Zim-Asset is now Zim-liability: MDC-R

via Zim-Asset is now Zim-liability: MDC-R 02 August 2014

ZIMBABWEANS should not put faith in Zanu PF’s promises to turn around the country’s economy, a spokesman for a break-away faction of the MDC-T, Jacob Mafume, said last week.

Mafume, who is a senior figure in the faction calling itself the MDC Renewal Team, was speaking at a public opinion workshop organised by the Mass Public Opinion Institute.

Mafume lambasted Zanu PF’s much vaunted economic blue-print, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Socio Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset), saying the policy had spectacularly failed to breathe life in the country’s anaemic economy.

“Despite promises made in Zim-Asset on sustainable development and socio-equity anchored on indigenisation and employment creation, the opposite has taken root. The economy is in comatose,” Mafume said.

“The so-called Zim-Asset has turned to be a Zim-Liability anchored on increasing poverty and deprivation, joblessness, collapsing service delivery, inequality and lack of transformation.”

The blueprint was adopted by President Robert Mugabe’s government after he romped to victory in last July’s election. His Zanu PF party claimed the policy would reverse the economic rot and create 2.2 million jobs.

But a year after Zanu PF’s election victory, the economy is in deep trouble. Industry is in dire straits with most factories shutting down, throwing thousands of Zimbabweans onto the streets.  The country is also battling a serious liquidity crisis.

Mafume said Zim-Asset was a liability to the country. His party has called on Mugabe to admit failure and hand over the running of the economy to a team of competent technocrats.

The Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC-T party blames the crisis on Mugabe’s controversial election victory saying the crisis stems from a lack of political legitimacy. It also blames Mugabe’s empowerment policies saying such policies have frightened away foreign investors.

Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa last month admitted that the economy was not performing well, differing sharply with his boss, Mugabe, who had said earlier that the economy was on the mend.

Vice-President Joice Mujuru recently warned Zimbabweans not to expect a quick turn-around saying the Zim-Asset policy may need about 40 years before it succeeds. Mugabe is leaving for China next week to sign a $4 billion bailout loan.