via Mugabe failing to rig the economy – Nehanda Radio Mar 26, 2014 by Wilbert Mukori
Zimbabwe’s economic melt-down is here and even the normally secretive Zanu PF government is openly acknowledging it and the extremes people are now going through to escape the economic hardships it has brought.
“There is a high demand for passports in Zimbabwe as people are leaving to escape the economic crisis the country is facing,” admitted Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede to a parliamentary committee last week.
Zimbabweans are going mainly to SA and Botswana, the only countries where they can go now. Years ago they went further afield, UK, USA, Australia, Canada, etc. but the doors to most of these other destinations have since been slammed shut to Zimbabweans.
Zimbabwe’s industries are all but dead and so almost all the manufactured goods now imported from SA or Botswana.
These two countries have benefited greatly from all this trade and a number of border towns have mushroomed and boomed, selling to Zimbabweans. Zimbabweans have also flocked to these countries to shop but also in search of work given the country’s 80% plus unemployment rate.
It is hard to distinguish cross border traders from those seeking employment.
Both SA and Botswana have been deporting Zimbabweans who overstayed or were working without permits. This new flood of Zimbabweans into SA and Botswana are bound to cause some economic and social problems sooner or later. And there will be another flood after this!
Zimbabwe’s economic crisis is set to get worse, a lot worse because none of the causes fuelling it are being addressed. None!
The immediate causes of the economic crisis are the three decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption by this Mugabe regime. Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa admitted there is “rampant corruption” when he announced the $6 000 per month cap on pay packages of CEO in government owned / controlled institutions like the Public Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS), ZBC, City Councils, etc.
Before the cap, the CEO of PSMAS, Cuthbert Dube, took home $ 500 000 per month. The Minister had a list of 180 similar institutions including Plumtree Council whose CEO was paid a princely sum of $ 17 027.00 a month – his salary was a modest $1 173.00 boosted by generous allowances of $15 854.00.
These salaries were even more scandalous when one looks at the performance of the institutions these individuals were leading. PSMAS members were being denied any medical service because the society was not paying the service providers. The same was true with the Councils; the rate payers were not getting even the most basic services and the lowly paid Council workers were going for months without being paid.
Years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have left all of these government owned / controlled institutions in desperate need of large financial injections (same is true for the rest of the other sectors of the economy). The Minister should not have stopped at capping the salaries of these fat cats but instituted action to recover as much as possible the wealth they have looted over the years. Every little helps!
As for the additional large cash injection these institution would have looked to government and more specifically to its $27 billion ZimAsset, sadly no outsiders have offered to bankroll ZimAsset and so the scheme is dead in the water. Mugabe was sure the Chinese would help but they have since said they are not going to contribute even a penny.
The other important point about the CEO salary cap is that it does not apply to the big chefs within government itself. It is no secret that all the top brass in the Army, Police, CIO, Judiciary, and other senior civil servants are paid obscene salaries and allowances whilst the lower ranks get very poor wages.
How can anyone believe the regime is finally stamping out corruption when Mugabe spends $1 m on a birthday bash one week, $ 10 m on a daughter’s wedding the next and a further $ 5 m on statues of himself when 100 children are dying every day of preventable diseases across the country?
After Mugabe blatantly rigged the July 2013 elections it was clear the West was not going to provide any financial assistance to the Mugabe regime.
By rigging the elections Mugabe was saying the mismanagement, corruption and brutal political repression which had been the hallmarks of his rule in the past were going to continue.
It was going to be business as usual after the restraints imposed on him during the GNU. The West’s reply was clear enough – they did not much care to do business with him!
Zimbabwe’s economic crisis was brought on by the decades of mismanagement and corruption and without financial help the country is clearly not going getting out of this hole.
Mugabe rigged the 2013 elections, with the help of the MDC who failed to implement not even one democratic reform, to stay in power. But now that he is back in State House Mugabe is now realizing that bamboozling Tsvangirai and rigging the elections were easy, “rigging” economic recovery is impossible.
The only way out of this political and economic quagmire, is for Mugabe to go so that the nation can hold free and fair elections to produce a government with the mandate to rule and international legitimacy.
It is the duty of all Zimbabweans to ensure that Mugabe goes or else the economic crisis the nation is facing today will only get worse.
COMMENTS
Mugabe was suppose to listen to Dr Simba Makoni , when he said lets change the system of governance. Zimbabwe needs an economist , a Technocrat, a moderate man Dr Simba Makoni.
Dr Makoni has been part and parcel of this Zanu PF autocracy and he helped build it and benefited from it. When he was inside and had the chance to change it; he said nothing. He is calling for change now because he was kicked out. We should be very wary of opportunists like him!
It is unfortunate that some of you people are so stupid you can not read between the lines. Who do you think can give an advice to Bob and be listened to, especially if it is sensible. The fact that Simba Makoni left this party is enough evidence that he was not listened to. Remember that a lot of people were suggesting kuti Bob aite handover power to Makoni long back ago, so what relationship did you expect between the two. Handiti kwaari ange atove a threat meaning whatever he suggests hazviteerwi. Have you not come across masuggestions anoitwa nevanhu muZimbabwe ari very fruitful/sensible but as long as you are not their favorite they will not listen to you. It is either they will pretend as if they are the ones suggesting it at a later stage and then implement it. Usangoshoropodze zvisina basa because it shows how limited you are panyaya dzepolitics dzeZimbabwe. Hazvirevi futi kuti muZanu macho hamuna vanhu vano funga, but just imagine when you are working for a DICTATOR. You only need to do zvaano expecter iye. Why was he shown a dummy cheque. He might have been the one who suggested to mislead vanhu vekwaChiyadzwa, If not, why then is he quiet about it. Are you aware that this Old man brought some people whether it was from DRC or Angola kuzorova vanhu muno. Inguva yainge masoja achi demonstrater here I am not sure. Which totally shows kuti he does not CARE about ZIMBABWE and its people. How much was spent during pamafaro ake apa asi pedzezvo moshaya masalaries. The really people who liberated this country are still suffering.
I do not know whether you are suggesting that Dr Makoni was smart enough “to read between the lines,” to know Mugabe would not listen to advice “especially when it is sensible” and that was why he left Zanu PF. If Makoni is as smart as you say he is then why did it take him years to figure out that Mugabe was no listening particularly when in those years he had in fact helped Mugabe build the Zanu PF dictatorship.
No my friend, Dr Makoni would still be in Zanu PF right now if he had not made the mistake of believing he would enhance his chances of being president by leaving Zanu PF. He has never cared about justice or freedom; all he cared about is power and was willing to do anything to get it. No he is not smart at all, he is greedy that is all!
I partly agree with you, but there are certain issues that we can take away from his conduct. If you compare him to the rest of these people who are in power and those who are fighting to get into power, I see him to have better credentials than the majority of them. You must know that sekuru has been telling the people of Zimbabwe so many times that after each and every election he will retire. He wants to be writing some history books, if you can remember the interview that was carried out by Shingirai Tungwarara, I don’t when was that, but now compare it to what he said to Tarzan Mandizvidza. Some in ZANU PF had patience until they realised that they were wasting their time. What has been said by Amai Mujuru, Ngwena or anyone who thinks he can take over the throne. I know that vanhu hatiregereri but consider Simba never any farm in Zimbabwe when he was one of the top guys in government. How many were looted by those in the politburo, to an extent yekupa tuva zukuru turi kumusana. Even if you check on the guys from MDC. For the five years some of them have been in office how much have they amassed in terms of riches, meaning they are no different from their folks in ZANU PF. I have got a feeling that this guy is better principled than most of these who are in government and those who are vying to take over. That is my point of view. Kungo onesana, that is also the purpose of these forums. Iwe haundizivi, ini handikuzivi but zvatiri kutaura tiri kuzvinzwa and vanhu vese vari kuzvinzwa. Lets debate it.
@ Smart Talk
Dr Makoni, Mugabe, Tsvangirai, Mai Mujuru and all the others you have named have all shown that they will all talk about human rights, freedom, liberty and justice when it helps them get into power. The minute they are in power they have willingly ignore or even actively violated these values to stay in power. That means they have no principles.
The rest of your argument is about Dr Makoni being “better” at hiding his lack of principles or would not have made some of the stupid blunders Tsvangirai, for example, made. These are all true but totally irrelevant because having agreed that they all bad – i.e. they lack principles – whatever you are doing from that point is argue who is worse – that is not to be confused with better.
To be consider a national leader one must prove that they value the rights and freedoms of all Zimbabweans as a minimum requirement. There are Zimbabweans out there with these minimum qualification; we have not found them because we as a nation have not been looking for such individuals. We have been too lazy to look for them. We lowered the bar so low that people like Dr Makoni, Mugabe, Tsvangirai have all been consider suitable when all they had to do is say they fighting for human rights, etc. Of course, anyone can say that.
The fact that people like Dr Makoni, Mugabe, Tsvangirai have gone on to prove that they have no principles at all and yet some people still consider them suitable as leaders proves that the electorate has lowered the bar so low, there is nothing there. Tava kungo kuvirira zvose mavhu namarara!
Zimbabweans voted for Tsvangirai in 2008 and would have done so again in 2013 not because he is competent leader, far from it. Tsvangirai is a blundering and incompetent leader. People voted for him because Mugabe is worse! What the people failed to take into consideration is the fact that Mugabe is a cunning tyrant and he outwitted and bamboozled Tsvangirai with great ease. The people for their part have learnt nothing and are willing to try again with the same blundering idiot as their man.
This has become a rat race to the bottom; to use your upside down logic we as a nation have excelled in this race!
He fixed the election and now he doesn’t know what to do. Who is laughing now?
! remember as a teenager, you would rush to a girl and say I love you, being smarter ,she would unexpectedly say, I love you too. You would not know what to say or do next.
Zanu fraudulently won the elections, now they do not know what to do next.
Treasonous malcontents.
It is true that Mugabe cannot rig the elections but we should not forget that he does not particularly care about the economy or the suffering it has brought to millions of Zimbabweans. What he cared about was getting back into power at all cost!
It is the people of Zimbabwe who are suffering the economic crisis, he is not. He had his $1 m birthday, $ 5 m wedding for his daughter, etc.: so he has every right to ask what crisis!
True. We are all fools
Well admitting that we made some serious mistakes is a good start but it is not enough; we must now put things right and end the tragic human suffering our folly brought!
What zanupf don’t realise is that in the GNU there was some legitimacy and stability, and they still held the reins of power. In other words they had their cake and were eating it. Now there is no legitimacy, no stability, no investment, no confidence, no rule of law. They have painted themselves into a corner the fools. There is no capital left to rob, no money to print and they have no friends. They are in a really tricky place and they are all preying for Mugabe’s death so that they can rebrand themselves.
We should also remember that MDC failed to implement the reforms giving Mugabe the opportunity to rig the elections! We would not be in this mess if Tsvangirai had done what he promised to do when he joined the GNU.
Do you recall the political ploys that were used against his efforts when he tried. Even as PM, he had little real power to accomplish anything that could be called “reform”… and what was accomplished has been reversed by Mugabe and company. (I don’t intend to exonerate MDC, because they sallied up to the feed trough, too, and the PM did not bridle them.)
There are three important aspects to this story that must be considered here:
1) Tsvangirai and MDC did not even try to get not even one reform implemented showing that they did not appreciate the critical importance of the reforms to free and fair elections.
2) To talk of MDC having no political power shows that they did not have a clue what they were supposed to do because with majority in parliament, a number of members in cabinet, SADC’s GPA backing, etc.; they had more than enough to push through the reforms.
3) If is naïve to think than MDC would get any meaningful democratic reforms implemented now even if another coalition government was to be formed because MDC still does not appreciate the importance of the reforms and the party has even less political muscle this time round.
…and how were they supposed to implement reforms when anything they tried to do was shot down by Mugabe? Even if they changed the law, what are the facts on the ground? The executive would simply refuse to follow the law. They murder with impunity don’t forget. They take private property notwithstanding what the law says. There is no accountability because they cannot be held accountable. They hold all the guns!
yah.even if the reforms had been pushed enough and put,they would simply ignore them with impunity.you are dead right jono.they will do anything as long as they got into power by force.remmember the pen issue by Bob after the 2008 elections.he said it himself they cant lose the country through a mere pen yekuvota no ways.i guess we are still miles if not galaxies away from freedom
Mugabe did not “hold all the guns,” in the GNU as you say. The failure to realise this is at the very heart of why MDC achieved nothing.
MDC did not have to accept the rubbish Copac constitution for example. It was too weak to deliver free and fair elections and many of us said so at the time. But having passed it in the referendum it is nonsense to then say MDC had no choice but to accept it.
The truth is MDC was just too incompetent to deliver any democratic changes; if anyone can not accept this, even with the benefit of hindsight, it only goes to show just how naïve and incompetent they are too!
Zimbabwe is in this political and economic mess because the electorate is naïve and incompetent – first we elected a tyrant then a blundering idiot. As long as the majority of the Zimbabwean electorate continue with this idiotic navel-gazing the country will never get out of the mess!
“The Minister should not have stopped at capping the salaries of these fat cats but instituted action to recover as much as possible the wealth they have looted over the years. Every little helps!”
Except, if those looted billions were recovered, that’s more than a “little”, and the Minister’s hand was deep into the pie just like his cohorts.
Can you only imagine how much infrastructure could be repaired if an ethical government could employ those funds. Foreigners would be flocking to invest, confident their investment wouldn’t be confiscated to go into the ministers’ pockets.
Most of the looted wealth will never be recovered it has long been wasted. Think of Mugabe and his cronies as the prodigal son in the Bible; what change did he bring back? What change will the nation get from Bona’s $5 million wedding?
the mugabe mornachy must know that the people cant live on empty words of promises,whilst the majority must learn that freedom isn’t free
You are right there, the people of Zimbabwe have yet to learn that “freedom is not free”! It is no different from a bumper harvest, it must be earned!
I PROMISE THAT….
They rigged the election hoping to fix the economy and create a dignified exit for Bob. Shame. Let him die and watchout the space for celebrations. This guy has roasted our country, fried it and reduced us to a level of beggers.
I hope you are not accepting the life of a beggar and the little comfort of celebrating Bob’s death!
The truth of the matter is these guys have failed period zanu doesn’t care about the people who they claim voted for them basa rekunyepa chete look now they can’t even pay civil servants. Plan B must be implemented nw to save the country
What, if I may ask, is your “plan B”?
Let them rig the economy, now they are boarding a car without brakes , no accelerator, no foot brakes , no hand brakes even hooter its not working , the ignition key , is did disfunctional , the car can not turn & it’s heading towards the valley or a crocodile gorge and very soon the car will nose dive into croco
Actually the accelerator is stuck to the floor and crocodile gorge is directly ahead!
I think you have just given a very accurate description of the vehicle povo are riding. After a $5 million wedding for his daughter, enjoying all the comforts of life only someone living in the Blue Roof mansion would know, etc. it is nonsense to say that person is driving in a car with no hand-break, etc.
Let them rig the economy, now they are boarding a car without brakes , no accelerator, no foot brakes , no hand brakes even hooter its not working , the ignition key , is disfunctional , the car can not turn & it’s heading towards the valley or a crocodile gorge and very soon the car will nose dive into crocodile gorge , by standers will be watching to some it will appear like a comedy . Ngavachiriga ka economy yacho tione (kkkkkkkk).
Well they can not rig the economy but it is you and me who are paying dearly for the economic melt-down. Mugabe and his cronies are still enjoying the good-life as if the country is enjoying its greatest economic boom!
THE ISSUES THAT NEED TO BE ADDRESSED ARE VERY FEW AND VERY OBVIOUS. FIRST, WE HAVE TO PUT ASIDE INDEGINISATION BECOZ FOR NOW THERE IS NOTHING TO INDEGINISE…IT IS LIKE FIGHTING FOR A DEAD DONKEY. COMPANIES ARE CLOSING DUE TO EITHER MISTRUST OF GOVERNMENT MOTIVES ON THE 51/49 SHARE NIGHTMARE AND ALSO DUE TO AGGLOMERATION REASONS WHICH HAVE MADE OPERATION UNSUSTAINABLE. THEN WE CAN HAVE A MORE CAUTIOUS INDEGINISATION PROGRAMME INVOLVING A PARTNERSHIP AND LEARNING APPROACH BECOZ SURELY ALL ZIMBABWEANS ARE NOT GOING TO GET BENEFITS FROM THE CIRCUS, BUT MAY NEED EMPLOYMENT WHICH WILL RESOLVE THE PROBLEM OF THE LESS AMBITIOUS MAJORITY OF ZIMBABWEANS
SECOND THE ZANU PF LANGUAGE OF CORROSION AND RECALCITRANT NONCONFORMITY BASED ON UNREASONABLE FEARS MUST STOP TO WOE INVESTORS.
THIRD, THE GOVT MUST ENGAGE THE PEOPLE, NOT JUST BEING A SELF SERVING CLUB
FOURTH THE ISSUE OF GOVERNANCE AND THE RULE OF LAW INTER ALIS MUST BE ADDRESSED ASAP BECAUSE EVEN CITIZENS ARE NOT SAFE BECAUSE OF CRIME, IMPUNITY AND CORRUPT STATE APPARATUS SUCH AS THE POLICE AND THE JUDICIARY. THE LATTER IS THE EXECUTIVE’S FAULT OF MEDDLING FOR PERSONAL ENDS.
FIFTH, RESTORATION OF UNITY AMONG ZIMBABWEANS IS URGENTLY NEEDED FOLLOWING THE SENSELESS SCHISM CAUSED BY SENSELESS SELFISH POLITICS. WE MUST GROW UP. EVEN APPOINTMENTS TO KEY POST ARE BASED ON ABILITY TO HATE, STIGMATIZE, LYNCH, MURDER, SWINDLE, KIDNAP, STEAL, RAPE, MAIM ETC WHICH SEEM TO BE BONA FIDE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE CURRENT DISPENSATION.
LAST AND MOST IMPORTANT MUGABE MUST ACT FAST, VERY FAST ON THE ECONOMY AND CHANGE THE QUASI NATIONALISTIC USELESS AND IRRELEVANT RHETORIC WHICH WAS USEFUL DURING OUR LIBERATION WAR
VERY LASTLY THE ECONOMY CAN BE ADDRESSED OVERNIGHT IF THESE GUYS ARE SERIOUS ON PROPER POLICY REFORMS.
THE PROBLEM IS STUBBORNESS, AND MOCKING BEHAVIOUR AMONG THE POLITICAL MANDARINS.
COME TO YOUR SENSES.DO SOMETHING, JUST SOME THING ANYTHING NOT
(Johnson, a quiet, friendly tip for you: all-caps is more difficult to read… just like shouting in a closed room can be difficult to understand due to echo. Valid points more easily taken with normal input.)
These are all very sensible suggestions but for the last 34 years Mugabe has said no to each and everyone of these! Frankly after all these years, I am disappointed that anyone would still come up with the same suggestions. We need to move on – Mugabe has already said no; what do we do next?
Truly, can Zanu PF for once not do what is good and right for a nation. I say this with a heart that is breaking for the people of this nation. Is there not even one person in ZPF that can see the devastation and suffering that all this political stuff is bringing to the people. Mugabe must be told to step aside and go into retirement and ZPF must engage with the entire nation. If they don’t I think their own end is nigh and they will have brought that judgment upon their own heads. I continue to be absolutely disgusted with SA/Zuma’s, SADC and the AU’s complicity in the past elections. They endorsed the Zimbabwean people into an economic hell. That’s how much they care. But you know what, we serve a might God.
What exactly do you want God to do here? He gave the nation a rich land to grow food and fields of diamonds and other wealth. You the people have allowed a few village bullies take all the farms and to sell the nation’s riches for a song to the Chinese and Israelis out of sheer political laziness. What do you want God to do?
NBS makes a good point regarding ZPF getting Mugabe to go but who wants to sign his own death warrant? You may recall that DeKlerk headed a National Party delegation that pressurised P.W.Botha to go. Isn’t it sad that we in this instance, can regard someone as vile as P.W, to be even better than the so-called African hero?
You are always looking for someone else to save you from your own laziness. Well you will rot!
We are only getting what any person can expect from Mugabe and his cronies.wilbert said it all that the MDC let us down big time when they could of delivered so much if they had a smart leader!!!
Gukurahundis can not succeed in anything positive!!
Roll on the big collapse , can’t wait to watch it unfold
Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa admitted there is “rampant corruption” when he announced the $6 000 per month cap on pay packages of CEO in government owned / controlled institutions like the Public Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS), ZBC, City Councils, etc. That right there is what I was saying yesterday. As you can see that they say “Government owned” Since when does a Government own anything. These institutions are supposed to be public entities. These people make like they own them. That’s why the opposition could not operate efficiently during their tenure.
They also talk about ‘when we are elected to power.’ = translates to when I am elected to power- Power power power is all they think about. When do they ever say ‘when we are elected to serve the people, we will humbly serve the people and draw a modest wage because we feel it is our duty to serve Zimbabwe and sacrifice our chances of a much more financially rewarding career in the private sector’ Yes dream on, even MT does not say that and that is the tragedy of the Zimbabwean people-they simply do not have anyone with the strength of character to serve the country and put their personal interests second.
Jono you are 100% correct
Agree whole heartedly, Mister Doctor… government should get out of the business of business, except for taking steps to encourage it to advance. With business comes revenue, with revenue comes jobs, with jobs and production comes export duty and payroll taxes, and with taxes comes funds for infrastructure maintenance and upgrade. Unfortunately, that is the long-term economic stability that does not immediately line the pockets of Mugabe, his circle of looters, and their apologists… so, it is rejected out of greed.
“That’s why the opposition could not operate efficiently during their tenure.” Let me guess, that is why MDC failed to implement not even one reform; right? What a feeble excuse!
I despair, even with the benefit of hindsight you still fail to see that the opposition was nothing but blundering and incompetent idiots!
I say let it collapse – then maybe , just maybe, the whole nation will be courageous enough to remove these thugs from our midst!
Well the economy is collapsing already but what you do not seem to realise is how difficult it is going to be to get out of this mess without sinking any deeper! If you did then you would not be wishing that the nation sinks even a inch more!
Well you are not the only one in that; we are a nation of blundering idiots. We would not be in this mess if we were not!
Poor Zimbabweans. Victims of their own inaction. Continually whining and just talking, leaving it all to God. What a winning mentality this is!
Thank you for being blunt and honest; we certainly need a hard kick in the backside if we are ever to get out of this mess!