Fire-fighting in govt to avert implosion

By Phillimon Mhlanga

GOVERNMENT has adopted a punishing schedule of behind-the-scenes weekly meetings for Cabinet ministers in a desperate bid to extricate the country from a worsening economic situation, the Financial Gazette can reveal.

With unemployment northward bound, and many people no longer affording a decent meal, government fears the economic meltdown may unleash a humanitarian and social crisis.
In response to the crisis, government bureaucrats are trying to make each other accountable by convening weekly meetings, which some fear could become talk shops.

At the top level, Cabinet ministers are meeting four times per week. Two of the weekly meetings are chaired by President Robert Mugabe on Mondays and Tuesdays. The other two are chaired by Vice Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko on resource mobilisation and implementation of different projects.

All meetings discuss government business and progress on economic projects meant to support the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation — a five-year programme running between 2013 and 2018.

Due to the potential threat on national security posed by the deteriorating economic situation, some of the meetings include service chiefs.

To translate the discussions into action, Cabinet ministers are also having to convene endless meetings with their subordinates — at times interrupting government business.
Cabinet ministers who spoke to the Financial Gazette said the schedule of weekly meetings had become too exhausting.

Presidential spokesperson, George Charamba, confirmed the arrangements when contacted for comment on Monday.

Charamba said: “Cabinet ministers meet President Mugabe every Monday for a briefing and in this meeting, which takes the whole day, I will be there, the security chiefs will be there and the chief secretary in the President’s Office (Misheck Sibanda) will be there.”

“So our Mondays are full, and besides, the President also chairs Cabinet meetings every Tuesday.”

Charamba said apart from the two meetings, there were several other committees that Mnangagwa and Mphoko chaired.

“Vice President Mnangagwa chairs a Cabinet forum on resources mobilisation while Vice President Mphoko chairs the forum for implementation,” he added.

Well-placed sources said the meetings were part of efforts to find a resolution to the current economic situation and avert possible economic implosion that could halt government business and consequently ground the economy.

This week, former finance minister Tendai Biti told his People’s Democratic Party supporters that failed economic policies were likely to result in mass protests early next year. The country has witnessed increased company closures and job losses since the adoption of a hard currency regime.

This was after it had ditched the defenceless Zimbabwe dollar in 2009. The company closures appear to have worsened since 2011 when the liquidity crunch began tightening.

Zimbabwe’s economy significantly shrunk during the decade to 2008 after government embarked on a land reform programme that drove white farmers and replaced them with blacks.

The country’s economy is largely supported by agriculture, which virtually crumbled due to the land reforms. Some Cabinet ministers said there was a feeling among colleagues that the Vice Presidents were trying to consolidate their power bases through the meetings.

“We (all ministers) meet on Mondays and Tuesdays with President Mugabe for briefings. Besides, there are two other committees chaired by Vice Presidents (Mnangagwa and Mphoko) where we will be looking at all the projects.

“Emphasis will be on speeding up the implementation of the projects. But I tell you, quite a number of ministers are not happy with the arrangements because we feel the meetings with the vice presidents are not necessary. Maybe it’s an issue to do with consolidation of power,” said one Cabinet minister who declined to be identified.

Mnangagwa, who is affectionately known as Ngwena or the crocodile in political circles, has always been seen as the favourite to succeed President Mugabe, but well-placed sources in government say several ministers who are linked to the ambitious Young Turks known as Generation 40 (G40) were frantically trying to muscle him out of the race.

The G40 is said to be composed of Higher Education Minister, Jonathan Moyo, Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere and Indigenisation Minister, Patrick Zhuwao, among others.

Government is struggling to implement infrastructural projects because of a high wage bill taking more than 80 percent of the budget.

To confirm government’s woes, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Prisca Mupfumira, said this year’s bonus payments would be staggered into next year.
Armed forces will be awarded bonuses ahead of the rest of government workers.

The shrinking economy has clearly made both policy implementation and resource mobilisation difficult, highlighting the fiscal pressures on government.

As further company closures threaten to erode the little disposable incomes in the economy, the liquidity situation will also worsen, moreso as another severe drought looms.
The fragile economy has resulted in a rapid increase in poverty, with real per capita income falling sharply from about US$644 in 1990 to less than US$400 in 2015.

The country’s economy, clearly in distress, is grappling with high unemployment, estimated unofficially to be at over 80 percent. Many people in Zimbabwe can no longer afford a decent meal. Many have been forced into vending to eke out an honest living.

Government recently drove out from the streets of central business districts across the country hundreds of unemployed street vendors selling different wares, from tomatoes to second hand clothes. Last month, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries reported a decline in capacity utilisation from 37 percent in 2014 to 34 percent in 2015.

Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa has cut projected economic growth figures for 2015 from a moderate 3,2 percent to 1,5 percent, blaming reduced productivity and the effects of lower commodity prices.

When the country adopted a hard currency regime in 2009 after ditching its own currency due to hyper-inflationary pressures, the economy burst into a post-hyperinflation rebound, registering gross domestic product growth.

That growth began slowing down in 2011.

The external position has also been worsening, with low international reserves, a large current account deficit and growing external arrears. Soon after independence in 1980, Zimbabwe was hailed as an African success story and dubbed the “breadbasket” of southern Africa, with one of the best health and education systems in the region.

Now, it is a basket case. Financial Gazette