Will the West take Mnangagwa’s bait?

By Vince Musewe

OPINION – Last week it was reported that vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe could not do without the West. If that is true, all I can really say is that it’s about time those within Zanu (PF) realised how their supreme leader, President Mugabe, was wrong by leading Zimbabwe down the wrong path to only look East.

It was also reported recently that the Chinese have been fleecing our state enterprises through overpricing goods and services. We have been exporting dollars to China at a faster rate than we are making them – hence the liquidity crunch. China is not all bad, but we should be careful and determine the terms of what we want from them, and what we allow them to do in this country, just as we continually tell the West.

Clearly, the look East policy has been a disaster. Our politicians never really want to accept that they have been wrong and made some serious mistakes. It’s always somebody else’s fault and when they are forced to re-look at their policies, like indigenisation or land reform, they never want to acknowledge that we have been right all the time and they are wrong. That is called the God complex, where people play little gods. This attitude has cost this generation and the next dearly.

After 15 years of being wrong, it looks like there is now a realisation that Zimbabwe does not operate in a vacuum and cannot set the rules of the game, especially when we have no savings or currency of our own.

It is clear that serious foreign direct investment is really attracted to countries that promote economic freedom. It is attracted to those countries where there is the respect for the law, where private property rights are protected, where there is accountability and where corruption is dealt with ruthlessly.

Foreign investors are also attracted to countries where there is a successful and well-organised local business sector. That will remain our key challenge, because our predatory rulers have decimated the indigenous or national bourgeoisie. This, of course, is because Zanu (PF) fear that a successful and well-resourced indigenous business sector will demand better government. Patronage has been the antidote.

Our local business sector continually identifies inconsistent government policies, high costs of doing business, red tape, uncompetitive business environment among other important things. The same things that affect them will also affect foreigners who want to invest.

In my opinion, we must first see a real partnership between government and our local business sector. Not the rivalry and counter accusations that we often hear. A cordial constructive relationship between these two will do a lot to attract foreign investment.

You also cannot invite the West to come and invest more in Zimbabwe when local farmers are being evicted from properties because they happen to be white. If it is the issue of land ownership, give them leases for goodness sake, and let them get on with what they know best. Firstly they too are Zimbabweans by right, and they are also experts at what they do. Food security and jobs should be our highest priorities now.

I am quite surprised that this move has not been challenged in the constitutional court. There is even a case where a black farmer with title deeds and crops in the ground was evicted. That is totally unacceptable. We must also deal with BIPPA and ensure that all foreign agreements are honoured to the word. It is the right thing to do.

VP Mnangagwa and his team must also realise that investors come to countries where debt is managed well. This government is very good at getting into debt but very bad at getting out of it.

That has now permeated the business sector, particularly the banking sector where, for example, the recovery of debts owed by politicians are not pursued by our legal system with as much vigour as debt owed by private citizens. A clear example here is ZESA bills and the RBZ debt.

I know that what I am saying here is not new. The rules of engagement with the West, East South or North are not different at all. We have to follow the principles if we are to attract new money into the country. The pariah state brand that Mugabe has wasted so much of our time building must be finally expunged.

So although we have begun to see Western business delegations coming to Zimbabwe, I do not think that they are now jumping up and down excited about Zimbabwe because of what the VP is alleged to have said. They are not idiots.

So after all is said and done, I find it very difficult to take this government seriously on economic policy. They have failed to stick to the rules and despite our VP’s wish, it will take much more work for us to see substantial investments from the West trickling into Zimbabwe.

Unfortunately I am rather hesitant to believe that official policy has changed. I have serious reservations with regard to the sincerity and the competence of this current team of leaders to take us where we want to be.

Vince Musewe is an economist, author and President of Zimbabwe First! You can contact him directly on [email protected]