The Observer - 23 February 2014 - 5
A Crisis of Governance
S
Eddie Cross (MP)
ince July 2013 the situation in
Zimbabwe has deteriorated sharply
on many fronts, economic, political,
diplomatic and internal governance.
Each represents a special challenge; together
they constitute a situation that demands some
form of radical and immediate response.
Just look at each of the above aspects –
economic; the economy is shrinking again.
We now have deflation to contend with,
completely the opposite of hyperinflation,
but still damaging and dangerous. There is no
confidence and capital flight continues across
the board with many banks teetering on the
edge.
Political; the divisions in Zanu PF are now
patently visible to all and reaching a stage
where we might see real conflict between
the warring elements. MDC is in a mess and
needs to sort out its situation, settle down to
a protracted struggle for fundamental reforms
and the democratic contests that lie ahead.
Diplomatic; just this past week we have
had the British government take a hard
stand on sanctions, the United States harden
its position and refuse all overtures to relax
restrictions and the EU declaration that it
is unlikely to change. All stated that the July
elections were not credible as representing the
democratic views of the majority. Botswana
broke ranks with the AU and the SADC and
agreed with the views of the international
community.
Finally internal governance; Jonathan Moyo
thought he was being clever when he launched
a small campaign to expose supporters of
the Vice President for corrupt activities. He
and all others have been shaken by the public
reaction and they have not been able to get the
Genie back into the bottle. In fact, the ripple
effect is hard at work and every day there are
new revelations of bad governance, lousy
policy or no policy and simply plain theft and
corruption.
We have all known that corruption had
become endemic in our society – we are
surrounded by the evidence, palatial homes
everywhere, luxury cars, people living high
with little or no evidence of support, the
police road blocks, daily experiences in civil
servant offices.
What we did not expect was the massive
salaries granted with impunity to officers
and directors of State controlled institutions.
What is further disheartening is that it is clear
that the State had no policy to deal with this
crucial area of the management of State
enterprise and agencies, none at all. All the
people involved were not breaking the law –
they have valid contracts and this is going to
be very difficult to deal with.
Then there is the evidence slowly emerging
from Marange diamond fields. In 1870 when
the first diamond discoveries were made in
South Africa, tens of thousands descended
on the diamond field and started mining. De
Beers was formed in 1876 and within five
years was the greatest mining company in the
world.
Diamonds provided the seed capital that
built the railways, financed the coal and gold
mines and founded the great Universities of
South Africa. At its peak the diamond mines
sold $10 million worth of diamonds a year
from about 5 million carats.
In Zimbabwe the diamonds were
discovered by De Beers and then abandoned
as not being worth developing, their claims
were taken over by ACR in London who
then went on to drill and trench on site and
discovered the vast wealth that lay in the
sands and rock of an area about the size of
the original diamond discoveries in South
Africa. When they realized what was entailed,
the State in Zimbabwe simply booted out the
company with scant regards for their rights or
the law.
They then allowed a diamond rush that
brought in 40 000 small scale miners. When it
dawned on the regime that they were finding
real money, the State simply drove them off
using dogs and armed soldiers, in the process
killing over 200. They then set up a series of
companies to exploit the find and between
2008 and 2013 (five years) they extracted over
100 million carats of diamonds worth at least
$12 billion dollars.
What do we have to show for all that new
wealth – a Chinese monstrosity of a shopping
mall in Harare, a hotel in Mutare, a couple of
military instillations that we paid for with our
own money but using Chinese contractors
and little else.
We saw private jets flying in and out of
our airports and the airfield at Marange itself
(they have at least two capable of handling jets
with modern equipment), we hear of shadowy
deals involving millions and characters from
Belgium, Dubai, Hong Cong and Angola.
But we only saw tiny sums reaching the State
coffers.
In 2012 I estimate that the gangsters who
controlled the Marange fields had availed to
themselves more resources than were available
to the Minister of Finance. One hears of
major corruption in countries and this must
rank with the top corruption scams in history.
Next door where De Beers is in
partnership with the Botswana Government,
the diamond mines fund the budget, they
have free education up to University level, a
Sovereign Wealth Fund with $4 billion in it
and the whole operation is open, transparent
and accountable.
Every field we look at, every Ministry, every
State enterprise is rotten to the core, packed
with people appointed, not for their capacity
and ability but for patronage purposes. Where
some sanity has been restored – for example
in the energy sector