Zim is getting worse under Mnangagwa

VIOLENT protests in Zimbabwe, sparked by the largest fuel increase in the nation’s history, should come as no surprise to even the most casual observer.

For close on two decades, Zimbabweans have been reeling from one economic shock to the other, while subjected to violent repression.

On Sunday President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced that the fuel price would double to $3.11 a litre – that’s R43 a litre. Consider this: the global price of petrol currently stands at $1.08 (R15) a litre.

Mnangagwa made the announcement about the fuel hikes the day before he set off on a two-week overseas trip, hoping to woo investors to Zimbabwe’s battered economy. But without a hint of irony, Mnangagwa and his entourage reportedly left on a chartered flight in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which costs $13000 an hour.

In simple terms, Zimbabwe’s government is short on cash with a budget deficit hovering around the $3billion mark.

On SABC News, Zimbabwean opposition leader Nkosana Moya said the government was short of cash and sought to generate revenue because of a bloated civil service security apparatus, which gobbled up 95% of the country’s budget.

In the third quarter Zimbabwe’s trade deficit with South Africa, its largest trading partner, ballooned 285% to $585,76million. These goods and services from South Africa are essential to Zimbabweans.

Last year Mnangagwa’s trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland spelled hope for Zimbabweans that investment would start to flow into the country soon after Robert Mugabe was overthrown in a military coup.

But fast forward one year and conditions on the ground for ordinary Zimbabweans seem only to have worsened.

At the age of 76, questions will rightfully be asked about whether Mnangagwa is the right leader for Zimbabwe.

Having won the support of voters in last year’s elections and after just over a year in power, Mnangagwa has been hesitant to implement the sort of economic reforms that will promote real growth. When he lands in Switzerland this time around, the economists and world leaders will likely kick his begging bowl to the side and read him the riot act.