"Companies to operate full throttle by March," promise Chinamasa - nonsense, there will still be ZESA power cuts.

“Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa has predicted total economic revival in the country by March 2018,” reported Zimeye.

“Speaking in Parliament today, Chinamasa said the Government had put in place measures to enable private and government controlled companies to operate at full throttle by March 2018.”

There are many, many common-sense things that Minister Chinamasa has promised to do in the 2018 National Budget such as the abolish 3 479 youths officers posts, forcing financial discipline within government, reduce corruption, government will make a concerted effort to repay its debt obligation, etc. Many people have said President Mnangagwa is more pragmatic than Robert Mugabe, I believe them, and, more significantly, I believe this administration will implement a raft of common sense policies that will go a long way to renew confidence and stimulate some economic recovery.

As for having the economy running again at “full throttle by March 2018”, the Minister is lying for three basic reasons:

a)     The Zanu PF dictatorship is too deeply entrenched it is impossible for anyone within the party to deal decisively with core problems of mismanagement and corrupt, the root causes of the country’s economic meltdown, without risking stepping on too many toes of very powerful and influential party members.

The coup plotters promised to target “criminal elements around Mugabe” meaning G40 supporters, for example. And yet for one to stamp-out the scourge of corruption one would have to target criminal elements in the Mnangagwa camp too. Many, if not all, of the coup plotters themselves, for example, are the beneficiaries of the wholesale looting in Marange and Chiadzwa.

b)    For companies to operate at full capacity they will need reliable power supply, efficient railway and road network and other basic infrastructure. After decades of under investment and neglect, it will take years, not three months, to get the nation’s infrastructure back into shape.

It is fair to say many of the common-sense policies this regime has announced will have a positive impact on the economy, enough to be noticeable in a year or more – not in three months. If Mugabe had handed over power to Mnangagwa a year or two ago then the later would have something to sell to the voters; as it is he will be standing on Mugabe’s track record of corruption, vote rigging and tyranny.

Mnangagwa has been Mugabe’s right hand man and chief enforcer and so he can never say he was not responsible for what happened these last 37 years. By raising the people’s expectation by such outrageous claims as the Minister has just made, the administration will a mountain to climb to prove it is any better than Mugabe.

c)    “His Excellency, the President, made it clear that Government ‘s economic policy will be predicated on creating conditions for an increased production led economic recovery, targeting attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), as a way for tackling the prevailing high levels of unemployment,” said Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, in his budget statement.

Removing one dictator, Mugabe, and replacing him with another dictator, Mnangagwa, may have fooled many Zimbabweans into believing the dictatorship is dead and the nightmare of corruption, vote rigging and tyrannical rule are over. The world, especially the those holding the FDI purse, know that swapping one dictator for another has changed nothing; the dictatorship is still very much alive and thriving. They would want to see meaningful political reform which means implementing the democratic reforms and the holding of free, fair and credible elections.  

So, when Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, called the budget, the first of President Mnangagwa led Zanu PF administration, “Towards a New Economic Order”. It is wishful thinking, to say the least. But it is to be expected, no matter how bad things got Mugabe has always claimed to have the best solution ever. For the 2013 elections the tyrant was cocksure the regime would get US$ 27 billion to bankroll his ZimAsset economic recovery programme (Chinamasa referred to it so the nation can expect it back in the Zanu PF 2018 election manifesto) to create 2.2 million new jobs in five years. The only 2 cushy jobs he created were for his daughter and her husband! The Zimbabwe economic will not be operating at “full throttle by March 2018”; that is just Chinamasa nonsense.
The truth is there will be no new economic order, the country will remain stuck in the economic mess we are in today, until we implement the democratic reforms designed to end the strangle hold Zanu PF thugs, responsible for the mismanagement and corruption, have over those in government. If President Mnangagwa was to do something to end the corrupting in Marange, for example; he too would be forced to resign at gun point!
There will never be any sustainable economic recovery until we have meaningful democratic reform. To put economic recovery before democratic reforms is to put the cart before the horse!
President Mnangagwa is putting the cart before the horse because does not dare hold free and fair elections. Many of the Zanu PF thugs who rescued he from a life in exile to become President are occupying senior position in his administration, the idea of them losing an election and their cushy position is unthinkable.
"I am Zimbabwean, I have got every right to participate in the country's politics," said Perrance Shiri. He, just like many other Zanu PF thugs, has played his part in the politically motivated vote rigging and violence these last 37 years, which have become the hallmark of this Zanu PF dictatorship. He has just given up his cushy Air Marshall post to be one of the ministers.
Yet another rigged election next year will mean no economic recovery. The country’s economic situation with its 90% unemployment rate, etc. is socially, morally and politically unsustainable.
Last month’s coup has been a warning shot for all of us, of the dangerous lengths these Zanu PF thugs would go to retain absolute political power. Most of these thugs are filthy rich already as can be seen from the mansions they live in. The stark contrast between the filthy rich ruling elite and the abject poverty of the majority is so outrageous; it is inhuman to allow this situation to continue.
The country’s opposition party, MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai, had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms designed to end Zanu PF’s strangle hold on power during the GNU. They failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. SADC leaders tried to remind MDC leaders to implement the reforms but their advice fell on deaf ears.
SADC leaders have another chance to end Zimbabwe’s economic and political mess by rejecting to recognise the result of the flawed and illegitimate electoral process already underway in Zimbabwe. The regime delayed the voter registration exercise and there be no verified voters’ roll for the elections, for example. With not even one democratic reform in place there is no way the elections can ever be free, fair and credible.

If SADC leaders rubber stamp another Zanu PF rigged election, then they will leave the ordinary people with no option but to stage street protest to force the regime to implement meaningful political change and economic recovery. The economic situation in Zimbabwe cannot continue without triggering serious social unrest, that is obvious.