Monday 3 August 2015

First Mugabe jettisoned the masses now it is the workers and then it will be the chefs!


National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has already laid-off 500 workers in response to the government directive to the parastatal to implement savage job cuts. 

 

“Firstly, I would like to refute speculations that we are going to retrench 1 500 workers. We are still going through our systems . . . ensuring that we remain with a number equitable to our business operations. We have almost 500 (retrenched) so far and by Monday we should be able to give you the specifics,” said the chairman, Engineer Alvord Mabena.

 

NRZ, like all the other parastatals and the public sector itself, has suffered three and half decades of misrule as shown by the decline of its business activities. In 1998, for example, NRZ transported 18 million tonnes of good and this fell to a misery 2 million tonnes by 2010. No corrective measures were taken to address the mismanagement, corruption, bloated labour force, etc. to arrest the poor economic performance. It is only now, when the horse bolted years ago, that the regime is finally doing something to reduce NRZ’s bloated labour force, at least.

 

“We are only implementing a Government directive and it’s not only NRZ, which is doing the exercise but all the parastatals under the ministry’s portfolio such as Air Zimbabwe, CMED and Zinara,” announce Engineer Mabena.

 

Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa told parliament last week that government will be retrenching many civil servants to reduce the wage bill from the unsustainable 83% of the collected revenue to a manageable to 40%.

 

To achieve its set target reductions, there will have to be savage cuts by government, NRZ and all the other parastatals. Government will have to cut the size of the civil service by half and it is believed that NRZ will have 2 000 workers down from 8 000 workers in its 1980s hey-days. The last time the nation was subjected to similar reforms whose end result was to throw millions into far reaching economic hardships was 1990.

 

 

In 1990 and 1995 Zanu PF accepted the IMF and WB sponsored first and second five-year Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP). The nation was told the nation was to accept some “belt tightening” economic reforms to revive the country’s flagging economy after a decade of Zanu PF socialism. The programmes failed to revive the economy because the economic reforms affecting the ordinary people like scrapping price controls and food subsidies were implemented but not the reforms designed reduce the ballooning ruling elite and their extravagant lifestyle. History is repeating itself!

 

The current economic reforms are savage because the economy is today in a lot worse state than it was back in 1990 because the two ESAP did not work nor did any other plans after that. The current reforms are like the ESAP of the 1990s also doomed to fail because the reforms affecting the lowly paid workers are being implemented but, again, no reforms affecting the highly paid chefs are being implemented. 

 

Most of the workers who are going to lose their jobs will be the poorly unskilled or semi-skilled workers; in NRZ, ZISCO and other institutions these workers have not been paid for a year or more anyway. It is the top managers and their board members who have been soaking up the little revenue these institutions are making; it is them who are responsible for the mismanagement and corruption; and therefore it is them who should be axed and not lowly paid workers!

 

There is never a good time for anyone to be losing their job but to do so when unemployment is already sky-high and therefore there is no chance of landing another job would be the hell-on-earth moment every one dreads. What makes the suffering of all these workers even more tragic is that their sacrifice will be all for nothing because there will be no meaningful economic recovery unless all the other underlying economic problems of mismanagement, corruption and lawlessness are dealt with too. As pointed out above, there is no political will on the part of Mugabe and Zanu PF to implement the political reforms affecting the ruling elite.

 

Life in Zimbabwe is governed by the same laws of thermodynamics and economics as is life in Britain or anywhere else on earth. Zimbabwe is in this economic mess because since independence in 1980 the nation has behave as if we were not subject to the same economic rules as other nations, as if we could buck the system by achieving economic prosperity regardless the mismanagement, etc.

 
By the 1990s, when it was clear the country’s socialist policies had failed and the economy was flagging, Zanu PF jettisoned the masses but would not implement the reforms to end the ruling elite’s wasteful lifestyle. Today with the national economy in even deeper trouble, the regime is jettisoning the few lowly paid workers who were lucky to still have a job but will, once again, do nothing to end the opulent lifestyles of the shrinking number of ruling elite. Needless to say the economic meltdown will only get worse and next time the regime will have no one but the ruling elite to jettison.  

16 comments:

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ Mukaranga webelingwe

I am a member of the Zimbabwe Social Democrats (ZSD) and let me tell you this; the ZSD is not about quantity but quality so we are not interested in your grand coalition of confused and clueless idiots. You go ahead and form the grand coalition and stop wasting time talking about it.

ZSD party is totally committed to getting ALL, and not just a select few like MDC-T, the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA implemented.

There is absolutely nothing Mugabe and Zanu PF would NOT do, as we have seen with the tyrant bribing Tsvangirai and the other MDC leaders during the GNU, to ensure that none of the democratic reforms are implemented. Therefore to accuse those like me and the ZSD who are campaigning for the implementation of ALL the reforms of being Zanu PF supporters and/or CIO is as stupid and contradictory as those idiots who accused Jesus of being the devil because He had cast the evil spirits.

The accusing finger is pointing at you; either you a just one of the stupid MDC supporters who, like many others out there, has would not accept the mountain of evidence proving that MDC leaders are corrupt and incompetent and that is why they failed to get even one reform implemented. Or you are a CIO plant there to prop up corrupt and incompetent opposition leaders and party because as long as the country has them leading the opposition Zanu PF’s continued struggle hold on power is assured.

As a CIO plant you would want to discredit ZSD’s relentless demand for ALL reforms to be imple-mented and stop the demand getting more traction; what better way of achieving that than by labelling ZSD a CIO project. But, as I have pointed out already, getting ALL the reforms will destroy Zanu PF completely even the most naïve person would know Zanu PF will never fund someone hell bend on destroying them.

Your CIO plan B is argue ZSD to join the grand coalition of the other Zimbabwe opposition parties, heavily infiltrated with CIO already and thus rendered totally ineffective. ZSD is not about quantity but quality and since the party is focused on getting the reforms implemented we do not need to increase our party membership let alone waste time joining a grand coalition of confused and clue-less parties.


“Wise up to the fact that Zimbos will never blame the opposition because they know that Mugabe never gave them any chance as the 'Head of Government and Commander of the armed forces' and as you can see the Prosecutor General (PG) was today saying Mugabe is above the law!” Only a naïve MDC supporter or CIO plant would say such nonsense.

If MDC leaders knew they were helpless to change anything then why did Tsvangirai and the rest of the MDC leaders agree to the GPA and join the GNU for all the five years wasting the nation’s time and resources? They went on to participate in the 2013 elections against the better advice of SADC and others not to.

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ Mukaranga webelingwe cont.



MDC failed to get even one reform implemented because President Mugabe bribed them to kick all reforms into the tall grass and they did just that. MDC sold-out that is a historic fact no MDC sup-porter or CIO can change that.

What has the PG saying that President Mugabe is above the law to do with MDC’s failure to implement even one reform during the GNU? If you are a CIO plant then you are have done your home-work, I will give you that, because you are showing all the signs of a confused MDC supporters.

MDC supporters have completely failed to get their heads round the reality that President Mugabe did not do anything throughout the GNU that SADC or anyone can construe as violating the terms of the 2008 GPA. But MDC supporters have waved the “Mugabe is above the law” mantra in their narrative because they need an excuse why MDC failed to get even one reform implemented.

Many Zimbabweans are waking up to the political reality that MDC leaders are corrupt and incompetent and hence the reason why all MDC factions are losing supporters with each passing day. So more and more Zimbabweans are getting the message, that if they want meaningful democratic change then they must elected competent leaders who will implement all the reforms.

The worsening economic situation is putting Mugabe and Zanu PF under ever increasing pressure to accept meaningful political reforms.

ZSD members have set for ourselves the task of ensuring all the democratic reforms are implemented a.s.a.p. and the political situation on the ground shows everything is dove-tailing towards that end. So be you a naïve MDC supporter or a CIO plant your effort to distract ZSD from this set task is clearly failing.

Zimbabwe Light said...

Public Service Minister Prisca Mupfumira says government will not wantonly retrench civil serv-ants but will reduce its wage bill through other means.

Of course government can reduce the wage bill form the current 83% of collected revenue to 40% without retrenching even one person by cutting the wages of the workers especially the overpaid chefs.

I have said it once but will say it again the economic meltdown is real and it has its python coils round Mugabe and it is going to squeeze him until he accept that he has failed and the implementation of all democratic reforms. Mugabe was able to cheat, bribe, intimidate and even kill off all his political opponents all these last 35 years to stay in power. He will not be able to do the same with the economic meltdown that is squeezing him now.

“It is the economy stupid!” as former US President Bill Clinton would have said, that is going to force Mugabe and Zanu PF to accept regime change!

Zimbabwe Light said...

@Hovo

I agree that Mugabe is megalomania, a tyrant and a murderer. He showed in the 2008 elections that he would beat, rape and even shed blood innocent blood rather than give up power. But when not even his fellow Africans in SADC and the AU would not accept his 2008 run-off as legitimate he was put in a fix.

Mugabe had no choice but to accept the GPA which called for the implementation of a raft of democratic reforms as a condition for him being accepted as legitimate head of state again.

The fact that not even one reform was implemented at the end of the five years of the GNU had nothing to do with the fact that Mugabe is a megalomania who would rape and kill to stay in pow-er. He did not rape or murder any one or threaten to rape or murder any one; what he did was to bribe Tsvangirai and his MDC friends with all the trappings of high office and a $4 million Highlands mansion for Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai et al accepted the bribes and kicked all reforms into the tall grass.

SADC Heads of State tried their best to get Tsvangirai to implement the reforms but to no avail. SADC Heads of State, literally begged MDC not to take part in the July 2013 elections with no reforms implemented but again MDC ignore the warning.

MDC leaders failed to get even one reform implemented in the five years of the GNU because they are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent. They sold-out! You can deny this all you want but that will not change the historic fact that MDC sold-out!

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ methuli Ndlovu

My analysis is neither off the mark nor is it scandalous. It seems you do not know what a scandal is!

We are talking here of shameless scandals in the name of Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube and all the other MDC leaders who were elected by the people on the ticket to bring democratic change. They had a golden opportunity to do just that by implementing democratic reforms that would have end the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. Sadly the scandals did not get even one reform implemented in the five years of the GNU because Mugabe had bribed them to kick the reforms into the tall grass.

As if betraying the people during the GNU was not scandalous enough the village idiots are now trying to win the people’s confidence so they can be elected back on the gravy train!

I am here to expose to explain to all those who did not understand what happened during the GNU who sold them and the whole nation to the tyrant and to make sure the people do not make the same mistake and trust these scandals ever again. If you think exposing scandal is scandalous then it is either you do not understand that the individuals we are talking about are scandals or else you are just one of the scandals.

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ Patrick

The tragic reality with many of our people is they are too lazy to read, listen, think and under-stand the subject and yet jump head long into expressing an opinion on a subject they know little or nothing at all about. Where our friend got this nonsense that "Ncube wanted to push for reforms", for example, is anyone's guess because not even Ncube himself would ever make such an outrageous claim!

Zimbabwe Light said...

He is as much a victim of the betrayal as you and me and the millions of fellow Zimbabweans out there and yet he is jumping up and down like a grasshopper defending the very people who land us all into this mess.

Ignorance is the worst curse ever, what could be worse than foolishly defending those attacking you and attacking those defending you! What could be worse than not knowing what is in your own interest and then acting accordingly!

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ Mukaranga

I am blind to the truth and you think you can see the truth tell me "the new Zimbabwe constitution is the mother of all reforms" is the truth? The nation was told the new constitution would deliver free and fair elections and many believed that lie. At least many now know that was a lie because it did not deliver free elections. It is truly tragic that you are one of those who have failed to benefit from hindsight.

If you brain is so dead it cannot comprehend hindsight, there is nothing I or anyone can do for you.

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ Patrick

Patrick, there will be a full investigation into the corruption and brutal repression that has torn our great country apart because the only sure way to ensure this never happen ever again is by establishing a precedence that all those who abuse their positions of trust and authority will be held to account regardless how long it takes. The wheels of justice have taken 35 years to catch up with the likes of Chihuri but it is important that we establish that the wheels had not stopped turning.

Zimbabwe Light said...

The people of Zimbabwe too long under this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. It is the Zanu PF tyrants who have soured the nation's relationship with the rest of the world just as they have soured the relationship between them and the rest of Zimbabweans. It is hard to smile at the man or woman whom you know has denied you your hope and dreams and even the right to life!

Thank Ambassador Bruce Wharton, you chose to tell the tyrannical regime that what it was doing was wrong and earn its hostility, that takes courage.

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ yoyo

MDC had five years, FIVE YEARS, to implement the democratic reforms everyone who was pay-ing attention in the drafting of the 2008 GPA said were necessary to ensure Zimbabwe's next elections were free, fair and credible. MDC failed to get even one reform implemented. Not one.

My analysis "are so unthought and to be frank many, if not all people do not even read a para-graph," you said. No my analysis is spot on my friend; I have picked the historic facts and let them speak for themselves.

I can believe that there are people like you who have never read a paragraph of my article or anything else worth reading. You are dismissing historic facts which you neither know nor understand because you know so little if anything at all.

These MDC leaders sold-out and you call me the crook for pointing out the real crooks to you; how stupid is that!

Being stupid is the worst curse ever; what could be worse than, out of sheer stupidity, attacking those fighting for one's interest and defending those robbing one blind! Well just as well Yoyo that you do NOT know you are cursed; in your case ignorance is bliss!

Zimbabwe Light said...

MUGABE IS HIMSELF CORRUPT.

IF HE WAS EVER SERIOUS ABOUT ENDING CORRUPTION THEN HE WOULD HAVE STARTED BY ARRESTING HIMSELF. IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW HUNGRY THE COBRA MIGHT BE, IT DOES NOT AND WILL NEVER EAT ITSELF!

Zimbabwe Light said...

MDC-T has made many threats in the past only to end the threat although none of their de-mands had been met. They threatened not to take part in any elections until electoral reforms are implemented. They have since change their position; they want to take part in the elections regardless.

Instead of coming out and openly admit they made a mistake by demanding reforms must be implemented as a condition for their taking part in elections. They decided they will pretend to have a secret plan which they will carry out and force Zanu PF to implement the reforms. MDC does not have any such plan they hope everyone will soon forget they ever said they had such a plan!

These MDC scandals are a serious political distraction to the nation, I tell you! Close the front door and they will try come in using the back door, close that they will try the window, chimney, etc. We should be concentrating on getting Zanu PF to accept they failed and making sure all the reforms are implemented but are now wasting time, money and energy keeping these MDC idiots out! What a pain in the neck!

Zimbabwe Light said...

"Our hope and eyes are on Professor Welshman Ncube to deliver and administer a better Zimbabwe," you say.

You are jumping the gun; you, Professor Ncube or someone must first explain why Professor Ncube failed to get even one reform implemented during the GNU. Why has no one done so?

No one has done so because you lot all know that Professor Ncube, like all the other village idiots in MDC accepted Mugabe's bribe of the gravy train lifestyle in return for kicking the reforms into the tall grass. MDC leaders included Professor Ncube sold-out; that is a historic fact.

You must be out of your fcuken mind if you serious think Zimbabweans will ever trust a sell-out to rule this great nation! Ncube, Tsvanmgirai, Biti and all the other MDC sell-outs should have resigned after the rigged 2013 elections from all public life for life. They are now being a nuisance as they try to sneak back into public office; let me tell you now, they will never succeed!

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ Jera

When Mugabe rigged the July 2013 elections, a monumental task given that this time he had to do it without ever having to resort to his usual tried, tested and trusted wanton violence. Still he succeeded. He thought rigging the economic recovery was going to be a walk in the park; create 2.2 million jobs "consider it done!" Mugabe must have said.

Well rigging the economic recovery has proven to be the greatest challenge of his whole 35 years in office.

Mugabe has used all manner of dirty tricks, cheat, threats, bribe and even murder to deal with his opponents and critics alike. The economy has proven to be a totally different adversary because none of his tried, tested and trusted dirty tricks have worked!

Mugabe failed to get any donor, not even his "all-weather friends" the Chinese and Russians to bankroll his $27 billion ZimAsset plan. He tries turning on his charm offensive; bribing them with opportunities to loot and plunder the country's Marange diamond, they took up that offer but failed to reciprocate with ZimAsset cash; etc. With ZimAsset dead Mugabe was sunk.

In the end, and that end is not far away now, it is the economy stupid that his going to force Mugabe and Zanu PF to accept the dreaded regime change. The present economic meltdown is economically and politically unsustainable and the only hope of ending the economic decline is by carrying out a complete wholesale overhaul of the country's economic policies and legal framework - that can only happen after free, fair and credible elections or regime change!

Zimbabwe Light said...

“They stole the election and six months down the line the economy is on its knees again,” said Tsvangirai.

It is true that Zanu PF “stole” the July 2013 elections but before we leave that point; Tsvangirai must explain why Zanu PF it was child’s playing stealing the July 2013 elections. Tsvangirai promised repeatedly that the new constitution would deliver free and fair elections. He was warned by SADC not to take part in the July 2013 elections with no reforms implemented but he ignored the warning. So one must ask Tsvangirai again; why was Zanu PF able to rig the July 2013 elections?

Zanu PF was able to rig the July 2013 elections because MDC had failed to get even one democratic reform implemented in five years. Mugabe bribed MDC leaders, the $4 million Highlands mansion for Tsvangirai was part of the bribe, in return for they were to kick all reforms into the tall grass. MDC leaders sold-out that is a historic fact.

So Tsvangirai thinks that the people of Zimbabwe will be so naïve and foolish to elect a sell-out like him back into power ever again! Well he is the one who is being naïve! You sold-out during the GNU, you are finished!