Jayprog

The announcement by the Zimbabwe government to force importers of cars and luxury goods to pay duty in foreign currency proves the point that this government does not respect its own laws.

This announcement is going to have disastrous effects on the already ailing economy in the sense that there are going to be a reduced imports. The definition of luxury items is as per Zanu Pf thinking and it is surprising to me that Zimbabwe still considers food items such as cooking oil flour, rice and margarine to name a few as luxury goods. This in simple terms means Zanu Pf has devised mechanism to stop people from importing food since it will be expensive to pay duty in forex. As such, every Zimbabwean will have to depend on the government for food and this works well for the coming elections in 2008.
I have always haboured a sense that this Zimbabwe government is supported by a strong devil considering the way things happen when elections are due. There is always a drought, escalation of shortages, diseases etc that always work in favour of Zanu Pf.

Recently the same government was breathing fire to estate agents and home owners for demanding rentals in for-ex saying the legal tender was still the Zimbabwe dollar.

In honest sense no investor would want to risk their money in Zimbabwe were laws can be changed over night to suit the ruling party.

This is not a surprise move because as for me I now know the tricks that Zanu Pf uses whenever its leadership is desperate to sustain a lavish life styles.

This type of machination once happened after farm invasions when duty on all farming equipment was scrapped. This was done so that the big wigs could get equipment for their newly acquired farms. This however backfired as the EU imposed sanctions and they were left with SA and Asia as the only places to do business with.

The reason why duty has to be paid in forex now is to enable the big wigs to sell the large stock of vehicles that they bought during the past months when they were speculating that Gono would devalue the dollar.

Now that these gooks were stuck with stock they could not sell, they searched for a reason and solution and they found it. Every Tom and Dick was able to import a used car and pay a paltry duty of between Z$500 000 and 1mil. This was a direct threat to the 'shefs' in Zanu Pf.

In simple terms people are supposed to buy from the shefs and not compete with them. The introverts in Zanu Pf are now working hand in glove with the Reserve Bank govenor to propel austerity.

People have to realize that Zimbabwe is a tilting play-field with movable goal posts and as long as Zanu Pf is in control of the playfield you cannot win the game the rules change faster than the speed of play and by the time you think you are about to reach the goal post you are taken back several steps.
Zimbabwe is a country run by an oligarch geriatric gerrymander. The recent announcement to increase the constituencies proves this point and paves ways for nipping the birth of democracy in the bud.

I would rather stay a foreigner in a country that has leadership that respects freedom and the well being of its citizens and 'the other creatures as well.

Zimbabwe is a typical Stagflation and the major priority should be restoring investor confidence rather than scaring them. The government should delist vehicles as luxury considering the transport problems that the majority of Zimbabweans are facing.

The job stay-away that was scheduled for 3 to 4 April 2007 in Zimbabwe has shown one big thing that the opposition and the Labour organization have got to address. This event was a failure and it spells the clear message that the concerned parties advocating for democratic change have to change their tactics.

It is now imminent fact that Znu PF has advanced it's machinations and it is nearing a point of becoming an immovable stumbling block to democracy not only at home but also regionally.

Considering that the SADC meeting that was held last week in Tanzania did not come with any meaningful solutions to the Zimbabwe crisis it is now upon the people of Zimbabwe to take the full task to them and show the way for change. In a revolution some people have to die. At the moment people in Zimbabwe think that their problems have to be solved by someone from outside but sadly this cannot be.

The reason why Zanu PF wins all the time is that it is a strategist movement that keeps ahead of people and has established a database of the country's political landscape including the profiles of those who are at the forefront of propelling change issues. Zanu PF has always made it clear even during the liberation struggle that it has to keep the main thing the main thing all the time and in this case it (Zanu PF) is Zimbabwe's main thing.

 The adage that 'the strength of a string is its weakest point' holds more water in the Zimbabwean political case than any other example. Zimbabwean re a hungry lot and sort of cowards ware so afraid of death that they cannot do anything once reminded of the past. This is the reason why Zanu PF stays in power. Hunger and fear play a pivotal role in sustaing the ruling party.

 Common philosophy tells us that a hungry man is an angry man but then to tame the anger yoone needs to have mechanisms of continuously controlling the hopes and hunger levels within optimistic levels. This is what the ruling party is doing at the moment.

 Many people are surprised why the ruling party continues to field the same candidate for presidential elections. This is a sure way of wining, all people in Zanu PF are power hungry and equally afraid of the beast that they created and cannot tame at the moment and as such one has to appear to be friendly to the system so that they can survive. If one dares to oppose the system it means their demise politically if they are fortunate.

 The greatest tragedy that Zimbabwe has ever experienced in its political sphere is the advent of Jonathan Moyo. This man destroyed the will of the people and put the country on a steep collision course with all control instruments lost. If Jonathan Moyo did not disturb the nation Zanu PF would have lost and we could be talking of a new era now.

 Now people are so afraid of expressing their rights and views to the extend that they walk more than 25km to work so as to appear that they are patriotic.

 Some companies are now paying transport allowances that are more than basic salaries and even providing food at work so that employees can keep on coming to work. This is unacceptable in any civiliseed society. I can only define this as modern day slavery because what has now become important to the employer is to bring the employee (slave) to work andexploit their energy.

As Zimbabweans awaited the announcement of the 2007 Monetary Policy by the Reserve Bank governor Dr. G Gono, the country was filled with an aura of expectations in the air.

I glued my eyes to the TV screen for two solid hours also hoping that something new would be said, but nothing worth the solution to the current crises arose from this rather press conference that the governor addressed.

It was rather an economics history lecture in jargon and semantics to avoid the real problems facing this Southern African Country that is suffering from more than a decade of recession. I certainly knew that the devaluation of the dollar was not going to be much of an issue as many Zimbabweans expected.

The devaluation of the dollar is taboo as far as the Zimbabwe economics is concerned because anyone who attempts to devalue the dollar is an enemy of the ‘’state’’

I believe the main reasons why devaluation will not de addressed publicly is because;

1. The President made his views way before and no one can challenge that.
2. Responsible people who are said to be in charge of the economics of this country are afraid of losing their jobs because they have a case study of Simba Makoni who lost his job for the same reason of trying to steer the hornet’s nest.
3. Devaluing the Zimbabwe dollar is like killing the cash cow. Most ministers and senior government officials get the hard currency at paltry rates to finance their lavish lifestyles. An ordinary Zimbabwean would need Z$4 million to access US$1000 whereas a senior government official would only need Z$250 000 to get the same amount. From this simple calculation it then makes sense to protect the exchange rate at a fixed rate to support the politicians’ lives.

The Reserve bank governor has been reduced to a Semantics Technician based at the Reserve bank. It really took Dr. Gono a cool two hours to tell the nation that the Zimbabwe dollar is not going to be devalued something that he could have done through the local press at very minimum cost.

Dodging the truth is what is killing this economy and a real time approach has to be taken. Suppliers are using the parallel market rates and it has been proven that the government has it’s hands tied as far as price control is concerned and this is not helping the nation.

For the governor to say ‘’something’’ has to be done about smugglers and the little fines they pay is really short of saying that the government has failed. Personally I think the admission of guilty fine of $250 is justified because people have no money and above all it is the law gazetted fine.

The use of the word ‘something’ in a crisis is not good enough because everyone is looking for a definite strategy that revolves around specific parameters. It has become a norm in government addresses to say that corruption is rampant but the real corrupt people still roam the streets and it looks like no one wants to expose them, or is it that exposing them has become useless since they can easily find their way back home.

If this government is serious about tackling corruption, there are questions that have to be addressed first. The issue of too many expensive imported cars on the streets of Zimbabwe when there is an acute shortage of foreign exchange spell something is wrong. Where are these people getting the money when the nation is staving and the government is failing to pay reasonable salaries to doctors and nurses?

The culture of stubbornness and non-caring by some senior government officials should be dealt with first before any meaningful development can be realized in Zimbabwe. There are a bunch of politicians with selfish interests and misplaced priorities leading this country into turmoil. Things are crumpling and some people just chose to ignore the situation. There is a water crisis in Harare and one wonders, the health delivery system is crumpling simply because some individuals cannot come to sense and realize that a doctor and a nurse are critical in health service delivery.

True leaders should learn to be criticized and pluck a leaf from the wisdom of the poor villagers that elected them to power. Some Zimbabwean politicians have reached a stage where they are so confused that they think the people are meant to serve them whereas the opposite is the truth.