via Drunk rivals torpedo ZimAsset: Moyo 20/04/2014 NewZimbabwe
Jonathan Moyo has blamed the current failure of government’s much hyped Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset) to find traction on politically “drunk” Zanu PF opponents who continue to distract the country’s attention towards economic recovery.
In an interview with the State controlled Herald newspaper, Moyo all but admitted the Zanu PF blueprint was not the ultimate solution to the country’s complex economic woes.
Moyo conceded it would be a tall order to get Zim-Asset working if the current policy discord within government persists and in the continued absence of a clear-cut plan to fight endemic corruption within state institutions.
The Zanu PF politburo member said Zimbabweans had a rich endowment of untapped skill which had to be harnessed towards economic recovery.
He blamed Zanu PF opponents who continue to raise political emotions at a time government was trying to refocus the nation on a much-needed economic recovery path.
“Zimbabwe, for some reason, is one country that despite having these skills, has people that tend to think that the most important thing in our life is politics,” Moyo said.
“We eat, sleep, work politics; play politics, study politics, think politics, drink politics, sing politics … and that is now taking its toll. It has taken its toll. It has distorted our view of things. We have not understood that there is more to life than politics.
“For example, you hear already some politicians saying they think they must demonstrate because things are not working. They say, ‘Oh, Zim-Asset you promised two million jobs or so’; but we never promised we would create them in six months! So they take a political statement from a political manifesto and say, ‘I just woke up today and I dreamt you promised two million jobs and six months later we do not see those jobs!’
“A question they should ask in 2018 they are asking six months after the elections. This is because they are drunk with politics and do not have a well-grounded view of life, society and economy. If we had we would notice we have serious skills.”
Moyo was referring to current demands by former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC for the two million jobs promised in the Zanu PF election manifesto and policy documents.
During the inclusive government period, Zanu PF was always at loggerheads with its coalition partners for allegedly fanning discord in the hybrid administration through misinterpreting some of its crafted laws, chief among them the controversial indigenisation law.
But Moyo, in the interview, admitted Zanu PF was in itself disorganised and was sending conflicting signals around some of its policies.
“Let’s face it, there has been a fair degree of lack of clarity, inconsistency and occasional discordant voices from ourselves and this has not been good because it blocks the kind of channels which we should be opening for investors both domestic and foreign,” said the government spokesperson.
“That issue of lack of policy clarity and consistency and speaking with one voice has been as serious and as constraining as has been the fact that over the years, we have seen a dramatic shrinking of the private sector and you have the parastatals and State enterprises and local authorities dominating at least 60 percent of the economy. Yet these are the sectors that have been riddled with corruption.”
Moyo admitted ZimAsset was not the ultimate solution to the country’s economic woes and blamed those who have invested all their hopes on the document. He described term as “some people (who) take policy in Biblical terms as a panacea for everything”.
The former Tsholotsho North legislator further admitted it would be difficult for ZimAsset to register any successes if government does not take any concrete steps to deal with corruption.
Said Moyo: “Corruption increases the cost of doing business and makes it difficult to attract investment.
“There is a reasonable expectation that the corruption fight should be part of Zim-Asset but that has not been as pronounced as it should be.
“One of the reasons why some of our previous policies that have been judged to be very good on paper but have ended up with mixed results, if not total disasters when it comes to implementation, has been that we tend to treat policies as if they are cast in stone that once they are formulated, the black and white on paper is permanent. But good policy-making requires an organic approach which recognises the dynamic nature of the environment.
“So clearly, the issue Zim-Asset needs to incorporate is the fight against corruption to inspire confidence and these things are necessary to create the opportunities that will attract funding.”
President Mugabe is hard pressed to breath life to an economy which sank to its lowest depths under his government’s populist policies and tough empowerment policies.
Mugabe has occasionally blamed this on targeted sanctions imposed on his government by the West.
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