreign lands or tinkering with an indigenisation policy.
deprivation, denial and exclusion.

b. The failure and collapse of our national economy borne out by extensive de-industrialisation, massive unemployment, general hunger and impoverishment.

c. The absence of national savings, capital, foreign direct investment and liquidity all of which underpin the national economic malaise.

There needs to be an acceptance that Zimbabwe is no longer a significant player in the world, if at all it as ever. It only features in world newspapers w hen something bad has happened or in the case of Cecil the lion. The whole world is facing declining investment climate and seasoned investors will only put their money where there is stability, coherent policies and political direction. Our glory and esteem is now only held in high regard (debatable) by the Chinese and the appeasers of our president. Breaking from the west poses risks and our development and makes no economic sense when we use their currencies as national tender. We distaste the west yet we are fixated with their music, culture, and dress; Mr Mugabe certainly dresses and behaves like some old English lord of the manor straight out of Downton Abbey. We drive German cars, love UK Rolls Royce's and chaff Dom Perignon in fact everything from the west, yet we sell our family silverware and souls to the Chinese. We blame our woes on the west; yet forget that there is the matter of US$10 billion we have not paid back.

We need a lot of self introspection as a look at our crumbling infrastructure, decaying towns, unkempt streets, and pot-holed crater like roads and deteriorating standards. Yet we blame the West, sanctions, real and imagined enemies of the struggle for the general malaise and downturn. In a few weeks time it will be 36 years since Zimbabwe got its independence and this would be a great time to take stock of our lot. I think we need as a first step to acknowledge some truths about ourselves.
We have rundown our economy
We have destroyed our education
We have decimated our agriculture
We have failed to maintain even our roads, buildings and infrastructure.
We have failed to run our Airline, Railways and public transport.

Granted some needed a lot of foreign currency input, but many above just needed home-grown solutions. I have come across Zimbabweans in all parts of the globe, bankers on Wall Street, engineers with Canada's water companies, aeronautical engineers with Boeing, Airbus and doctors in London's top hospitals. What all these have in common is that they their skills and expertise is valued and not subject to policy made on the hoof and at public rallies. All were educated at in Zimbabwe and followed a western style education. Expecting them to follow an alien "juche" (political ideology of North Korea) style of thinking and working will never work. The devil you know is better, as the old adage says, and a common line when one is reflecting on decisions made, maybe the time is nigh to re-establish those links with the west.

Please do not misunderstand me, looking east is not always the worst decision; as we have seen Japanese & Chinese influence on the African continent making positive contributions. It's just that Zimbabwe seems to be getting a raw deal on all fronts. Take the last three trips to the Far East the President met both the Chinese and Japanese leaders. From the latter he only got back $5million in grants, just chump change and even the cost of his entourage of 80 staffers with no finance and industry ministers gobbled nearly all the grant money. One can make judgements on the success of the numerous trips. We could use our new affinity to the east and look at how China has launched itself into a major significant nation. We can also learn from three eastern countries which had a similar GDP and level of development as ours – Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea. All these countries do much business with the west and still keep their ethical values. We could learn a lot from them.

Previously in 2014 I wrote an piece titled "Zimbabwe - An enemy within"  and therein I alluded to the fact that "We need to join the information revolution that is going on all over the world. Technology is the new frontier that needs to be conquered and harnessed, and is the foremost driver of growth the world over and yet we as a nation cannot and will not embrace it". I am back with that theme 2 years on to encourage those in charge to try and embrace technology again. Let us forget those delusional thoughts to think we will bring industrial growth to Zimbabwe with factories and manufacturing from the current dilapidated, decaying infrastructure that we have failed to maintain and expect to make another $15BN for the government to mismanage.

We must once again try and invest in new methods of banking and bringing tech to the masses in the services we offer to the nation from paying fines electronically to having an accountable digital currency/blockchain system so we can account for all finances, where it's going and where is it coming from and we can have trust in what is being done in the country by those in charge. If we had an electronic system form of paying ZRP fines, road taxes, customs duties and reducing them significantly there would be no reason for police/government departments to get bribes as all the fines are all processed digitally and money goes to the state.

The decision makers should be held accountable through transparent information and tangible documents in the public domain. With blockchain technology all transactions are transparent and are there to see via mobile or pc anywhere in the world.   Blockchain technology could bring in massive benefits for the economy and bring Zimbabweans into the world markets and also allow Zimbabwe to benefit from the world economy through smart contracts, autonomous and cryptographic transactions.

The analogue paper work, with its inherent drawbacks of information being lost era is disappearing in the world why are we still stuck in this era. Everything is going digital and at a fraction of the cost of analogue paper, storage costs and loss of evidence that go with it. A digital world is the new world, we must be able to ensure those in all the corners of Zimbabwe can have all access and the modern benefits and not just Whatsapp.

Recently the reserve bank has confirmed it wishes to move to the cashless economy which makes sense as currently they are unable to replenish the ATMs with US dollars plus an added advantage of being able to tax those transactions and payments throughout the cashless system. If all is properly managed it could revolutionaries and modernise banking system for the masses and will bring banking and other services to the remote areas in Zimbabwe. The digital world is the next frontier and if we encourage our people to embrace it then we can expect innovation and real indigenization of the country through our own initiatives not resource grabbing. Empowerment of the people will need to come from providing real opportunities through re-educating the masses and giving them hope through simple effective and accountable governance.

Digital banking and blockchain technology allows for smart contracts including voting systems which give results within 5 minutes of poll closing, registering of deeds, share transfers, birth and death registration and in act all aspects of e-government can be transferred to the digital protocol. Recent innovative developments can also been used in the land registry. This initiative aims to record land title incorporating GPS marking of land complete with pictures and marking and document these on the block chain.  Titled land can be used as bankable asset to borrow against. While the nay sayers may complain about safety and hacking, even paper documents are subject to forgery.

But all must not lose hope as again Maya leaves words for reflection and ends the overture by saying "We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty". As a nation we need to fly away and soar BUT before we do so we have to morph through the ugly changes of a worm in the dry hard ground before emerging as a butterfly or Zimbabwe.

Tanaka Karanda a confessed technophile writes in his capacity as a concerned Zimbabwean who loves of all things on Economics/technology.