Zimbabwe: Time to Be Introspective

Source from:  Financial Gazette (Harare) 18 October 2008 10/27/2008

ZIMBABWE is a country of great potential and opportunity. Zimbabwe should be the last country to experience hunger and starvation it is currently reeling from. We have so much that is going wrong as a country and yet we have so much we can do to save the situation. Agreed, we have a lot of international pressure that is creating difficulties against us but there is still so much we can do to free ourselves and our souls from this mess. More than ever before, as I drive up and down our beautiful country the common question I am asked is; "Ko zvinhu zvichanaka riini? (When are things likely to normalise?) Ko zvichachinja here izvi? (Are there any prospects for change?) These two questions are on the lips of every Zimbabwean, including those who should be changing the circumstances as well as those who have contributed to this socio-economic meltdown. The majority of Zimbabweans are not really interested in the detail of the politics of the country for as long as they are afforded the opportunity to get on with their lives. This calls for an environment that allows Zimbabweans to demonstrate their enterprise at what ever level in what ever role. Zimbabweans are looking for an environment where they can fend for their families, better their lives and surrounding communities without environmental constrains. They yearn for an environment that gives them the opportunity to get on with their lives on a fair and level playing ground. Zimbabweans hope for an environment that offers hope and confidence, an environment that offers stability and respect to public property and respect to private property. In other words an environment that promotes confidence and enthusiasm, an environment that encourages and celebrates success and not to punish it. In short, an environment that allows and respects enterprise is what they would like to see. In my view, there is need for the country to go back to the basics. The basics mainly focus on progressive policy mixes that encourage production and productivity, an environment that restores work values and ethics. We need policy mixes that will encourage people to get out of their beds to go and do what they are proud of and be able to do. Working for government as a civil servant should be noble. Working in the private sector should be a source of pride. Owning a business whether in farming, manufacturing or mining must also be a source of pride. As a nation, we must restore this dignity. As of today, this dignity is sadly eroded and guess what, eroded by wrong policy mixes. It is not too late to correct this. To rectify the situation, I am making the first attempt to unlock thinking and implementation values that can sustain us into the future and encourage debate. I must admit that there will be no easy answers and there should not be any dependency expectations. Honest and realistic decisions must be made on the basis of not so much out of the box, but rather common sense. There once lived a Russian social scientist called Pavlov. He established the conditioned reflex theory, where a ring of a bell caused a dog to salivate. Yaiziva kuti bhero iro rinotaura kuti chikafu chauya. (The dog knew that the sound of the bell signified the arrival of food). Are there possible applications to humans in the theory? Kuziva kuti mvura yauya tinofanira kurima kuti mangwana tizodya. (Knowing that the onset of the rains should jolt them into action in order to sustain themselves food-wise). Have we as a nation asked ourselves the simple question why it is that our country is awash with onions, cabbages, tomatoes, mangoes, msasa worms and masau when in season? Let's go further and ask ourselves why it is that a great national investment is made in mechanisation, free seed, free fertiliser, free tilling, free land and yet we have no maize in the country? We have no wheat in the country. We have no cooking oil in the country. Comrades and friends it is because our economic policy mix is simply wrong. Free enterprise is encouraged and farmers and those who harvest natural fruit do it when they want to and sell their products at a price that rewards effort. Maize and wheat will not be available because our policies destroy enterprise. In my view this is the first port of call. Let us allow imagination and effort. Let us reward innovation and hard work. We seem to be pursuing policies that punish hard work and enterprise. We seem to encourage a mendacity of dependency on government. My view is that government must create an atmosphere that creates wealth through enterprise and not the other way round. Those who create wealth also create jobs which jobs and wealth are taxed by governments in order to sustain a fair distribution of wealth through a sound national infrastructure. Why, if it is not punitive policy, are we failing to feed ourselves when we have the land and all the rain we need and ever flowing rivers under the ground. In my opinion, it is fundamental that we support agriculture and particularly the production of our main crops, maize, cotton, tobacco, wheat, soya and sunflower. It is important that these crops become our major crops both for local consumption and export initiatives. The only way we can ensure massive and consistent production of these crops is not by giving free or subsidized diesel, seed, fertiliser or any such inputs, but rather by ensuring market prices for the end crop. In other words I would advocate for enterprise in these crops. Find your production means and sell at your price for as long as you sell in Zimbabwe. This works with tomatoes, onions, masawi, msasa worms and potatoes and surely would have the same production effect with maize, sunflower, tobacco, soya and wheat together with the products derivatives. In my view we have followed the direct subsidy theory, which has been abused. We end up importing from countries that encourage private enterprise as the basis for fair wealth creation. Subsidised loans can be made available on condition they are recovered as happens in any other business arrangement. Enditem