Anyone who thinks Zimbabwe can be saved from collapse by pouring foreign aid now then he or she does not understand the true Mugabe mentality.
For years Mugabe has claimed Zimbabwe's economic melt down was cause by the West's targeted sanctions. Well the events since MDC joint Zanu PF to form the GNU has settled that matter beyond doubt. MDC removed all the price controls and all the other stupid Zanu PF policies and within weeks the shops that had been empty of food and other goods filled up. MDC kicked RBZ Governor Gideon Gono and closed down his money printing crazy and, overnight, the country’s hyper inflation was a thing of the past.
Everyone would agree there has been a significant economic improvement in Zimbabwe. The targeted sanctions are still firmly in place. Thus proving it was not the sanctions but the bad Mugabe policies that were causing all the problems. QED!
Gono’s money printing scheme gave the Mugabe regime unfettered access to all foreign currency into the country from which the regime too a lion’s share. That has hit the dictatorship very hard; for the first time many in the ruling elite are for the first time experiencing the same economic hardships that the rest faced everyday for the last decade. The regime has other wealth generating schemes like its very lucrative dealing in illicit Marange diamonds but is benefiting only the top dogs in the dictatorship’s packing order.
The Mugabe dictatorship was hoping Tsvangirai would bring a begging bowl full of cash, they knew they would cream off a lot from that; and also get the targeted sanctions lifted, so they could access their other looted wealth. If the financial aid helped in Zimbabwe’s economic recovery then well and good but that will only be incidental, as far as Mugabe and his cronies are concerned. If they had cared about the national economy, then why did they drag it into this hell, in the first place?
The GNU is not working because Mugabe is determined to hold on to his dictatorial powers at all costs including that the desperately needed economic recovery fail to materialise. Even if the West was to put aside its demands for meaningful political reforms and pour in the financial aid there is no guarantee the economic recovery will take place. As long as Mugabe has his dictatorial powers he will cream off a lot of the aid to pay his ruling elite.
For three decades Zimbabweans have tried appeasing Mugabe by letting him do as he pleased and look where it has landed the country. Those who want the West to pour financial aid even when it is self evident Mugabe is still behaving in his dictatorial ways only want the West to appease Mugabe. These people are only encouraging Mugabe to hold on hoping the appeasement brigade will win the day.
The West, right across the board, has given a clear message to Mugabe; there will be no financial assistance without meaningful political change. In the circumstance, that means regime change. And so be it, then Mugabe must go. It is entirely up to Mugabe whom he is going to listen to; the appeasement brigade or those with the hard cash!
There two reasons why the Doctors, Teachers and the other Zimbabwean worker should go on strike and force this GNU to collapse, if need be. First, the GNU has not taken the issue of economic recovery seriously; they should have pushed Mugabe to give up his dictatorial powers by now if the had. Two, the politicians across the divide have their head down in the feeding trough already, giving Ministers Mercedes Benz and buying luxury cars for the rest. This GNU is too bloated as it is without all this reckless spending on top of it.
If the GNU had a clear economic plan to get Zimbabwe out of this hell-hole, then one can argue the ordinary Zimbabweans to be patient. Without the West’s financial assistance and the politicians spending recklessly there is no chance of an economic recovery. What would the Zimbabwe public be waiting for; for things to get a lot worse again?
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