The Zimbabwe economy and the pricing predicament

By Bernard Bwoni

Zimbabwean businesses have often thrived on well over 100% profiteering. RBZ Governor Dr Mangudya is right on the money in calling for the reduction in prices of locally produced goods to increase competitiveness and counter cheap imports. Businesses in Zimbabwe have to start focusing on competitiveness first and profiteering second for the sake of the economy at large. The adjustment from the Zimbabwe dollar to the US dollar has been complex but people should start looking away from the unrestrained 120% profits of yesteryear and realise normal profits as anywhere else in the world. Zimbabwean products are of a high quality granted but pricing is not competitive enough to undercut competition from cheap imports which have flooded the market. Businesses have to find more innovative ways of marketing locally produced goods and price them at levels where consumers do not find a need to pay less for inferior products which are being imported into the country at alarming levels. The Zimbabwean market currently is a fierce economic battleground with cheap and inessential imports from around the world, mainly China and South Africa dominating.

Locally produced goods at the present moment are unable to compete with the mass imports from countries which benefit from far greater economies of scale in production. There has to be some form of intervention from government or the producers themselves. The government can intervene through a number of strategies for example a period of infant industry protection or price controls all of which may or may not necessarily be the panacea to the current cheap import problems. The producers have to start pricing intelligently to be able to compete in this cutthroat market. A good example is the street sole-traders (shoe-makers) dotted around Harare and other cities in Zimbabwe. They make quality robust handmade leather shoes which they sell roughly between $35-$45 (you can always negotiate downwards of course) whereas in the many flea-markets similar kind of shoes which are imported will cost between $15 and $20. The imported shoe price is inclusive of duty and transport costs but still priced less than the locally made shoe whose only costs are production costs . Now that says a lot about pricing by the local producers and with the cheap imports in our midst it is currently very much a consumers' market. Domestic producers have to revisit their pricing strategies.

It is imperative that domestic producers have to start looking at effective and sound pricing strategies for their businesses to remain viable in the current harsh microeconomic environment. There are many pricing strategies to consider but Zimbabwean producers can look at penetration and economy pricing as starting points. With penetration pricing the producer sets low prices for products for a specific time period whilst gaining market share and enticing consumers away from the competition which in our case is the cheap imports. The key word here is ‘cheap’ and domestic producers ought to take a cue from that and price their products accordingly. Once the local producers build a strong clientele base they can then increase their prices to levels that enable them to be viable and make a reasonable profit. A good example is at a barbershop where a good barber who takes his time and produces a very good haircut will have more customers. People are prepared to queue for hours to get a haircut from a product they trust. The barber can increase his price but his clientele base always remain.

Domestic producers can also start by charging very low prices for their products to undercut competition from the cheap imports. So the strategy would be to charge at lower prices than the cheap imports but then decrease their own production costs, reduce packaging ostentation or fancy features, reduce costs of marketing and branding strategies. The idea is to assign a very low price for locally produced goods and at the same time reducing production costs and other promotional costs.

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Case of the EU Libya-Mediterranean failure

By Bernard Bwoni

The case of Libya today as an example of a failed state is beyond doubt with rival splinter groups tearing each other apart and dismantling a once vibrant economy well manned by Gaddafi. The Libyan Coast is now left wide open to dinghy boats captained by many Captains Unscrupulous who are willy-nilly putting people's lives in danger. The EU and USA failed Libya by sanctioning the killing of the Great Gaddafi and unfortunately they have to deal with the consequences of their actions. South Africa and Nigeria should hang their heads in shame for voting for UN Resolution 73 authorizing military action against Gaddafi. Now Europe is in limbo because as soon as people reach the shores of Europe they can never ship them back under the UN 1951 Convention and the convention state that 'no country is allowed to turn away or turn back any refugees forced to flee their own country'. So the only other option Europe has is to let people drown. This is the real dilemma of EU and US foreign policy blunders.

There is no going round the fact that Libya is in state of political, social and economic malfunction. The EU and USA have to take direct responsibility for their part in the outcome of their brazen and callous public execution of Gaddafi who was the glue that bound Libya and beyond together. When Gaddafi was at the helm Libya was a destination for most migrants from Africa and the Middle East. Today Libyan ports are transit points and many a Captains Crooked people smugglers are having the last laugh. Many migrants are prepared to part with their life savings and brave the treacherous seas on makeshift boats to reach European shores. It is totally understandable because it is probably better to die on the open seas than return to their country of exit. Gaddafi and a stable Libya provided the first concrete barrier along the Mediterranean Sea (literally speaking of course). Prior to his untimely murder Gaddafi was negotiating a £4 billion a year package to help them curbing immigration across the Mediterranean. The EU and USA miscalculated the significance of Gaddafi in the crisis they have now made worse through their meddlesome foreign policy that has left Libya in the hands of some very unstable and unsavoury characters.

The EU has been witnessing the actual outcomes of their destabilization of Libya with little dinghy boats making futile attempts at crossing the Mediterranean sea. Many lives have been unnecessarily lost and more recently over 900 people perished when the overloaded boat they were in curved in. it is quite interesting to note that as the election campaign in the UK heats up the Labour leader Ed Miliband has accused British Prime Minister David Cameron and other EU/USA leaders of being ‘directly responsible contributing to the death in the Mediterranean’ due to their involvement in Libya and failure to formulate a post-conflict plan after the killing of Gaddafi. Under Gaddafi Libya was a solid and stable state run on efficiency. Since 2011 Libya has had a total of 5 different governments all who have failed dismally and plunged the country further into chaos and confusion? In comparison the one stable government of Gaddafi provided security and stability, free education and health, super infrastructure and the best facilities on the African continent. So this is the democracy that they were fighting for during the carefully choreographed and Western orchestrated so-called Arab Springs? It makes one wonder about the intentions of the "International Community" (EU and USA of course) and their couriers who often happen to be the marionette and handheld opposition political parties who front the concealed capitalist agendas of the self-serving ‘International Community’. Developing countries should value the order and peace that prevail in their countries because that order and peace came from none other but them. It is easy to be swayed by the illusory promises of better things and democracy which means absolutely nothing in the middle of chaos as seen in Libya of today.

The EU immigration crisis on the Mediterranean Sea brings to the fore flawed and ruthless nature of the EU and USA foreign policy. Lets start by giving credit to the EU for tripling funding for patrols in the Mediterranean Sea to help stranded boats and kudos to them. However the reality is that it is a crisis they created as Ed Miliband rightly pointed out to David Cameron and they have a responsibility to the victims of the mayhem and chaos they have created with the killing of Gaddafi and the destabilization of Libya. But then they all seem reluctant to accept the migrants into their countries. Britain has made it clear that it will not be accepting any refugees rescued from the boats on the European shores and other countries have stated that they are unable to cope. It is a crisis of epic proportions with no solution or end in sight. It is a man-made crisis and a direct result of flawed foreign policy and economic manipulation of developing countries by the more industrialised countries of the west in their quest to control the abundant natural resources of the less developed economies. This crisis and the meddling antics of the industrialised countries manifests itself in scores crookedly dangerous boats on the Mediterranean Sea, the proliferation of far right groups in Europe such as Golden Dawn in Greece, the xenophobic attacks in South Africa and the Katie Hopkins of this world branding migrants as cockroaches.

It is very easy to lay the blame of the migration crisis in Europe and in South Africa on African governments but the real root cause that is often deliberately get swept under the carpet is the self-serving foreign policy of the EU and USA. Many African governments and their already struggling countries are left fragmented owing to the interfering hand of the more developed nations of the west. We have witnessed it in Iraq, Egypt, Ukraine, Syria, Libya and many other places where chaos continue to reign in the aftermath of western interference. Those that resist the interference are immediately slapped with economic sanctions as seen in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Venezuela and many others too many to mention. The script is always the same about ‘dictators, democracy and protecting people from their bad leaders’. The question to ask today is if you look at Libya today, who really is the bad leader there? This is food for thought.

The solution to the current crises lies in the EU and USA reviewing their foreign policy agendas in the developing countries. They need to allow developing countries to develop their economies independently without any interference to further their own capitalist agendas. Zimbabwe is stable country that has been under economic sanctions for the past 13 years and the economy remains in doldrums. The excuse for the continuation of these draconian economic sanctions is the over-used and misused mantra of ‘Mugabe dictatorship, bad governance, democracy and lack of rule of law’ which are all nothing but a red herring fallacy. Many developing countries find themselves wading deeper and deeper into debt and borrowing more to keep it all together for their impoverished and expectant people. It is a vicious circle where they borrow more and pay out more to service such debt and remain permanently in financial red. It is the sure case of a Wonga payday loan where one literally set up a direct debit of the whole salary every month, it comes in and goes out. If it does not go out the interest rate is 1000%.

 bernardbwoni.blogspot.com

The Zulu King who lacks 'Goodwill' and abets Xenophobia

By Bernard Bwoni

The inequalities from South Africa’s apartheid era remain unresolved and the anger and resentment continue to simmer into deep-rooted and irrational contempt for foreigners. That could just be an excuse some may say, maybe South Africans are inherently ‘nasty’ and hate foreigners? That of course is a broad generalisation because not all South Africans hate foreigners. South Africa as a nation has enjoyed cordial relations with its neighbours and all other African countries. President Zuma recently welcomed President Mugabe into South Africa for an official state visit and the love and respect for the two neighbours was all evident for the world to see. There are many foreigners who get one with their lives alongside South Africans and are made to feel at home. However the recent irresponsible and ill-thought remarks by Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini have certainly boosted xenophobic feelings in South African communities and has seen the escalation of heinous killings of foreigners. It could be a total collapse of the social and moral fabric that is driving these despicable and illegal cremations of foreigners. Unfortunately the King Zwelithini’s  (where is the Goodwill in that?) comments seem to have legitimised xenophobic attacks in the Rainbow Nation. As things stand in South Africa this situation has barely been addressed as there is widespread impunity for acts of xenophobia and insufficient, if any, official condemnation. It is as if the authorities condone these deplorable acts of violence on foreigners, no let me rephrase that,  'as if the authorities condone such despicable acts of violence on Africans. The first person who should have shown ‘goodwill’ and come out condemning such abominable and inhuman acts is King Zwelithini but he has since gone into hiding whilst foreigners continue to be incinerated alive. Yes I mean burn as in someone lighting a match and setting a human being on fire in front of jeering and cheering crowds. Whole communities that is. It is all thanks to the King with ‘Goodwill’.

The South African authorities have to launch urgent public campaigns to denounce xenophobia and there is no other way of correcting this crude ailment that has pervaded the Rainbow Nation. There has to be consequences for torching another human being period!. These shocking attacks on Africans by South Africans deserve urgent attention, people being burnt alive deserve urgent and immediate redress. It is not enough for President Zuma to simply say ‘stop killing foreigners’ because this is not going to stop these murders. King Zwelithini’s comments should have received official condemnation right from the start before they set the veld fire. The King himself should have come out publicly stating that he was quoted out of context or denouncing these hate crimes.

There are numerous videos of foreigners being burnt alive in South Africa and that is happening in the full glare of whole communities. There are some harrowing and gut-wrenching videos of children fatally feeling the full impact of the xenophobic purge in South Africa. And the perpetrators are unforgiving as they traumatise the defenceless foreign victims. It is always the poor and most vulnerable who get caught up in these unimaginable acts of barbarity. There is the video of a four young persons with their hands tied and car tyres round their necks. One of them is just a little boy barely a teenager looking dazed, confused and unaware of the cruel fate that was about to befall him.  The despair, the forlorn sense of defeat, the hopelessness and helplessness was heart-breaking to watch. The gloom on the poverty-stricken faces,  despondent end of hope and the emotions of despair were all too unsettling to even watch the burning itself. The little boy was innocently looking around the unforgiving mob that had encircled them for the purpose of the human bonfire seemingly oblivious to the impending torment and torture that awaited him. The trauma was evidently erased by the sure dearth of hope. This is not meant to blackmail readers emotionally, but rather the reality of  humans being burnt alive for being foreigners in South Africa.

That is one of the most distressing scenes of human barbarity  ever captured on video and yes they all met their end ablaze. The thing that worried me the most was the gathering community that jeered and cheered at such inhuman behaviour. The young boy alongside four others was set alight in the full glare of the community. A member of the gathering community handed over the box of matches to the men who were meticulously making the preparations for this unethical burning ceremony.  This begs the question, was it the man who lit the match or the individual who handed over that match to burn these children responsible? No it was not an individual who did that, it was not an individual who handed over the matches but the whole community did. Every single person who stood by watching and did nothing handed over that match and took part in the gruesome murders. The King who is supposed to have ‘Goodwill’ might as well have handed over that match with his irresponsible utterances. By handing over that box of matches and everyone letting it go unchallenged the whole community participated in this murder and subsequent murders against foreigners in South Africa. I am hurt for them all especially the little boy who had his hands tied behind his back and too traumatised to show any signs of fear. It starts with being irresponsible and labelling nationalities as King Goodwill Zwelithini did his ‘foreigners must pack their bags and go home’ statement. Society takes cue from such irresponsibility. The innocence on the little boy's face before he was set ablaze is haunting and heart breaking. It is a harrowing and distressing depiction of the hideous face of xenophobia in the Rainbow Nation. My brothers and sisters from the Rainbow Nation cheering and jeering as human beings are burnt alive just for being foreigners.

Where is the compassion, the conscience and that degree of self-control that separates us from animals? How can a whole community stand and watch as young defenceless souls are set alight not in random acts but carefully planned manner? Any society that stands by and watches such savagery and brutality without objection is difficult to classify as a developed society. That is an opinion not a fact and most likely the level of violence inflicted on these young men evoked so much emotion that might cause opinions to overlap with facts and vice-versa. There is a sense of denial in terms of accepting responsibility and accountability for such actions by society collectively. Compassion, philanthropy and empathy are the hallmarks of any nurtured and matured society. How any society treats the most vulnerable, how any society accepts the most vulnerable and how any society welcomes the vulnerable from outside is what distinguishes it from the animal kingdom. A degree of self-control and that empathic outlook sets us wide apart from animals. This is about what individuals or groups of individuals collectively are prepared to do and prepared to forego to put themselves on a path towards a matured society. The senseless brutality associated with xenophobia is happening in the full glare of society and not a single soul raised any objections.

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Sanctity of Zimbabwe's struggle and independence

By Bernard Bwoni

From the limelight of otherwise trivial political careers to the obscurity of political darkness, the likes of Mutasa, Mliswa, Gumbo and the ‘Mother’ have been humiliated (rightly so) and subsequently embittered by the realisation that they have accomplished nothing but a free-fall into the twilight of their productive political years. This political near dearth experience soon to be political oblivion has wounded them and their response has been to make counter spurious claims of ‘People First’. The thing with quislings is that they talk as if their choice to cross the floor was about 'People First' and as if they put 'People First' when in fact the reality is that it is all about their own egotistical quest and their insatiable desire to follow the undignified pathway that come with the trappings of power. The thing with such individuals is their inability to stand for any real principle and hence the undependable wobble into the opposition ranks and Western handholding. They will swing from one end of the political pendulum to the next hopelessly hoping to land on the solid side of principle but they never do. Now they must live with the reality of an inevitable descend from self-proclaimed political importance to the darkest depth of political obscurity. There is no 'People First' in any quest for a regime change agenda. There is only one ZANU-PF and the PF stands for Patriotic Front and those who claim 'People First' do not for one second have the patriotic marrow in their deoxyribonucleic acid. Those who attempt to weaken the party that liberated this country are reckless and careless to say the least. The sanctity of Zimbabwe's liberation struggle and independence must never be compromised by the likes of the crooked Mliswas, uncles and ‘mothers’ at the expense of the majority. Zimbabwe is on the way up and as our independence approaches again we must never forget the sacrifices.

Independence is that beautiful realisation that one is free from physical, mental, political and economic shackles. What a lovely feeling indeed. It entails the reorganisation, the rebranding and the rebuilding of the victim's emotional, economic and political infrastructures to support the independent entity's trajectory. Zimbabwe's independence was not and is not the final journey's end but rather the beginning, the bridge that connects and enable us as a sovereign nation to drive up national processes, to determine our own destiny and ensure the country remains on course. 18th April 1980 removed the many obstacles that limited our potential as a people and put in place opportunities. It is true that many challenges remain but the shackles have been totally eliminated. With the shackles of Rhodesia out of the way any challenge can be and will be overcome. As we celebrate our hard won independence let us all remember that where there are challenges there lie in great opportunities. Challenges obstruct opportunities and as President Mugabe rightly stated at the South Africa-Zimbabwe Business Forum, it is about creating opportunities for present and future generations to own the country’s natural resources. President Mugabe said that in some African countries independence was only a ‘half measure as those countries do not even own their natural resources’.

There is definitely a lack of patriotism among those who have been working underhandedly to dismantle the structures of the ruling party in Zimbabwe and it is such a shame that some of them actually participated in the sacred struggle to liberate the country from those who they are now working towards serving. The liberation struggle in Zimbabwe was fought and won by men and women with the patriotic marrow and blood that flowed patriotically through their spirits, blood that flowed in the land we call Zimbabwe today. These sons and daughters of Zimbabwe fought a just war and put the country ahead of all distractions and trappings. The priority was the liberation of the country and all its component parts. The likes of Temba Mliswa do not possess that patriotic marrow in their spineless bones and yet they start to believe they are bigger than the sacrifices of those who liberated this country. ZANU-PF is way bigger than the unstable and self-serving Mliswas and uncles and they must never be allowed to undermine the honourable name of the revolutionary ruling polity. These are just but very small individuals in the grand scheme of things and the party is way bigger than all their treacherous simple minds put together. ZANU-PF is that bigger picture built on the collective strength of the people. The revolutionary ruling party is way bigger than the insignificant and irrelevant Mliswas and uncles. These errant turncoats are exactly where they belong and the spirit of those who gallantly fought for the independence of Zimbabwe will guide them towards the permanent political dustbin.

It is the likes of Mliswa and uncles who have gleefully embraced CIA agents like Erick Little in the naïve quest to undermine Zimbabwe, to aid and abet the regime change agenda that continues to seek to undermine Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s national security is constantly under threat owing to the actions of the overzealous and over-paid perfidious few who are touting the lame ‘People First’ ideology and publicly courting the dysfunctional opposition in the hope of toppling the ruling party. This is no way to suggest that the likes of Mutasa, Mliswa, Gumbo and others should not differ with the ruling party ideology but when it comes to affairs concerning the integrity of that bigger and sacred entity called Zimbabwe then national pride and duty dictates that it is unethical to invite alien onslaught to further own ailing political careers. The reality is that those who have been kicked out of the ruling party will never in their lifetime empower the black indigene but rather continue to further the interests of our erstwhile colonisers as the local opposition has done over the years. I would not at all be surprised if Mliswa does not start calling for further sanctions against Zimbabwe.

The one thing that is certain is that patriotism has indefinitely abandoned those who have been rightly ejected from ruling party. Wining and dining with known CIA agents the likes of Eric Little is an unpatriotic assault on the country and Zimbabwe unfortunately is being bruised from all angles by these unpatriotic renegades and as expected the MDC-T. For one to have a patriotic commitment to Zimbabwe they have to uphold the principles of protecting and preserving the country’s virtues whatever it takes and not to undermine it to further own ambitions towards the upper echelons and corridors of State House. The sad thing is that those who are abusing the sanctity of Zimbabwe’s liberation are supposed to be the very same custodians of national sovereignty by virtue of having participated in the struggle to liberate Zimbabwe.

The lack of patriotism in the likes of Mliswa and uncles has yielded a self-obsessed and mercenary attitude as we have seen and that has a profound effect on the country as a whole. Patriotism is not a part-time promise to uphold national principles but the dedication of a lifetime to national trajectory. It is that sense of shared sense of identity for the preservation of national pride and identity. Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle provided that platform and it is up to the people of Zimbabwe to proudly uphold. Quislings like Mliswa do not inspire and will never build nations. It is compound and united structures like the ruling party that build nations. The nation is the complex entity with its people being the component parts defining it. Tampering with the core of this unique entity has a disastrous cumulative effect on all the micro component parts. Those errant comrades who have been shown the door out of ZANU-PF were tinkering with the nucleus that anchors the nation as a whole.

The gallant sons and daughters of Zimbabwe who fought for the liberation of Zimbabwe were ready to sacrifice all for the greater good of the whole country and not only the individual pieces that make up the whole. The young men and women who liberated the country were patriots who were committed to uplifting all Zimbabweans from the mire and mud created by the racist Rhodesian system. Zimbabwe’s independence did not come free of charge, many a young men and women lost their lives and for the likes of Mliswa to cosy up to known CIA agents insistent on undermining and compromising the ideals of the sacred struggle is morally unrefined. As Tsvangirai has said to Didymus Mutasa “If you are proposing love to a girl you do not do that in the media or in public. Mutasa has not approached me and if he really wanted to engage me at that level he would have come to me through the right channels,” What more can I say, birds of the same further flock together.

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