Untangling Zim from albatross of past political economy key to future economic prosperity

THIS week’s instalment is a continuation of last week’s feature, ‘‘Paying the price of crisis of disconnection’’.

Zimbabwe’s economy is showing signs of recovery and growth owing to Government’s aggressive economic reform agenda since the dawn of the new political dispensation, President Mnangagwa said while addressing Zimbabweans living and working in Rwanda on Monday night.

The President said the performance of the economy in the first three months of the year pointed towards gradual economic stabilisation and prospects for growth. The President hinted that the Government would be announcing a multi-billion dollar mining deal with a yet-to-be-named investor, and so far there are pledges for potential investments of about US$3 billion. This multi-billion dollar mining deal looming in the horizon is beautiful music to our ears.

There is absolutely no doubt that so much positive change has taken place since the beginning of the new political dispensation in the country. The world at large has responded with much more positive signals for appreciation of the new political economy in Zimbabwe. This gives the country a great sigh of relief and hope for a better future.

It has been good for some of us to learn that so far the United Nations, EU, Sadc, AU are endorsing election preparations, not only endorsing the preparations for elections so far but also showing good and positive signs of warming up to the new Zimbabwe like I said in last week’s instalment. Britain, for example, was the first from the international community to show and express her appreciation of the new political economy in Zimbabwe.

The United Nations Development Programme Administrator and UN Development Group vice-chair Mr Achim Steiner in his recent visit to the country expressed confidence in preparations for elections scheduled for July this year and pledged continued support of the UN to Zimbabwe.

After meeting President Mnangagwa, Mr Steiner said all areas of contestation around the electoral process would be ironed out through proposed inter-party dialogue and imminent amendments to the Electoral Act. Mr Steiner suggested that he was in Zimbabwe to discuss how the UN could provide elections’ support as well as help rebuild the national economy.

On support for the economy, Mr Steiner said: “The second reason why we are in close discussion is why United Nations and the United Nations Development Programme are actively engaged in Zimbabwe today which is the economy; it’s the livelihoods of the citizens of Zimbabwe and the Government’s aspiration to accelerate the recovery of the economy.

“Zimbabweans know the difficulties they are facing today and clearly there is great hope and expectation in the way that the envisaged economic recovery process through engagement of international development partners but also investments from abroad and within Zimbabwe’s economy. Our discussions this morning centred also on some of the steps and also the offer of support that I have made to the nation over the coming months and year to assist in the economic acceleration and recovery process.”

The President is soon to invite all political parties to a roundtable to discuss how best authorities can conduct an uncontested election. Parliament is in the process of amending the Electoral Act to align it to the Constitution and the demands of a biometric voters’ roll.

My argument is that while all these are positive developments in our country, and one would not phantom that yesterday such things could have been said and happened in Zimbabwe, we should not lose focus that there have been economic deals that have been pledged in the past, including by our all-weather friends — China.

Most of those deals have remained pledges even up to today. Yes, it is true that Rome was not built in one day, and people need to be patient with the new political dispensation. However, the albatross of the past political economy is still hanging on the country’s neck. The new dispensation should appreciate that it has to untangle Zimbabwe yesteryear political economy and somehow restore investor confidence, otherwise all these investment deals will remain a pie in the sky and economic recovery and growth will continue eluding the country. What is the way forward? The future economic prosperity of Zimbabwe hinges and lies on the new political dispensation untangling itself and the country from the albatross of the past political economy and ushering in a new political economy in the country.

Speaking during an African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) plenary session in Kigali, Rwanda, on Tuesday, the President said, “Civil society has a role to play. Yes, sometimes they offend governments by pointing out wrongs that they do, but it’s necessary that those things be pointed out so that we can correct them. For us to remain in power, we must continuously correct the things that civil society says we are doing wrong and we remain ruling and ruling for more years.”

This sounds like a paradigm shift from the past political economy, which should be supported by practical implementation. We are looking forward to seeing some of these things really happening in the new Zimbabwe. For the President to say these things in the eyes of the whole world defines the beginning of positive way forward.

The past political economy viewed the nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) with a negative perception, and they were always seen as agents of the Western imperialists for effecting regime change in Zimbabwe. The relations were so bad that the security organs of the state had to always keep a closer look and surveillance on the NGOs activities in the country.

Much more needs to be done in cleaning up the messy of the past political economy. As I am writing this article I am saying to myself, even the scarf that has become our President’s trademark or symbol of the new Zimbabwe should indeed stand for the newfound political economy that is free and devoid of all the political ills of the past political economy.

There are several pieces of legislation, some of them we have mentioned before that should not find home in the new political economy because they are alien and a symbol of the past political economy and all its ills. It may not be all good enough to just deal with the indigenous policy legislation alone and hope to have moved on as a country.

In conclusion, Zimbabwe has moved on. There should be no room for any traces no matter how minute and trivial they may be considered to be, of the old Zimbabwe. Let us honestly rid the country of all the bad past and look into the future with hope for an economical prosperous Zimbabwe.

Dr Bongani Ngwenya is based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow and can be contacted on nbongani@gmail.com