The Observer - 16 March 2014 - 7
Reconstructing Zimbabwe: The 8 necessary keys
Itai Zimunya
W
hilst the anti-corruption
crusade seems to dominate
the public discourse in
Zimbabwe,
uncertainty
seems to be creeping back as an economic
challenge. The population is becoming restive.
At the centre of this swelling national
expectation is the Minister of Finance,
Patrick Chinamasa who is surrounded by a
host of challenges. Three questions seem to
constantly nag him on a daily basis.
The first key question is how to expand
the economy without increasing our national
debt? Second is how to materially improve the
welfare of ordinary citizens, and lastly, how to
make that growth sustainable?
The three questions above are distinctively
big and possibly elusive at the same time.
This article seeks to emphasise some policy
options which when implemented, could help
break the perceptions and or fears of another
season of economic collapse.
The Zimbabwean economic narrative
presents a paradox. The country is richly
endowed with resources, land for agriculture,
minerals, a celebrated human resource base,
relative political stability and a great climate
but its economic indicators display poor and
suffering people.
This then begs the fundamental question:
why does our Minister of Finance sweat
so much to look for avenues to grow the
economy amid all these national endowments?
Why are the people of Zimbabwe poor amid
such wealth?
There are two dominant narratives of how
and why Zimbabwe appears cursed amid a
wealth of resources. Sanctions and corruption
commonly feature- jointly or individuallyas justifications for economic collapse in
Zimbabwe largely depending on where one is
located politically.
This discussion does not seek to debate
which of the two, sanctions and or corruption,
contributes more to this crisis. Rather, perhaps,
as we propose a set of policy prescriptions to
Zimbabwe, such issues will be cured through
our broad spectrum policy injections.
Many
economists,
domestic
and
international often engage Zimbabwe and
her questions emotionally and or politically.
Whilst emotions and politics are human and
common, there comes a time we need to rise
above them and put Zimbabwe first. This
is the spirit in which this paper and its eight
prescriptions are framed.
The first primary economic shocktherapy for Zimbabwe is strategic
support to the Small-Medium Economic
(SME) sector.
Since the collapse of large scale
manufacturing and the agricultural base in
Zimbabwe, there has emerged an active small
to medium economic base that is currently
producing, trading and providing services to
drive the economy.
Besides the public service, the next biggest
employer in Zimbabwe is the SME sector.
The challenge to Minister Chinamasa is how
to inject “life” into this sector. There is no one
size fits all, but a collection of antidotes to be
1
taken concurrently.
The SME development is not only a
function of availing resources like finance,
but matching that finance to fair taxation,
trade support /facilitation and continuous
entrepreneurial training.
For example, we focus on the furniture
industries of Lupane (hardwood) and
GlenView 5 which produce excellent products
which, in most cases, depreciate