What clearly distinguishes the
ruling party from any other political entity in Zimbabwe is the party’s consistency
to principle and it is this immersion to ideological probity that defines the
ruling party. One of the obvious outcomes of firmly standing by principle and
ideology is the conflict it generates with friends and foes alike. The ruling
party in Zimbabwe has taken an honourable ideological stance on controversial
but crucial policies such as the land reform, indigenisation and economic empowerment
but this left the country isolated on some fronts and the economy heavily
compromised. The bondage to doctrines, the many blueprints, the inconsistencies
and the perennial habits without practical and effective implementation have unnecessarily
exposed many of the ideological sacrifices to ridicule. Zimbabwe is well-known
for producing excellent, well-drafted blueprints yet when it comes to
implementation everyone seems to develop cold feet. It is the ideological and
principle consistency that creates coherency in policy implementation. Zimbabwe
has the ZIMASSET economic blueprint to execute, to drive up the country and
translate ideology into tangible outcomes that will benefit the ordinary man,
woman and child.
The worry is that the country
seems deeply and consistently engrossed in petty political pickings at the
expense of procurement for the nation as a whole. We are agreed that this is
the post-congress period and focus now should be on driving up the economic
blueprint to realise its undeniable full potential. The inconsistencies, the
polarisation, the negativity, the lack of consensus and the constant political
squabbling only put obstacles in the paths towards economic recovery and genuine
prosperity. The fact of the matter is that ZIMASSET is a technical document and
as such poses technical questions which require technical answers. It is the
technical answers which will unlock the country’s true economic potential.
These answers are going to be provided by the technical people and the
processes are going to be driven by the politicians and policymakers. You
cannot take the politics out of the economics or the economics out of the
politics but for Zimbabwe to address the many debilitating economic problems
the country is currently facing there is an urgent need to prioritise the
economics. This is in no way meant to
say the politics is any less important.
The ruling party has to dismantle
the pretences, the mirrors of inconsistency, the dishonesty, disharmony and the
deliberate delays in demonstrating commitment to implementation of proposed
programmes as rank and order indulge in petty political contretemps.
Consistency of ideology and principle is a virtue in its own right and
consistency in implementation is a virtue if put forward with practical
application and by the letter of the law. The Indigenisation and Empowerment
policies are Laws and Acts which have been passed through parliament. The
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act was passed through an Act of
Parliament in 2008. All potential investors to Zimbabwe are often confronted
with some unhelpful headlines about the Act and its application. However
investors into Zimbabwe should have very little if anything to worry about as
the Act is clear in terms of objectives and intended outcomes as set out in the
policy. For consistency sake those who seek clarification can do so simply by
contacting the relevant ministry. The Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment
Act, Chapter 14:33, Part II, Section 3, subsection (a) clearly states “The
Government shall through this Act or any other law, endeavour to secure that
“at least fifty-one per centum of the shares of every public company and any
other business shall be owned by indigenous Zimbabweans”. The Law is very clear and the newly
appointed Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Minister Christopher
Mushohwe recently said that the Government of Zimbabwe would remain guided by
the Law in the implementation of its indigenisation and economic empowerment
programmes. That is the consistency that investors seek because from there any
investor can simply read through the Act itself and seek clarification where
required from Minister Mushohwe’s office.
The concern is that there is
deceitful disinformation and sensational media headlines alleging
inconsistencies from different government officials. This disinformation and misinformation
are unhelpful and unnecessarily creates uncertainty and negative speculation
which is not good for the country’s struggling economy. There are many
erroneous reports doing media rounds that VP Mnangagwa recently said that
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment laws will ‘be scrapped next year’ when
in fact what he was talking about is “getting rid of bureaucratic regulations
that inconvenienced investors”.
There is policy consistency
throughout on the indigenisation and economic empowerment programmes. The Vice
President Mnangagwa and Indigenisation Minister Mushohwe are saying exactly the
same thing and those who chose to interpret the two statements differently did
so for whatever motives of their own. Mushohwe is talking about the Law of the
land on Indigenisation and Economic empowerment and VP Mnangagwa was very
specific about the essence of making the investment environment and process in
Zimbabwe simpler and was pronouncing new policies that attract more investment
into the country. It is not the ‘Law’ but the bureaucratic bungling which
frustrates potential investors. The Law is the law and most if not all
investors have not been blocked from doing business in Zimbabwe by law but by
the intricate bureaucracy such as investors spending over six months consulting
and going through the registration process. VP Mnangagwa was putting emphasis
on dealing urgently with issues affecting business to put the economy back on
the road to recovery by simplifying and expediting investment formalities.
The Indigenisation Minister Chris
Mushohwe’s quest for a full list of all those who have benefitted from the
policy so far is a welcome development as this will bring about clarity and
transparency into the whole process. It is important to have a clear picture of
who is actually benefiting from the policy and present areas for improvement.
The key to the country’s economic recovery is being anchored on the ZIMASSET
economic blueprint which needs to be followed by effective implementation, eradicating
corruption, policy consistency and clarity, providing information on the
investment policies and laws in the country and government speaking from the
same page for clarity sake.
There is reason to be optimistic
about Zimbabwe’s long term economic prospects and there is need to iron out
some issues relating to inconsistency that have been unnecessarily slowing down
the recovery. It is a fact that hope is the only thing that is stronger than
fear. Now is the time for politics to give economic recovery the highest level
of priority. The Zimbabwe economy can be salvaged easily with consistency,
decisiveness and less emphasis on unnecessary and counterproductive political
squabbles. The country is saturated with the ruling party’s intraparty politics
and there is an urgent need for a shift towards intraparty economic dialogue to
harness the experience and expertise of those in and outside of government to
take on the challenges being presented. The fundamental problems crippling the
country’s economy are well-known and well-documented, namely corruption, low
capacity utilisation, unemployment, long term and short term structural
deficits, negative perception and lack of confidence from some potential
investors, lack of confidence in the finance and consumer sectors. There is no
need to change the law but a simple change in tone can quickly change
perception and increase confidence. Words are very powerful and need to be used
with caution as they end up portraying the country in a negative light.
The priority is to address the
problems head on and to target economic growth and reducing the numbers of
those without formal work that is creating employment. The country’s economic
growth needs to be over 6% to be able to catch up with lost capacity of the
last fourteen years induced by sanctions and other factors already highlighted
above. A strong growth of over 6% will help boost tax revenues and create jobs
to be able to successfully reduce the current unsustainable government fiscal
deficits. The country has to effectively balance solving short term and long
term structural deficits. No one is questioning the importance of Foreign
Direct Investment in world economies; however investment alone will not
stimulate the economy. There is also a need for real demand for products and
services provided there is readily available disposable income. Zimbabwe has
the former but falls short on the latter. There is a great deal of uncertainty
in the economy and wage constraints and how the country goes about addressing
these is how the country is going to start emerging from the mire and mud.
bernardbwn@aol.com/ bernardbwoni.blogspot.com
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