The real tragedy in Zimbabwe is that we have a regime that knows it will never ever be held to account for anything and so it has said and done as it jolly well pleased. It has made promises only to break them. It has told half-truths, lies and damned lies with no sense of shame or regret what those suffering the consequences of the broken promises and lies.
Government is currently operating on a positive cash basis as revenue enhancement and austerity measures announced in the 2019 National Budget continue to yield dividends, Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube has said.
"Government is cash positive. We managed to pay civil servants salaries for the months of January and February from a cash positive position, with $300 million in the bank," said Minister Ncube.
Since the introduction of he 2% tax on electronic transactions there has been a 16% drop in economic activities and yet you have never talked about it!
“The austerity measures are also in line with the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP), aimed at setting the economy on a recovery path after years of stagnation,” Minister Ncube maintained. He still claims that Zimbabwe will be “an upper middle income nation by 2030!”
The austerity measures are certainly taking a heavy toll on the poorest of the poor. The 2% electronic transaction tax was specifically aimed at the 90% unemployed who were therefore no paying any income tax. Most of these people are vendors living on US$30 or less per month in a country in which the poverty datum line is US$650 per month. So Minister Ncube’s tax means these poor people are now living on considerably less than US$30 per month.
Minister Ncube has done nothing to stop the wholesale looting costing the nation $15 billion in diamond revenue, according to Mugabe’s own admission in 2016. He has introduced his 2% tax targeting the poor but has not taxed the filthy rich who continue to enjoy their extravagant lifestyles living in mansions, with a fleet of posh cars, 45 gold watches, etc.
Indeed Minister Ncube is taxing the poor to subsidise the filthy rich’s extravagant lifestyles. It was none other than Minister Ncube himself who approved the hiring of the 787-8 Dreamliner Jet for a ten day jaunt to Asia and Europe for Mnangagwa and his entourage, including Minister Ncube, at a cost of US$74 000 per hour.
It is already clear that Minister Ncube’s austerity reforms will bring a lot of pain to the poor but with no economic gain in the short, medium or long term. None! This is just austerity for pain for pain’s sake!
If the nation is “cash positive” as you say, then why are we still experiencing the cash shortages at the bank, the foreign currency shortages that are the root cause of the shortages of fuel, wheat, medicine, etc. etc.
The shortage of foreign currency is symptomatic of Zimbabwe’s skewed economy; we have become a nation of consumers of imported goods and services whilst producing very little. When Minister Ncube came into office, he promised to attract investors into the country whom would give the country’s comatose economic the cash injection it needs to revive its productive sectors. There has been no significant inward investment for the last year and there is nothing to suggest there will be any in the future.
There are one overarching reason why Minister Ncube has failed to attract any investors and financial assistance from such institutions as IMF, WB and Paris Club. Zimbabwe is still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs same as it was during Mugabe’s days. All the talk of “new dispensation”, “Zimbabwe is open for business!” is empty rhetoric.
If anyone had any lingering doubts about Zimbabwe’s still a pariah state, the doubts evaporated last July when Mnangagwa and his “new dispensation” blatantly rigged the elections. He had promised to hold free, fair and credible elections but stubbornly refused to implement even one token democratic reform.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there will be no meaningful economic recovery. Period! Zimbabwe’s economy has been in decline for the last 38 years and that tread in set to continue.
"We are going to go to what we call a global money deal roadshow in June this year, I as Finance minister and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor (John Mangudya), permanent secretary of finance George Guvamatanga and other captains of industry,”Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube has just announced.
"We will visit global capital and go for a roadshow. We will start with Frankfurt and go to Japan, London and New York and maybe the West Coast also, so that we explain the reform agenda the progress we are making. (We will) also explain the economic policies and the opportunities that are available in this country. We are not trying to raise the money or do a deal.”
Minister, investors already know that Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs propped up by incompetent and egotistic intellectuals whose selfish greed knows no bounds!
Of course, Professor Mthuli Ncube KNOWS that Zanu PF is a party of corrupt and vote rigging thugs who are NOT democratically accountable to the people of Zimbabwe. He also KNOWS that for the last 20 years, at least, Zimbabweans have been fighting for democratic change and free and fair elections as the only way the nation can end the Zanu PF dictatorship and have competent and good government.
He KNOWS too that by agreeing to work for the regime is is propping it up and undermining those fighting for democratic change. Most important of all, he KNOWS that his economic policies will never bring about the economic prosperity he keeps wittering about because the policies do not address the criminal waste of human and material resources due to corruption and mismanagement inherent in a dictatorship.
Professor Mthuli Ncube has his family in Switzerland at the end of his tour of duty as Minister of Finance, he will go back to Switzerland and leave the people of Zimbabwe to wallow in their economic poverty and political paralysis. He will insist he did his best for the nation when the truth is he sold-out and did so KNOWINGLY too.
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Chamisa said he was ready “anytime” for “a credible and genuine” dialogue with Mnangagwa but insisted that it should be done through international mediation, citing South Africa, the inter-governmental Southern African Development Community or the African Union as “ideal” go-betweens.
Finally, he dismissed reports that he had offered Mnangagwa a power-sharing agreement under which they would each lead the country for two years.
Chamisa and his MDC friends are corrupt and incompetent and all they are after is power and do not care about the suffering masses, democratic change, justice, etc. They want to give the impression that they care about these things but only to fool the naïve and gullible public. This is why MDC has been on the political stage now for 19 years but have failed to bring about even one meaningful democratic change.
Chamisa says he wants dialogue with Mnangagwa to discuss reforms and yet MDC had five years during the last GNU to implement reforms and failed to get even one reform implemented. Nonsense, Chamisa does not care about reforms! He is after power!
Mnangagwa rigged the last elections, he is illegitimate and Chamisa will give Mnangagwa some modicum of legitimacy by publicly declaring the flawed and illegal July 2018 elections to have been free, fair and credible and proclaim Mnangagwa the winner as long as he, Chamisa, is given a seat on the gravy train!
Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs, whether the illegitimate Zanu PF regime adds Chamisa into its cabinet will make no difference; the regime will still be illegitimate and Zimbabwe will still be a pariah state. These inter-party talks are just a waste of time.
Zimbabweans out there are facing serious economic hardship many are now dying of poverty induced causes. The country should be spending all its time, sweat and treasure in ending the pariah state and not waste time on gimmicks designed to extend the rule of the dictatorship by giving it a new name.
“We want to close the election mode and go into economic transformation. We will call our membership from across the country and engage in a democratic mass action and shut down Harare,” said Chamisa.
You say you want dialogue to discuss reforms. Yet you are the one who did not want any reforms implemented before the last elections because “MDC had stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging elections.”
All you want is a seat back on the gravy train and the people of Zimbabwe would be fools to support that nonsense.
These inter-party talks will result in a Zanu PF MDC power sharing, at best. Zimbabwe will still be a pariah state as the addition of Chamisa to the illegitimate Zanu PF regime will not change its legal status nor that of the country.
Whilst Zimbabwe remains a pariah state there will be no economic recovery and that is why Zimbabweans must focus on getting Zanu PF to step down so the country has a chance to implement reforms leading to free and fair elections.
Filling stations throughout the country ran out of diesel on Friday and into the weekend with petrol running out in most areas late Sunday evening into Monday morning.
Despite the government’s reassurance the online reaction to this “logistical glitch” was generally of disbelief, with many accusing the government of failing to normalise the fuel supply challenge.
Only someone who is naïve would believe Zimbabwe’s shortages of foreign currency, fuel, medicine, etc. will ever end as long as the country’s imports exceed its exports! As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state it is hard to see how the country will ever achieve any meaningful economic recovery!
Rather than mere membership in an organization that is guilty of crimes against humanity, a refugee claimant must now be found to “voluntarily made a knowing and significant contribution to the crimes.”
The change replaced “complicity by association” with a new test of “complicity by contribution” and the Tapambwas wanted to have their case reconsidered under the new standard.
I think some of our people like Minister Mthuli Ncube, Minister Kirsty Coventry and many others working for this illegitimate Zanu PF regime can never deny that they are voluntarily making a knowing and significant contribution to the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. Of course, Ncube knows that Mnangagwa blatantly rigged last year’s elections; he pretends the elections were free, fair and credible because it suits his selfish need!
You are going on yet another globe trotting mission at huge expense to the taxpayer, for we all know that you do like to travel in style - 787-8 Dreamliner Jets style. You said you would attract investors when you were first appointed now nearly 6 months ago but have failed to attract any investors.
You said the IMF, WB, Paris Club and all the other international finance institutions had praised your Transition Stabilisation Programme and they were going to bankroll the programme. So far not even one of these institutions have given Zimbabwe a single dollar, even after the country had paid a significant amount of its debt.
Professor Mthuli Ncube, you are just one of those individuals with a very loud mouth who believe they are God Almighty's gift to humanity only to turn out to be curse! Your austerity programme is bringing a lot of pain but no gain. Your globe trotting roadshow will bring no investors because no investor will ever want to do business in a pariah state ruled by thugs.
You are refusing to accept that Zanu PF rigged last year's elections and is therefore illegitimate and you are just prop up a pariah state because the regime offered you a post corrupt, incompetent and egotistic sell-outs like you could never ever refuse!
It is Zimbabwe's great misfortune that we not only have corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs like Mnangagwa for leaders but worse still there country should have a whole army of intellectuals selling the masses for thirty pieces of silver!
The Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Kirsty Coventry has is looking for volunteers who can assist her Ministry in organizing a National Youth Indaba to be held in March.
Announcing on Twitter Minister Coventry said,"The Zimbabwe National Youth Indaba will be held on 14 and 15 March at the HICC. We are looking for a group of passionate Youth to help make this happen.”
In a country with unemployment a nauseating 90%, do you realise many Zimbabweans have not had even a party time job for the last 20 years or more? Instead of holding the Indaba at HICC you could use a cheaper venue like the Sport Centre and use the money saved to pay these young men and women you now want to take advantage of!
Kirsty, as minister you are paid a generous salary and allowance, you drive a state of the art limo and God knows what other gravy train goodies you get. You know that Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF thugs rigged last year’s elections but when the tyrant dangled the limo keys before in your face you quickly forgot this is an illegitimate regime. You are in this Zanu PF government to prop it up and give it some modicum of legitimacy in return for the thirty pieces of silver the regime pays you. Please do not insult our intelligence by patronising the very people you sold out!
She accepted her generous thirty pieces of silver from Mnangagwa for working for the illegitimate regime but would not pay these unemployed youths even for 2 days' honest work! She probably has black servants at home and treats them just the same way - expects them to work for little or nothing. After all what would a black youth spend the money on!
So many things in Zimbabwe are strange and surreal and none more so than in politics and how the nation is governed.
In a country with a $650 per month poverty datum line it is hard to imagine how anyone can ever survive on $30 per month, less than 5%. The truth on such merge income even the basic necessities of life such a decent meal, buying one's medicine, education, etc. become luxuries when has no choice but to do without at a cost - one's own life. There is no doubt that the death rate has increased in response to the country's worsening economic situation.
It is shocking that Minister Ncube introduced the 2% electronic transaction tax specifically to squeeze a few dollars from the nation's 90% unemployed who were not paying income tax. The majority of them are the 3/4 of the nation on $30 per month or less. Minister Ncube has managed to squeezed a few more dollars from the poorest of the poor, the very people government should be paying in welfare benefits.
The Minister has not lifted a finger to stop the wholesale looting or done anything to tax the ruling elite's extravagant lifestyle. Indeed the poorest of the poor are being taxed to death to maintain the ruling elite's extravagant lifestyles.
Instead of Mnangagwa and his cronies giving up a faction of the US$25 million wasted on the hired jet the regime wanted the school fees allocation cut to zero.
Zimbabweans are the poorest people in Africa but our filthy rich ruling elite are among the richest individual on earth. Nothing makes sense in Zimbabwe and hence the reason everything is surreal!
Unless the people themselves wakeup to the reality that they are being taken for a ride, the situation will never change. It is not in the DNA of tyrants to give up power and these Zanu PF thugs are not going to give up power.
Yesterday, the local RTGS dollar was, on average, trading at between 3,4 and 3,6 to the American dollar on the parallel market in Harare and Bulawayo, depending on volumes - down from about four RTGS dollars at the end of last week.
"RBZ personnel, working together with the police, are patrolling the streets and searching suspected money changers. If they find you with more than $300, they demand an explanation and … also force you to go and deposit the money in a bank or you face arrest," an aggrieved trader told the Daily News.
This is just bullyboy tactics meant to drive off the money dealers with no political connection to leave the market to those with the connections. The RTGS dollar and USD are legal tender in Zimbabwe and there is no law saying it is illegal to have more than US$300 at an given time, compelling one to deposit money in the Bank especially when the Bank will not allow you to withdraw what you want when you want it.
Whenever there are artificially imposed controls there will always be a black market. Zanu PF is not stamping out the black market in foreign currency but clearly the field for Zanu PF favoured dealers just as the regime cleared Marange and Chiadzwa for favoured diamond miners.
Zanu PF officials will buy forex from the Bank at the official exchange rate and sell it on the black market making huge profits. Zanu PF ruling elite are “Good times are back again!”
President Nelson Chamisa is out of the country on a diplomatic offensive in Africa to sensitize the continent on the situation in Zimbabwe.
The MDC leader’s diplomatic engagement drive comes hard on the heels of a State-sponsored brutal onslaught on innocent Zimbabweans as well as a callous attempt to decimate the party by targeting its elected leaders as well as party structures.
The whole world knows that Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections and they also know that this should and could have been avoided if only MDC had implemented the democratic reforms when they had the golden opportunity to do so during the last GNU.
What the whole world should know is that the proposed inter-party dialogue between MDC and Zanu PF are total waste of time. By rigging the elections, Zanu PF has reaffirmed that Zimbabwe is still the pariah state of the Mugabe days, nothing has changed. A new GNU, which is what Chamisa is fishing for, not transform the pariah state into a democracy and it will be naive to expect the Zanu PF and MDC to implement any meaningful reforms this time around when they failed to get even one reform implemented in five years last time.
What the world should know it that Zimbabwe needs Zanu PF to step down to allow the political space for the appointment of an interim administration which will be tasked to implement the reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. Chamisa is just wasting the nation’s time with his foolish demands if he had not sold-out the country would not be in this mess!
"70 percent of the foreign currency will be utilised for productive sectors' imports and requirements, while 30 percent will go to other things. You cannot have US$5 million going towards purchasing of a private jet at the expense of companies like Delta, Dairibord and the like," said Dr Mangudya.
He added that, "Companies need to boost production, because the floating of the US dollar alone will not enhance productivity.”
I have a feeling this is not going to sold all our problems and Zimbabweans, across the board, will live happily ever after!
There will not be any meaningful economic recovery much less economic prosperity as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs!
Chamisa and company were warned of the folly of taking part in the elections without reforms in 2013, they did not listen and repeated the same mistake in last year's elections. "MDC has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections!" Chamisa insisted.
What Zimbabwe needs right now is for Zanu PF to step down, the party rigged last July's elections and therefore has no mandate to govern. Chamisa knows that but is willing to overlook that for a seat on the gravy train. Zimbabweans should not allow this fudge and sell-out to continue! Both Mnangagwa and Chamisa are holding the nation to ransom for selfish political gain, that must be resisted firmly.
Zanu PF must step down to allow the political space for the appointment of a interim administration that will implement the reforms and get the country back on a firm democratic footing.
Professor Mthuli Ncube has the gift of the gab and in Emmerson Mnangagwa he could not have found a more naive and gullible listener. The seriousness of Zimbabwe's economic situation has given plenty of material for Ncube to work on in weaving his spider's web, he had Mnangagwa completely hooked.
Still there have been too many economic blunders in the financial market and the economy that would have forced a more rational person to start asking for a second opinion to what Ncube says. Sadly, not so with Mnangagwa, he is still lapping whatever Ncube says like a puppy.
This latest high powered globe trotting jaunt is a complete waste of money. Every investor out there knows that Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. They also know, by now, that the regime has employed a fast talking Minister of Finance, full of himself, who thinks he can sell you a silk purse Zimbabwe when in reality it is a sower's ear!
The solution is for Zanu PF to step down so the country can appoint an interim administration that will implement the democratic reforms and set the nation back on a firm democratic footing. Ncube and his voodoo economic policies are not going to bring about any meaningful economic recover not as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state!
@ Gabriel Kapfidze
“Wilbert Mukori I like your cool headedness even with the insults directed at you by Mechavio whoever. You really demonstrate maturity and that you use your brains for thinking unlike Mechavio who appears to be singing for his supper.”
Thank you for the encouragement.
I know there are millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who have sacrificed a great deal to make sure their children or relatives got a good education. Sadly, Zanu PF has let them down. Whilst many people have praised Mugabe for expanding the nation’s education system, many of us have failed to acknowledge that Mugabe has failed to deliver quality education. It has been all about quantity but no quality.
Zimbabweans have often boasted of being one of the most literate nation in Africa. True many can read and write but how many even understand what they have just read? Ask someone what is a verb and they do not know and yet they have done Zimsec “O” and may even have certificate saying they passed English with flying colours!
I have met PhD University graduates, I am talking of those who got their PhD in more than three months, from the various Universities that have sprouted all over the country like mushrooms and some could not write a single paragraph without a spelling mistake or gramma mistake. As for the paragraph making sense, that is asking for too much!
I know there are Zanu PF supporters whose children and relatives who have studied outside the country and paid for by the party. There are millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who were to make do with the sub, substandard education in the country. A few Zimbabweans have paid for their own children to study outside Zimbabwe are this decision by the RBZ to deny them access to forex to pay education fees will make life very difficult if not impossible for many of them.
It is no exaggeration that the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans are well and truly trapped. It is not only education that has all but collapsed but the same can be said about health, employment, everything. Zimbabweans are dying for want of clean drinking water, food, medicine, etc.
They do not dare to even protest of their suffering and deaths, they will be beaten, raped, arrested and even shoot dead!
Zimbabwe is now a big trap for human beings denied of hope and a future by the filthy rich ruling elite. Millions have long since escape the torment, hundreds of thousands are set to leave but millions other will never escape for various reasons. They will spend the rest of their miserable time this side of their early grave in hunger, poverty and anguish!
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