The Standard

12 The Standard August 3 to 9 2014
Comment & Analysis / Opinion
Zanu PF should
wake up and
smell the coffee
sundayopinion
BY PIUS WAKATAMA
Patrick Chinamasa
Rugare Gumbo
First, I thought there was
something wrong with
my glasses. I took out my
hanky, wiped my reading
glasses and looked at the
newspaper again. Surely, there it
was in black and white: Zanu PF
MP blasts indigenisation policy. I
never thought I would ever come
across something like this in my
life-time.
The news item was published in
one of the daily newspapers on July
27 2014. It read, “A Zanu PF legislator,
has castigated government’s indigenisation
policy saying it needs
to be revised because it is retarding
efforts to revive the economy. The
MP told the National Assembly last
week, while debating the motion to
revive the economy, that the policy
was spooking investors”.
The MP, whose name I have left
out just in case he might say he
was misquoted, was also reported
as saying, “Our policies are anti-investment.
As far as foreign direct
investment is concerned, we should
look at our policies. We are running
around looking for investors. We
have our indigenisation policy of
51 and 49 percent. We are the ones
who came up with that policy, never
mind Zanu PF or MDC, but it is
Zimbabweans that came up with
that policy.
“The investor is bringing in his
or her capital in his or her own cash
or funding, it is his or her capital
that we are interested in. We want
$5 million and we now say we want
to control 51 percent of the $5 million?”
If he was not misquoted, I thank
God because finally we were seeing
some patriots, like him, who have
decided to speak the truth, for the
sake of Zimbabwe, even if it means
going against the party or President
Robert Mugabe.
The indigenisation policy has
been, and will continue to be, the
root of our country’s economic
problems. It would be funny, if it
were not so tragic, that our President
does not even see that our
country is in a coma and needs to be
revived as pointed out by the Zanu
PF MP. The President is on record
as saying our economy is on the
mend and therefore, we have nothing
to worry about.
He was joined by Rugare Gumbo,
Zanu PF spokesperson, who appears
to have no inkling, whatsoever,
as to what the word economy
means. Gumbo recently told
the State media that, “Tight liquidity
conditions are because of our
inability to service our loans.” He
went on to say, “It’s not that there
is no money in Zimbabwe. There is
plenty of money. Look at the cars
that are there, look at the construction
of houses — money is there
but people are not in the first place
banking. They are hoarding. And
if you are keeping money in your
ceiling, there can’t be money in the
market. So our people have to learn
to save, to bank. And the banks have
the responsibility to give back what
they have saved. But money is there.
There is plenty of money in Zimbabwe.”
The man is obviously out of his
depth. When Mugabe and his party
spokesman talked about the growth
of the economy, Finance minister,
Patrick Chinamasa had revised
downwards the economic growth
forecast which he had put forward
during the presentation of the national
budget last year.
Presently he is desperately crisscrossing
the globe in a futile effort
to raise the much-needed foreign investment
for the country. I wish I
lived in their make-believe world,
where the number of cheap Japanese
cars on the street are a measure
of economic growth, instead of
this impoverished Zimbabwe which
the rest of us live in.
For a long time it was only the
enlightened and courageous, non-
Zanu PF Zimbabweans, who spoke
openly against the disastrous policies
of the ruling party. These were
immediately painted with the “sellout”
brush by blindly loyal, and
even threatening, party members.
Zanu PF members did not dare
stray from the party line. It is, therefore,
so gratifying to behold a Zanu
PF member of parliament who has
stood up to be counted on the side
of truth. Our prayers should be that
many more Zanu PF leaders may
be emboldened to stand up against
those policies and practices which
are destroying our country.
John Robertson, a leading and
internationally recognised Zimbabwean
economist and journalist,
has often spoken out about how
our economy has been run down by
poor policies and how the country is
running out of time to fix it. Robertson,
who is often ridiculed by senior
Zanu PF officials for criticising
Mugabe and Zanu PF’s disastrous
policies, has emphatically told the
government to bin the Indigenisation
and Economic Empowerment
Act. Instead of doing just that and
asking for help in replacing it from
knowledgeable Zimbabweans, the
IMF and other international financial
institutions, Zanu PF would
like to play games as usual. They
are sure they can con their way
through this mess through window
dressing solutions.
Zimbabwe has a total of US$9,9
billion in domestic and external
debt. Because of this debt the country
is not able to get fresh lines of
credit to get the country’s devastated
economy going again. In order to
get more lines of credit, the government
is desperately trying to convince
the IMF that they are now on
the right track.
They told the IMF that they are
going to make sure parastatals are
reformed so that they become profitable
and thereafter the country
will be able to pay its way. In a letter
to IMF director Christine Lagarde,
jointly signed by Chinamasa and
Reserve Bank governor, John Mangudya,
Zimbabwe said the amendments
would require all public entities
to submit their corporate and
financial plans to the Finance and
Economic Development minister
before the beginning of the new fiscal
year.
The press then reported that
government planned to amend the
Public Finance Management Act
to give the Ministry of Finance
powers to oversee parastatals and
local authorities to stop the rot at
the entities. Writing in NewsDay,
Chief Business Reporter Ndamu
Sandu said, “This comes when
corporate governance practices
have been alien at parastatals
with some having gone for years
without producing audited financial
results.”
At this same time, Chinamasa is
reported as saying government is
considering shutting down non-performing
state-owned companies because
they have become a drag on
the country’s economic recovery efforts.
Speaking at a conference of
the Institute of Chartered Accountants,
Chinamasa said, “We have
started tackling problems at state
enterprises and parastatals which
used to contribute 40% but are now
milking the economy as they are
not contributing.”
The IMF has previously set standards
for Zimbabwe to follow in order
to achieve economic recovery.
What makes the government think
they will now accept this rigmarole
in the place of sound and realistic
economic policies?
Chinamasa has worked hard and
has tried his best as minister of Finance,
but until he realises that the
only solution to Zimbabwe’s economic
problems lies in throwing
Zanu PF policies that he knows very
well to be useless, into the dust-bin,
and asking for assistance to craft
new workable policies, he will be a
great failure.
He will never achieve the development
that many Zimbabweans believe
he is after. The economy will
eventually crumble to nothing under
his watch. He needs to stand
up and be counted now, before time
runs out for Zimbabwe.
History teaches that economic
meltdown is usually closely followed
by violence and chaos. He,
who has ears to hear, let him hear.
‘My thoughts on religious tourism were misrepresented’
The comment entitled, Churches’
duty exemption on cars
ill-advised on the Comment
and Analysis page of The Standard
July 27 to August 2 2014, was
a highly damaging distortion of
my statements on religious tourism
and the churches’ role in the
sector.
What I said and clearly meant
to any person of goodwill, is that
churches, to the extent that they
operate tourism businesses, will
benefit from all the incentives
that are on offer to spur tourism
growth.
If they run restaurants, conference
facilities, vehicle rental services
or offer any other travel and
tourism service, they will, like
any other tourism operator, benefit
from tax breaks we offer operators
in the sector.
They will benefit not because
they are churches but because
they operate businesses that offer
tourism services. Indeed I
have also said in the past that they
should also pay taxes on whatever
business earnings they make.
My point, which some media
houses seem unable, or unwilling
to appreciate, is that church business
should be taxed and incentivised
just like any other business.
Religious tourism is not just
“so-called” as was put in the comment
in question, it is a real economic
activity raking in billions
of dollars globally. It means travel
and tourism related to religion,
and is quite distinguishable
from other forms of tourism.
sunday
view
BY WALTER
MZEMBI
The church is not a business in
the strict commercial meaning of
“business” but it can own a business.
Bishops, prophets and pastors,
will continue to pay relevant taxes,
levies and duties on what they
earn or purchase. The rule is very
simple and well-understood by all
Bible-based religious groups, “give
unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar”.
I agree that this incentive, like
any other, can be abused and government
will have to put in place
measures to ensure that this is not
the case.
However, we cannot stop giving
incentives where this will benefit
the national interest because
we fear that they may be abused.
If “enterprising” persons form
churches solely for the purpose
of doing business, surely such
churches will not last, and they
will open themselves to prosecution.
The issue of some prophets and
pastors having lavish lifestyles is a
different one altogether and need
to be tackled as such.
In my speech, I emphasised the
point that my decision, was “reciprocal”.
I said, “Our modern
day temples and their associated
visions have inspired tourism
and hospitality defined businesses
in the form of conference facilities,
transport SBUs, television stations,
accommodation and restaurant
and cuisine entities which my
ministry licenses.
In reciprocation and in line
with my vision, to grow church
or faith-based or inspired business,
I have extended the provisions
of Statutory Instruments
172 and 173 dealing with duty free
capital goods and motor vehicle
importations to the church and
its sector”.
I hope this clarifies my thoughts
on this matter.
• Walter Mzembi is the minister
of Tourism.