Nobody listening to IMF

via Nobody listening to IMF 8 October by Jera

The visiting IMF team has advised government to cut down on unnecessary expenditure.

“Fiscal policy will focus on raising the efficiency and quality of public spending and rebalancing the expenditure mix towards infrastructure and social outlays…. Scarce public resources need to be used appropriately, underscoring the importance of containing pressures on the wage bill, stepping up reforms in the taxation of the mining sector…” said the Bretton Woods organisation.

The IMF may as well shout at the Epworth balancing rocks. Or they could scream their advice down the echoing labyrinth of the Chinhoyi Caves because the Zanu (PF) government is like a group six pupil, who when the teacher speaks, is either licking the window pane or sniffing at his lunchbox, eagerly anticipating break time.

President Mugabe will soon jet off somewhere – whether business or medical check-up – taking with him unnecessary travel companions. Small-scale mining, which took off circa 2000, mirrors the chaos of the land redistribution. Gold panners seem to have the blindness and burrowing tendencies of moles, digging haphazardly, with little regard for the environment and no knowledge of paying taxes. ZMDC’s records are not the shining example of bookkeeping, as no one knows exactly how much money is coming from Chiadzwa.

It’s all deliberate of course. Amidst the chaos, the politically connected continue to readjust their belts, to accommodate ever-thickening waistlines.

As we speak, the traditional chiefs are reclined on goatskin mats, surrounded by their concubines, browsing catalogues of the latest 4x4s – $10M will be spent on cars for the men who have ensured Mugabe retains the majority of the rural votes.