Gono refuses to take credit for indigenization climb-down

HARARE – The former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor, Dr Gideon Gono, has refused to take credit for the climb-down on the controversial indigenisation policy by President Robert Mugabe’s government. 

Gono’s clashes with the then Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere are well documented. When Kasukuwere sought to target banks in the country Gono stood his ground and told him a ‘one size fits all’ approach was not feasible.

The former central bank governor has refused to brag about his victory and is quoted telling the Daily News in a telephone interview that:

“It’s a misnomer and inappropriate to call this positive shift in Government thinking a victory for or defeat of anyone. Policy formulation and implementation are not exact sciences where there is one answer to a mathematical question like 1 + 1 which is 2.

“When different minds vigorously debate something and initially differ but eventually sing from the same hymn and page, the victory belongs to the people who will ultimately benefit from a clearer policy position and not individuals.

“The debates were never about personalities but of ideas, and for me, there are more areas which we need to attend to in unison of mind for the benefit of the economy and one of them is how to resolve the country’s liquidity challenge.

“It can be resolved easily if we put our heads together. We have experienced worse challenges before and conquered. The stage at which we are in this economy requires soberness of mind and pragmatism in peoples’ actions rather than arrogance or extremism to the right or left. I don’t know what to call that”.