In the mid-1990s I had the opportunity to meet a leading Trade
Union leader (it will not be necessary to name him). Gone were the ease years
of the 1980s when the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe announced hefty pay
increases for the all the workers across the board and have price controls on
many goods and services. All that ended when the Zanu PF government accepted
its first World Bank/ International Monetary Fund (WB/IMF) sponsored five-year
Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP); price controls ended and
workers were instructed to negotiate with the employers wage increases.
I spend an evening
trying to explain to the Trade Union Leader why it was important to take into
consideration the rate of inflation, amongst other factors, in deciding what
wage increase to ask for. He did not
understand what I was talking about. It does not matter how much one may try to
gloss over this, knowledge is important; those whose actions are guided by
knowledge have prospered whilst those who have blundered from pillar to post
have suffered.
Two related stories
occurred to illustrate the critical importance of knowledge. The first story
was about lecturers in Zimbabwe’s State Universities going on strike to demand
payment of their January salary and 2014 bonus. Whilst all the other civil
servant had finally been paid their January wages and the bonus they had been
singled out with no explanation from the employer, government.
The second story was
on how the national army had reportedly muscled in on a $4.8 billion platinum
mining project.
“The ministry also
wants the benefits of the deal to accrue to Zimbabweans and treasury, rather
than the army. We don’t want a repeat of the Chiadzwa scenario where the
country is not truly benefiting from its diamonds. The army partnered the
Chinese in mining diamonds, but the country has nothing to show for the
resource,” a source in the Ministry of Mines told the Mail and Guardian
newspaper.
It is a matter of
record that former finance minister Tendai Biti and the current incumbent,
Patrick Chinamasa, have complained about the diamond revenue not being properly
accounted for. The late Zanu PF
MP Chindori Chininga went even further and said in a parliamentary report in
2013 that the diamond mining in Chiadzwa and Marange was going on 24/7, the
gems were shipped out of the country as quickly as they are extracted and that
no one in the Zimbabwe government knew anything about diamonds; their size,
quality, value, who was buying and selling them, etc.
In a rare moment of concern
for the nation interest, the then Vice President Joice Mujuru complained of how
in India a who city had sprung up to cut, make jewellery, diamond tools, etc.
from diamonds imported from Zimbabwe.
Some people have
valued Chiadzwa and Marange diamonds at a staggering $800 billion. Partnership Africa Canada, a Canadian NGO,
estimated that Mugabe earned a staggering $2 billion from his share of the
diamond looting in 2012 alone! The looting and plunder going on there is
absolutely shocking.
According to the Mail
and Guardian report Mugabe was set to approve the Army muscling in on the
platinum mining deal. The upshot of that Russian and Zimbabwe National Army
consortium would not pay any taxes for the first five years of the project. Not
content with the looting and plunder of the diamonds the country’s ruling elite
want to loot and plunder the platinum mines too.
International
organisation have flatly refused to classify Zimbabwe as a poor country and
write off it’s $10 billion debt because Zimbabwe is NOT a poor country. If the
country’s wealth and riches were managed properly there is no reason why
Zimbabwe should not be one of the richest and most prosperous nations on earth.
One expected the Trade
Union Leader to know what inflation is all about. I expected the State
University to know what inflation is about and more significantly to know of
Zimbabwe’s true economic potential and the criminal waste of resources such as
diamonds through corruption and looting.
A delegation of the
striking State University lecturers was scheduled to meet a high powered
government team headed by Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa and the deputy
Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Dr Godfrey Gandawa, to ensure their
salaries are paid on time in future. Whilst I would have not expected my Trade
Union friend to raise the matter of the criminal waste of the national mineral
wealth through corruption and looting, I would expect the lecturers to raise it
as a matter of cause because it is the root cause of government’s financial
problems.
The Lecturer and
government official meeting was chalked to take place on Monday 18th February
2015 I had not seen report on what was discussed; still I am cock sure the
lecturers did not raise the issue of corruption and looting. This begs the
questions; if University Lecturers do not know that corruption and looting are
the root causes behind Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown what hope is there that my
aunt in the rural back waters will know that?
If University Lecturers know that corruption
and looting are indeed the root causes behind Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown, in
which they too have been not been spared of the economic hardships, but are too
cowardly to raise these critical issues with government officials; who do they
expect to do so?
4 comments:
"The ministry also wants the benefits of the deal to accrue to Zimbabweans and treasury, rather than the army. We don't want a repeat of the Chiadzwa scenario where the country is not truly benefiting from its diamonds. The army partnered the Chinese in mining diamonds, but the country has nothing to show for the resource," a source in the Ministry of Mines told the Mail and Guardian newspaper.
The wholesale looting has continued to this day! We have learned nothing and until we do we must continue to suffer and die! Simple as that!
Coltart raises red flag over education crisis
The 2008 to 2013 GNU failed to get even one democratic reform implemented because MDC leaders were too busy enjoying the trappings of power. MDC A leaders like Coltart and Tendai Biti are already stepping up the criticism of the present occupants in their old GNU jobs in preparation for the formation of the transition authority the MDC A called for in its party congress in Gweru.
Zimbabwe is in this political mess because MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform designed to stop Zanu Pf rigging elections. If the transition authority was formed one can already see the MDC failing to get the important task of implementing the reform done
MDC A are itching for their gravy train jobs back. What we need is an authority that will implement the reforms and end this curse of rigged elections once and once for all. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs the country's economy will never recover and basic services like education and health will too never recover.
@ Don Chigumba
“A struggle for democracy is not a romantic affair but a game of rugby without a referee. The players may be injured or die within the struggle anytime. I therefore want to take this opportunity to urge the civil society and opposition leaders that their victory is judged by such injuries and even their deaths. In most cases, several deaths and injuries are expected when the struggle is about to reach a boiling point. Power/democracy is not given in a gold plate but is a product of human blood. President ED Mnangagwa escaped death by one centimeter during the liberation struggle. If he was not under age then, he should have been hanged to death (and these sufferings he is exposed the citizens to could not have been there if the death the sentence was upheld).”
This is the foolishness that has kept the nation locked up in this vicious cycle in which yesteryear’s liberation heroes have become today’s oppressors and so the nation has suffered until there are new liberators but only for the cycle to start all over again.
We want liberators who understand that they are not fighting for only their freedom and human rights but for the freedom and human rights of all Zimbabweans. Those in positions of power and authority today who are abusing their position must know that they will be help to democratic account for their actions, gone are the days when they can expect to get away with such lawlessness and treachery.
“Political is a dirty game!” we have often heard. Well not anymore, we are here to clean it up, we are not going to let mafia thugs run and ruin all our lives and that of future generations!
"Emmerson Mnangagwa has failed. About 79% of the population is living below the poverty datum line," said Tendai Biti.
"There is no electricity, water, there are no drugs in hospitals and you cannot get money from the bank."
There is no doubt that Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta have failed. What the nation wants to know is what is the plan out of this hell.
The MDC A call for dialogue is leading to the formation of the Transition Authority (TA) will guarantee Chamisa and a few other MDC A leaders ministerial positions in the Zanu PF government. There will be nothing to be gained from this for the ordinary Zimbabwean.
The investors and lenders will not flood back into Zimbabwe just because Chamisa and Biti are now cabinet members. They need to see Zimbabwe shed-off its pariah state status and as long as Zanu PF remains in power the country will remain a pariah state.
Chamisa has called on the TA to implement the democratic reforms. Only a fool would believe this will happen give the TA is a watered-down version of the 2008 GNU which failed to implement even one reform.
Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections, everyone with a clue what constitute free, fair and credible elections agrees. The consequence of rigging the election is as clear as day, those responsible for this treasonous act must be punished and certainly not rewarded as is being proposed here. Allowing Zanu PF to remain in power when the party is guilty to rigging the elections is an act of great foolishness.
The only way forward for the nation is for Zanu PF to step down to allow the appointment of an interim administration tasked to implement the democratic reforms. Both Zanu PF and MDC leaders cannot be in the interim administration because they failed to implement any reforms in the past GNU.
The proposed political dialogue and TA are a waste of time and resources both of which the nation can ill afford to waste!
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