JUICE: Introduction to MDC-T economic agenda
Jobs, Upliftment, Investment Capital & the Environment (JUICE)
A comprehensive approach to sustainable, inclusive and people centred development
Foreword
By Morgan Tsvangirai
The biggest challenge that confronts our economy today is unemployment. Millions of our youths face a bleak future with rising joblessness, which is a result of the growth stagnation of our economy.
The issue of jobs is no longer just an economic issue. It has become an issue of political stability and social cohesion. The country is sitting on a time bomb because of youth unemployment. We have to generate decent jobs for the hundreds of thousands of young men and women that are leaving colleges, vocational training centres, polytechnics and universities every year.
In order to do this we need to build a sustainable economic framework that grows the economy. The MDC believes that in order to spur sustainable economic growth, it is imperative to grow the national cake. Concentrating on sharing the existing small and diminishing cake is a recipe for disaster.
The current version of indigenisation is tantamount to nationalization and expropriation and it is clearly a political gimmick by ZANU PF. The MDC’s jobs plan entitled Jobs, Upliftment Investment Capital and the Environment (JUICE) is a comprehensive plan for the generation of decent jobs that will not only end poverty but also empower citizens.
JUICE advocates for a Broad Based Economic (BBE) upliftment of citizens by expanding people’s choices in attaining sustainable livelihoods not through asset striping and looting. Zimbabwe desperately needs new domestic and foreign investment in order to increase capital formation.
This can be achieved by polices that increase investor confidence. As JUICE clearly demonstrates, it is possible to achieve upliftment without suffocating the economy. We should never allow a situation where the goose that lays the golden egg is killed.
Zimbabweans who are committed to sustainable development know that our society can do better if we can combine job creation with durable human upliftment, sustained investment capital and respect for our environment.
Instead of indigenization for a few elites based on unsustainable extraction and exploitation, it is vital for Zimbabwe and the world to know that the degeneration of our great country’s investment climate, the appearance of renewed shake-downs on behalf of cronies, and the return to patronage can be reversed, in the interests of genuinely inclusive, pro-poor development and job creation.
This document marks the beginning of that alternative national process that will lead Zimbabwe back to a firm path to sustainable development.
Morgan Richard Tsvangirai, MDC President
SECTION ONE – EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. Introduction
Zimbabwe is a structurally weak economy arrested by “enclavity”, huge levels of poverty, social underdevelopment, decayed infrastructure and a crippling debt overhang.
Regrettably, 32 years of a Zanu PF government have compounded the country’s structural problems as self-induced policy distortions we implemented by a government with neither the vision nor the craft competence of moving the country forward.
At the epicentre of Zimbabwe’s woes is the economy’s failure to create jobs. Jobs are not just the engine of poverty reduction or a derivative of growth – they are transformative in and of themselves, and can help drive the pathways to development.
This policy document is the MDC’s job plan and sets out the foundations of a multi-sectoral approach to job creation, wealth creation and poverty alleviation.
In its first 5 years an MDC government will implement coherent, effective and forward looking policies to address Zimbabwe’s longstanding economic problems of high unemployment, deepening poverty and inequality.
It will establish a pathway for inclusive and sustainable long-term growth based on a broad based human upliftment model.
The MDC’s entry into a coalition government in 2009 led to a structural recovery of the economy and the restoration of our international dignity following a decade of negative economic growth and economic mismanagement.
The MDC government will consolidate the recovery we initiated and provide a firm foundation for macroeconomic stabilization and growth.
The MDC Policy – Jobs, Upliftment, Investment Capital and the Environment (JUICE) is our framework to create jobs, and build a strong, growing economy that is financially and environmentally sustainable, where growth is evenly shared across the country and not by a privileged few.
With more than 8 in every 10 people unemployed, the pressing need for our government will be to create new jobs, which are more empowering than indeterminate share ownership. This policy document sets our plan for spurring growth, long term prosperity and a credible route to a 21st century economy.
In conceiving JUICE, the MDC is guided by the following objectives:
1. Creating decent employment opportunities for all Zimbabweans.
2. Creating an enabling environment for citizens to acquire entrepreneurial skills and to flourish in doing business with no hindrance aside from standard laws that protect workers, communities, consumers and our ecology.
3. Establishing a friendly environment for both domestic and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to rapidly increase the productive sector’s capacity utilization to a level that ensures job creation through genuine capital investment.
4. Enabling policies that promote capital formation through efficient financial markets.
5. Greater integration with regional and global markets to facilitate sustainable growth.
6. Implementing a comprehensive program that provides for the delivery of good-quality social services such as education and healthcare, in a way that is affordable to all.
7. Restructuring the ownership and control of the economy through a broad based economic empowerment programme, which meets the needs of all Zimbabweans.
8. Provide opportunities to every citizen to pursue happiness, achieve social justice and nurture our natural environment in a democratic society without state bureaucratic hindrance.
9. Manage our foreign debt.
2. Strategies for Building a Strong, Sustainable, Balanced Economy
JUICE is based on ten (10) strategies that will be implemented as part of the economic transformation process, each with complementary themes.
These strategies are clear, transparent and forward-looking. Implementing these strategies will mean we are putting Zimbabwe back on its feet using a fresh, dynamic and new economic model.
JUICE is our plan for a strong economy and our plan to transform Zimbabwe into one of Africa’s strongest and competitive economy, restoring our ‘Breadbasket of Southern Africa’ status.
In the short term, immediate measures will be implemented to consolidate the stabilization of macroeconomic fundamentals. Our medium to long term polices will set us on a path for sustainable growth.
We will focus on resuscitating our industries, reforming and making the public sector more competitive, creating new jobs, developing and supporting our SMEs sector and the informal sector.
Our policies for sustainable growth will mobilize state resources towards a common national vision of uplifting every Zimbabwean out of poverty and improving the daily experiences of our people and reducing inequality.
The following policies will drive this strategy;
1. Transformation to a Democratic Developmental State
1.1How the state should do business
1.2Political governance
2. Creating Sustainable Jobs & SMEs Development
2.1Entrepreneurship
2.2SMEs development
2.3Formalising the informal sector
2.4Enhancing skills development
2.5Sector specific job creation potential
3. Creating an Enabling Environment for Inclusive Economic
Participation
3.1Social dialogue and social contract
3.2Respect for property rights and rule of law
3.3Mainstreaming gender
3.4Upliftment and poverty reduction
4. Creating a Safer and More Stable Macroeconomic and Financial System
4.1Fiscal reforms
4.2Tax reforms
4.3Reforming the financial sector
4.4Debt sustainability and debt relief
5. Reforming Public Services to Deliver Quality Social Services
5.1A performance driven civil service
6. Sustainable Growth Strategies
6.1Private sector development and industrial transformation
6.2Rescusitation of industry
6.3Increasing productivity
6.4Value addition
6.5Infrastructural development
6.6Public-private partnerships to deliver infrastructure
7. A broad based Economic Empowerment Agenda
7.1The Pitfalls of the current indigenization policy
7.2Tenets of a broad based empowerment strategy
8. Creating a more balanced economy
8.1Cluster based development
8.2Rural transformation
8.3Special Economic Zones (SEZs)
9. Opening Zimbabwe for business
9.1Investment Promotion and Facilitation
9.2Regional and Global integration
10. Environmental Responsibility
10.1 Resource Governance
10.2 The Environment
2. 3 What Will our Policies Achieve?
Implementing JUICE will be a critical conduit for development. Our policies will deliver tangible outcomes towards poverty reduction, employment creation, equity and social cohesion.
JUICE will direct resources towards development within the constraints of our fiscal resources achieving some of the following benchmarks;
Figure 1: Key Benchmarks
JUICE KEY BENCHMARKS
As a direct result of JUICE we expect to achieve the following;
1. One million new jobs to be created between 2013-2018
2. Projected average growth rate of 8% per annum between 2013-2018.
3. Macroeconomic stability anchored by single digit inflation.
4. Deepening and strengthening the role of SMEs.
5. Domestic savings mobilization.
6. Normalization of Zimbabwe’s international relations.
7. Implementation of a Natural Resources Charter.
8. Running a green economy.
9. A US$100 billion first world economy by 2040.
10. An increase in power generation capacity to 6,000 Megawatt by 2018.
11. Reconstruction of the country’s infrastructure.
12. Building a social contract and ensuring sustainable and decent wages.
13. Attracting FDI that is at least 30% of GDP.
