This is infuriating! When have the people of
Zimbabwe ever had a voice in even life and death matters? The country has just gone through an elections results were not “traceable, verifiable and the whole process was not transparent” and a senior government official is wittering of people “judging” as if he does not know that Zanu PF does as it pleases, period.
Minister Ncube is doing one other thing the Zanu PF
regime loves to do - blame other people for its own mess. In the 1990s Zimbabwe had two back to back five-year IMF and WB sponsored Economic Structural Adjustment Programs (ESAP). Both programs failed to deliver an meaningful economic recovery because Zanu PF cherry picking, the regime implemented some reforms but left out all the important ones. President Mugabe went to town blaming the programs for the nation’s economic problems and blamed the IMF and WB for forcing the country to adopt them in the first place.
To hear Mugabe blubbering on and on about ESAP
one would be forgiven to think IMF and WB had
force
Zimbabwe to accept the programs at gun-point. It
was an excuse for not servicing the country’s
mountain of debt. The IMF hit back by turning off all
financial assistance to Zimbabwe.
It is doubtful if the IMF would have ever agreed to
this TSP’s 2% tax on all electronic transactions
clearly aimed at hitting the 75% of Zimbabweans
living on US$1.00 or less a day! No doubt the regime
will use the revenue to buy new cars for chefs,
charter planes for Grace Mugabe, etc. The tax
epitomises what is wrong with Zanu PF’s warped
economic reforms and policies; they all hit the poor
hard to subsidize the extravagant lifestyles of the
filthy rich ruling elite.
Even if the American government was to lift the
sanctions this will not guarantee the IMF and WB
would want to bankroll this regime's voodoo
economic policies and programs. There is the issue
of clearing the US$2 billion debt charges which
Minister
Ncube says he will pad in the next 12 months. All
from the same 2% tax on the poor because the
regime is not going to attract any local and foreign
investors. By rigging the elections the regime shot
itself in the foot, it scarred away would-be investors.
No one wants to invest in a pariah state ruled by
corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs.
People were very pleased with the appointment of
Professor Mthuli Ncube as Minister of Finance, given
his impressive qualification and wide-ranging
experience. Sadly, it is now clear he has no common
sense. None! He has already made two very
important policy blunders he said Zimbabwe was
phasing out Bond Notes and then that he would
allow
the Bond Notes to float. He made U-turns on both
but when the damaged was already done!
But his worst blunder is dragging the nation through
years of economic hardship in pursuit of this TSP
when it is clear there will be a lot of pain but no gain
because there will never be any meaningful
economic
recovery whilst Zimbabwe remains a pariah state!
Minister Ncube; what Zimbabwe needs to revive its
comatose economy is cash injection from the foreign
and local investors not the last cents wrung out of
the poorest of the poor, the regime has taxed to
death already!
Zanu PF has dragged this nation into this hell-on-
earth and yet remains in power regardless. It is bad
enough that you are dragging us through this hell for
nothing; please do not insult our intelligence by
pretending you do not know that Zanu PF rigs
elections and therefore is democratically
untouchable! “Judge me in six months!” Yeah right,
as if anyone has ever done that!
By Jeff Kurai Chakanyuka
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