Joram Nyathi

Joram Nyathi is JOMIC communications manager and former deputy editor of the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper. He writes in his personal capacity

Of Biti and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

By Joram NyathiPolitics Last updated on: March 27, 2009
99 CommentsComment on this article

A NUMBER of images flashed through my mind as I read through Finance Minister Tendai Biti’s “revised” budget statement. Images of Gideon Gono; footprints of potential donors in retreat; Zimbabwe’s poor left to dry out in the sun; and of course sanctions and the phantom known as “remaining” white commercial farmers.

 

Let me from the start ask for Biti’s indulgence. My comments on his budget statement are based on assumptions and, as the British Council wisely counsels in its leadership training programmes, we should hold our assumptions lightly in case there is need to discard them in the light of new information. Mine are borrowed assumptions based on his alleged relationship with Gono.

 

So here I go. The fight in Zimbabwe’s crisis is not with Gideon Gono. The fight is against low productivity and hunger. What is needed is an urgent economic turnaround.

 

But I have failed to rationalise Biti’s appointment as Finance Minister with Gono as Reserve Bank governor. This was soon after Biti likened Gono to an al-Qaeda who deserved to stand before a firing squad. It is as if somebody endorsed the view that Gono was the enemy of the state and only Biti could tackle him.

 

Biti appears to have taken the post with a lot of relish, ready for a fight, either to get rid of Gono or to humiliate him. First, he left him out of his delegation to South Africa to explain Zimbabwe’s financial situation.

 

I don’t know what South Africa’s Tito Mboweni made of it but it must have been awkward trying to deal with a Finance Minister who is at war with the man in charge of his nation’s financial intermediation; the man who not only understands better the depth of the crisis but will also determine how the debt is repaid once the political rhetoric is over. Why wash your dirty linen on a neighbour’s yard?

 

Second, it was Gono who announced the use of multi-currencies in his monetary policy statement on February 2. He, however, said the Zimbabwe dollar would remain legal tender “to safeguard our national identity and sovereignty” after lopping 12 zeros, and an immediate end to quasi-fiscal activities by the Reserve Bank. This signified a reduced role for Gono in the economy.

 

Biti rammed it in through his “revised” statement, declaring the Zimbabwe dollar “dead”. There would be “no more printing of money”, he announced enthusiastically. He got a round of applause. You would have thought there was a chance of Gono printing the Rand and US dollar.

 

Yet Biti makes an important point, whose import he unfortunately misses. He says in his statement he had learnt three lessons in the four weeks since he assumed office. “The first (lesson) being high levels of demand on the fiscus, the second being huge expectations, and the third being limited capacity to deliver on the part of the fiscus.”

 

He is Finance Minister in a new government. Previously, in a broke government with limited options under sanctions, those demands fell on Gono at Reserve Bank. He didn’t have the optimism of a minister expecting donor funds.

 

In his optimism, Biti has removed the 7,5% “surrender requirement” for miners which Gono had progressively reduced from over 45% when he took over at the RBZ in 2003. Thanks to Biti, I am also a beneficiary of his decision to raise the tax free band from US$125 to $150. Cutting the budget by US$700 million is no more than showmanship if it doesn’t relieve the load on the poor by reducing the executive payroll.

 

I would assume that the Mercs which the freshmen have appropriated to themselves were also purchased with proceeds of Gono’s printing press! It was naive of him to even dream of winning the senseless battle against inflation.

 

But then Biti, when you rely on the promise of others to finance your requirements I think it is prudent to allocate what you have “gathered” according to need than to get a round of business applause.

 

Similarly, while money printed by the RBZ might have been open to abuse, by instantly killing the Zimbabwe dollar, Biti has burnt all bridges behind him in the hope that there will be a lot to “kill” and “eat” in the forest ahead.

 

To raise the tax free band in an economy with a claimed unemployment of 90% might be a stimulus package for consumers and business but smacks of too much faith in the promises of donors. Biti might live to rue these impetuous decisions.

 

Yet, on matters of substance, Biti’s “reality check”, like Gono’s in the past, is strong on the obvious aspects of our crisis, giving us a litany of the problems just like Gono removing zeros from the local currency, but leaves the crux of solution in the realm of political speculation – whether potential donors can be sufficiently humoured to coax money from taxpayers lately hit by the plague of irresponsible laissez faire.

 

The difference between the two is that while Gono looked to our politicians to work out a deal and printed money to fill the deficit gap, Biti has opted to destroy the mint and instead prioritise the begging bowl, apparently oblivious of the “global” financial crunch or too confident of the bounty of the MDC’s “friends” despite their setting conditions which would be too embarrassing to accept.

 

Some have made it clear they won’t release any money so long as Robert Mugabe is president. They (donors) want to be in charge of the government because, they dare say, “Tsvangirai is too weak”. He is not as strong as Kenya’s Raila Odinga.

 

The point about Mugabe leads me with trepidation into the hallowed sphere of that breed of our citizens called “remaining” white commercial farmers. I almost avoided mentioning them, because they are a protected species.

 

In our inclusive democracy, it has become risky to be different, to say the unpopular truth. But I was relieved when Professor Ken Mufuka added to my limited ken by indicating that part of the reason we should not expect aid from, or the lifting of sanctions by the US any time soon, is because for Democrats to be seen to be giving money to Mugabe is a sure way to lose elections.

 

“The anti-Mugabe propaganda war (in the US) can only be assuaged by some arrangement satisfactory to (Zimbabwe’s) white farmers …,” Mufuka wrote in his column.

 

One such farmer who has relocated to Mozambique wrote boldly on her web site two weeks ago that there would be no peace in Zimbabwe “until Mugabe is dead”.

 

My feeling is that Mugabe and Zanu PF have become victims of their own half-hearted measures in the fast-track land reform. It is those farmers who were left on the land who have become Mugabe’s relentless nemesis.

 

Their number changes everyday from 72 to 100 to 500. If they were left on the farms because they were viewed as “friends”, that was a huge mistake. They have become the coalition government’s most implacable enemy. Touch any one of them and before the end of the day news portals are clogged with reports of “fresh farm invasions”, “threats to property rights”, “human rights violations”, travel warnings to Zimbabwe and investor flight.

 

A single white farmer’s eviction poses a serious threat to food security. Then you wonder why we ever needed 4,500 of them. Are these genuine farmers or a decoy for a sinister project?

 

Given the pernicious influence of these “remaining” white farmers, it is easy to see why a key “pillar” of Biti’s STERP, the short-term economic recovery programme launched last week, is “democratisation”. This is the “pillar” which will open the floodgates of foreign financial aid to Zimbabwe, and its components are listed with telling boldness about their origin:

 

Rule of law;
A new people-driven Constitution;
Restoration of property rights;
Restoration of political legitimacy;
Freedom and liberties;
Restoration of personal measures;
Opening up of the media; as well as
Restoration and re-integration of Zimbabwe into the community of nations.

 

There is nothing wrong with these concepts per se. In fact their realisation should be every nation’s ultimate goal. What worries me is their prioritisation in a short-term programme, in the specific case of STERP, about 10 months.

 

Biti is aware that the GPA and the MoU before it are unequivocal that the land reform programme “is irreversible”. This raises questions about repeated references to “restoration”. To whom? From whom? By whom? Covering what historical period?

 

This “pillar” is inextricably tied to the begging bowl than the long-term interests of the nation. While its components are a vital indicator of a nation’s democratic well-being, to place it as the top priority in our emergency is misplaced. It’s like the Fire Brigade coming to rescue people from a burning house demanding that “all women should be decently dressed first before we can come in”.

 

It is not a condition set by someone who wants to help you. The aim is to settle a score. The West has never disguised its distaste for the coalition arrangement. In fact it is now demanding that the AU and SADC, which guaranteed the initial agreement between Zanu PF and the MDC and the coalition government which followed, should fund it.

 

In short, to take Biti’s democratisation “pillar” as a priority ahead of food, health, water and security is to stand Maslow’s hierarchy of needs on its head.

 

Joram Nyathi is deputy editor of the Zimbabwe Independent. He writes here in his personal capacity

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Tags: budget revision, gideon gono, maslow hierarchy of needs, Robert Mugabe, sanctions, tendai biti, white farmers, Zimbabwe
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  • bestman

    taruvinga- your contribution to this discusion really is too weird . i dont understand it when u say zimbabwean white farmers were farming for the west . zimbabwe was known as the bread basket of southern africa- meaning africans benefited from this farming more than anyone else.
    your racist attitude clouds your reasoning ability and judgement really bad. i dont know where u are gettin g the number of white farmer doing farming in zimbabwe from , but am sure not evryone here will agree with u. even the number of farms acuired also needs verification . u said 1200 farms were aquired and relocated. but the reall question here is ..to how many blacks . dont tell me the number of people who benefited from land reform stands at 1200. whats about those with 2 or 3 farms , or even 4 or 5 between a couple and their sibblings [ some who are even under 16 years of age]
    everybody in zimbabwe agrees with you that people need land . but the way zanu did the whole process was a mess . so please dont preach hate and racism here .

  • http://maravi.blogspot.com/ MrK

    Who benefited from Land Reform? Another of the MDC’s hobby horses.

    Secondly, I don’t take charges of ‘racism’ from rhodesians.

    Table 2. Beneficiaries of the Land Reform Programme by Province, May 2003

    A1 205,823
    A2 28,665

    Source: The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation
    http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y9730e/y9730e00.htm#2

    That is 234,488 beneficiaries from land reform by 2003. Today, it is over 300,000.

    I guess reality has a known pro-Mugabe bias. :)

    Think of it this way. If a party keeps lying (about the existence of sanctions, on the number of people who benefited from land reform), at what point do they lose all credibility as an organisation?

    And when is a party that lies about reality, shown for what it is? Did the ANC ever lie about anything? So why does the MDC feel the need to do so?

  • http://maravi.blogspot.com/ MrK

    Who benefited from Land Reform? Another of the MDC’s hobby horses.

    Secondly, I don’t take charges of ‘racism’ from rhodesians.

    Table 2. Beneficiaries of the Land Reform Programme by Province, May 2003

    A1 205,823
    A2 28,665

    Source: The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation
    http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y9730e/y9730e00.htm#2

    That is 234,488 beneficiaries from land reform by 2003. Today, it is over 300,000.

    I guess reality has a known pro-Mugabe bias. :)

    Think of it this way. If a party keeps lying (about the existence of sanctions, on the number of people who benefited from land reform), at what point do they lose all credibility as an organisation?

    And when is a party that lies about reality, shown for what it is? Did the ANC ever lie about anything? So why does the MDC feel the need to do so?

  • tendai

    Mr Nyathi the reason why people vermantly oppose your views is that you are already scrutinizing the unity government. Some people dont like it when Obama’s policies are put under the microscope and people are not yet ready for the MDC elements of the unity govt to be held accountable. It is this lack of scrutiny and accountability which lead to the Zanu Pf becoming the monster it is. Keep up your good work Mr Nyathi

  • tendai

    Mr Nyathi the reason why people vermantly oppose your views is that you are already scrutinizing the unity government. Some people dont like it when Obama’s policies are put under the microscope and people are not yet ready for the MDC elements of the unity govt to be held accountable. It is this lack of scrutiny and accountability which lead to the Zanu Pf becoming the monster it is. Keep up your good work Mr Nyathi

  • saviour

    This is going against the grain here! We must accept that the new gvt needs time. Only brain dead detractors will not get biti’s message.You must have to be totally ‘dense’ to not get what he is talking about. in any case he has only been in office 50days no more than a 10000th of what zanu mini-sisters have been, let the guy have his time for god’s sake! let him make his mistakes . He still has 28 yrs and some months to go! i think we need more positive writing. joram has the same audacity as jonathan moyo. is it a ndebele thing going on or what? Jonathan Moyo screwed up the media for neutral reporters why not talk about the reforms we need in that area you being a writer? do not be castigating Biti for how he said things if you are not going to tell us what he shud have said. Again you say The Prime Minister is not strong?is not strong enough- to do what? Tsvangirai does not need to be like Raila Odinga does he? He has cracks on his skull by Mugabe’s thugs that you , Mutambara and Jonathan Moyo do not have. We are not in Kenya here! If we were I bet he would!!! If being strong means doing the Gukurahundi thing on the Ndebeles then thats bull! Of course you do have your economics back to front. Country needs a complete overhaul. my 8yr old can now define inflation because it has been spoken about every other day. without trying to define anything; the combination of all the adverse conditions, inflation had to be high. How ?- no viable fiscal structure( and to take a cue from Biti) the govt had no taxation forest to ‘catch’ from so we could not eat and to use Joram’s words: the cake became too small for the rest but big enough for Mugabe and friends, the rest lived in reduced circumstances. With nowhere to ‘hunt’ 90% unemployment, 0 production ,except Gono printing more money forMugabe and lot the dollar naturally lost its stability and general acceptability.To review a budget under those circumstances is economically sound and should be applauded rather than be treated with derision. Biti will hopefully be able to deal with that . He was at the summit with Mugabe today

  • saviour

    This is going against the grain here! We must accept that the new gvt needs time. Only brain dead detractors will not get biti’s message.You must have to be totally ‘dense’ to not get what he is talking about. in any case he has only been in office 50days no more than a 10000th of what zanu mini-sisters have been, let the guy have his time for god’s sake! let him make his mistakes . He still has 28 yrs and some months to go! i think we need more positive writing. joram has the same audacity as jonathan moyo. is it a ndebele thing going on or what? Jonathan Moyo screwed up the media for neutral reporters why not talk about the reforms we need in that area you being a writer? do not be castigating Biti for how he said things if you are not going to tell us what he shud have said. Again you say The Prime Minister is not strong?is not strong enough- to do what? Tsvangirai does not need to be like Raila Odinga does he? He has cracks on his skull by Mugabe’s thugs that you , Mutambara and Jonathan Moyo do not have. We are not in Kenya here! If we were I bet he would!!! If being strong means doing the Gukurahundi thing on the Ndebeles then thats bull! Of course you do have your economics back to front. Country needs a complete overhaul. my 8yr old can now define inflation because it has been spoken about every other day. without trying to define anything; the combination of all the adverse conditions, inflation had to be high. How ?- no viable fiscal structure( and to take a cue from Biti) the govt had no taxation forest to ‘catch’ from so we could not eat and to use Joram’s words: the cake became too small for the rest but big enough for Mugabe and friends, the rest lived in reduced circumstances. With nowhere to ‘hunt’ 90% unemployment, 0 production ,except Gono printing more money forMugabe and lot the dollar naturally lost its stability and general acceptability.To review a budget under those circumstances is economically sound and should be applauded rather than be treated with derision. Biti will hopefully be able to deal with that . He was at the summit with Mugabe today

  • Jajelo

    Mr Nyathi you need to get real, are you saying Biti instantly killed the zim$ when everyone knows for certeinity that what Gono did in February was just formalise what the economy had corrected in its own ways. For the purposes of going forwards we need journalists who propagate the truts not half truths.

    Also you seem to defend gono’s every action ignoring the misery caused by gono on the ordinery public through his printing inflation. If that was good why didnt he continu, the thing is , when the Zim $$ died gono didnt have any choice but to formalise what the economy had formalised informally, credit for killing the zim$$ goes to none othe than gono and it will haunt him for the rest of his life

    Last note mr Nyathi, wish you a long life so that you will be party to the events which will unfold in our new Zim under great pipo like Biti.

  • Jajelo

    Mr Nyathi you need to get real, are you saying Biti instantly killed the zim$ when everyone knows for certeinity that what Gono did in February was just formalise what the economy had corrected in its own ways. For the purposes of going forwards we need journalists who propagate the truts not half truths.

    Also you seem to defend gono’s every action ignoring the misery caused by gono on the ordinery public through his printing inflation. If that was good why didnt he continu, the thing is , when the Zim $$ died gono didnt have any choice but to formalise what the economy had formalised informally, credit for killing the zim$$ goes to none othe than gono and it will haunt him for the rest of his life

    Last note mr Nyathi, wish you a long life so that you will be party to the events which will unfold in our new Zim under great pipo like Biti.

  • http://maravi.blogspot.com/ MrK

    ”

    Mr Nyathi you need to get real, are you saying Biti instantly killed the zim$ when everyone knows for certeinity that what Gono did in February was just formalise what the economy had corrected in its own ways. ”

    I knew there must still be free market believers somewhere in this world, and apparently they exist among the ranks of the MDC. Because the rest of the world is buying up what is left of the banks after their industry was deregulated. They are trying to protect their population from the fact that because of deunionisation and outsourcing of jobs and companies to low wage countries, their citizens incomes have disappeared.

    But the MDC still ‘believes’.

    I have said it before, letting the old Eddie Cross types set economic policy is an absolute disaster. They failed once, they shouldn’t be allowed to screw up again – because they will.

    All neoliberalism is about, in as few words as possible, is to concentrate as much money at the top, and take as much money from the workers as possible. That is why we see this massive Great Depression today. The difference between rich and poor in the US and other countries which tried these policies just increases, until the economy collapses under the weight of this imbalance. Economies need both supply and demand, and supply side economics (neoliberal/voodoo/laissez faire ecoonomics) just benefits the supply side (capital) until the economy collapses – as it did in 1907, 1929-1932, 1987-1992 and now again.

  • http://maravi.blogspot.com/ MrK

    ”

    Mr Nyathi you need to get real, are you saying Biti instantly killed the zim$ when everyone knows for certeinity that what Gono did in February was just formalise what the economy had corrected in its own ways. ”

    I knew there must still be free market believers somewhere in this world, and apparently they exist among the ranks of the MDC. Because the rest of the world is buying up what is left of the banks after their industry was deregulated. They are trying to protect their population from the fact that because of deunionisation and outsourcing of jobs and companies to low wage countries, their citizens incomes have disappeared.

    But the MDC still ‘believes’.

    I have said it before, letting the old Eddie Cross types set economic policy is an absolute disaster. They failed once, they shouldn’t be allowed to screw up again – because they will.

    All neoliberalism is about, in as few words as possible, is to concentrate as much money at the top, and take as much money from the workers as possible. That is why we see this massive Great Depression today. The difference between rich and poor in the US and other countries which tried these policies just increases, until the economy collapses under the weight of this imbalance. Economies need both supply and demand, and supply side economics (neoliberal/voodoo/laissez faire ecoonomics) just benefits the supply side (capital) until the economy collapses – as it did in 1907, 1929-1932, 1987-1992 and now again.

  • Godfrey Chigona

    Nyathi, the economy of Zimbabwe was destroyed not by sanctions as you want to elude to, but the fact that we destroyed property rights by grabbing farms instead of redistributing land in a civilized way of following the laws in in the country.Mugabe realised he was just about to loose the 2000 elections and he fast tracked land redistribution by allowing hunzwi and others to grab farm. that is when the economy died. There are are no sanctions in Zim but restrictions to travel of the few. Zim economy is not getting financial assistance from IMF and the rest because it has no capacity o pay back, there is no production on land , mines or manufacturing, so how do you expect to dish out money like that. Even if they had given money what will it have been used for? farming inputs for the Chinos and company. we all know what happened to 300 million rad from RSA last year. Biti is doing fine, just give him space. Gono had the last five years and he got us to where we are now, he is a useless banker who strive on partisanship. Nyathi you cry as much as you like about sanctions, but the fact is we got were we are because mugabe destroyed factors of production an blamed it on sanctions. From the way things are right now it does not look like they will removed anytime soon so if you think its fine to carry on disrupting operations on farms, go ahead and we will meet at the next elections.

  • Godfrey Chigona

    Nyathi, the economy of Zimbabwe was destroyed not by sanctions as you want to elude to, but the fact that we destroyed property rights by grabbing farms instead of redistributing land in a civilized way of following the laws in in the country.Mugabe realised he was just about to loose the 2000 elections and he fast tracked land redistribution by allowing hunzwi and others to grab farm. that is when the economy died. There are are no sanctions in Zim but restrictions to travel of the few. Zim economy is not getting financial assistance from IMF and the rest because it has no capacity o pay back, there is no production on land , mines or manufacturing, so how do you expect to dish out money like that. Even if they had given money what will it have been used for? farming inputs for the Chinos and company. we all know what happened to 300 million rad from RSA last year. Biti is doing fine, just give him space. Gono had the last five years and he got us to where we are now, he is a useless banker who strive on partisanship. Nyathi you cry as much as you like about sanctions, but the fact is we got were we are because mugabe destroyed factors of production an blamed it on sanctions. From the way things are right now it does not look like they will removed anytime soon so if you think its fine to carry on disrupting operations on farms, go ahead and we will meet at the next elections.

  • http://maravi.blogspot.com/ MrK

    Godfrey Chigona,

    ” Nyathi, the economy of Zimbabwe was destroyed not by sanctions as you want to elude to, but the fact that we destroyed property rights by grabbing farms instead of redistributing land in a civilized way of following the laws in in the country. ”

    Sorry, but that is not the case. The currency was destroyed by sanctions, which forced the government to operate on a cash only basis, which lead to hyperinflation.

    If you must know, the Willing Buyer, Willing Seller land reform program was not blown up by the ZANU-PF ‘grabbing farms’ as you call it, but by the British government itself, which reneged on it’s obligation to fund land purchase in Zimbabwe. To be precise, it was the Zimbabwean government’s obligation to compensate white farmers for the improvements made to the land, and it was the British government’s obligation to compensate the white farmer for the market value of the land itself – that was the deal under the Lancaster House Agreement. However, in November 1997, Claire Short wrote a letter to the then minister of Agriculture and Lands, Kumbirai Kangai:

    ” I should make it clear that we do not accept that Britain has a special responsibility to meet the costs of land purchase in Zimbabwe. We are a new Government from diverse backgrounds without links to former colonial interests. My own origins are Irish and as you know we were colonised not colonisers. ”
    http://www.swans.com/library/art9/ankomah5.html

    In other words, it was the new British government of Tony Blair which blew up the Willing Buyer, Willing seller land reform program.

    Not that that was a bad thing, because it was only put in there by Ian Smith, to prevent land reform and make sure it only progressed at a snail’s pace.

  • http://maravi.blogspot.com/ MrK

    Godfrey Chigona,

    ” Nyathi, the economy of Zimbabwe was destroyed not by sanctions as you want to elude to, but the fact that we destroyed property rights by grabbing farms instead of redistributing land in a civilized way of following the laws in in the country. ”

    Sorry, but that is not the case. The currency was destroyed by sanctions, which forced the government to operate on a cash only basis, which lead to hyperinflation.

    If you must know, the Willing Buyer, Willing Seller land reform program was not blown up by the ZANU-PF ‘grabbing farms’ as you call it, but by the British government itself, which reneged on it’s obligation to fund land purchase in Zimbabwe. To be precise, it was the Zimbabwean government’s obligation to compensate white farmers for the improvements made to the land, and it was the British government’s obligation to compensate the white farmer for the market value of the land itself – that was the deal under the Lancaster House Agreement. However, in November 1997, Claire Short wrote a letter to the then minister of Agriculture and Lands, Kumbirai Kangai:

    ” I should make it clear that we do not accept that Britain has a special responsibility to meet the costs of land purchase in Zimbabwe. We are a new Government from diverse backgrounds without links to former colonial interests. My own origins are Irish and as you know we were colonised not colonisers. ”
    http://www.swans.com/library/art9/ankomah5.html

    In other words, it was the new British government of Tony Blair which blew up the Willing Buyer, Willing seller land reform program.

    Not that that was a bad thing, because it was only put in there by Ian Smith, to prevent land reform and make sure it only progressed at a snail’s pace.

  • okamathuthu

    Why is it this land reform took place or is still taking place everywhere else but Matebeleland?I try yet I still fail to acquire not decent land but any piece of land in Bulawayo with my goddam US$s.And this Nyathi chap keeps on yapping about irrelevant issues instead of giving Biti a chance people like you have no place in the new Zimbabwe.Yes we know Mugabe messed up big time but do not forget that you write so beautifully today because of what that man and others did for our country.Yes they went on to destroy it but tell me what do you do to rebuilt Zimbabwe today than hide somewhere and lament about an economic situation that you clearly do not have a solution to.Damn! you can qoute Maslow but some sekuru or Your khulu somewhere would have told you those same ‘herachy of needs’ and you wouldn’t have bothered about them.Nyathi please!

  • okamathuthu

    Why is it this land reform took place or is still taking place everywhere else but Matebeleland?I try yet I still fail to acquire not decent land but any piece of land in Bulawayo with my goddam US$s.And this Nyathi chap keeps on yapping about irrelevant issues instead of giving Biti a chance people like you have no place in the new Zimbabwe.Yes we know Mugabe messed up big time but do not forget that you write so beautifully today because of what that man and others did for our country.Yes they went on to destroy it but tell me what do you do to rebuilt Zimbabwe today than hide somewhere and lament about an economic situation that you clearly do not have a solution to.Damn! you can qoute Maslow but some sekuru or Your khulu somewhere would have told you those same ‘herachy of needs’ and you wouldn’t have bothered about them.Nyathi please!

  • http://www.zimsentinel.blogspot.com/news hatirebwi

    Haiwa Tigere believe you me I do not support the stupendous allocation of the Mercs to anyone at a time when the country is grappling with basic life needs that are in short supply like clean water, food, education, health services, shelter, safety and security. It is criminal for anyone to drive a £50000.00 to a rally and seek the vote of a near naked and hungry Zimbabwean whose children are out of school and who does not know where their next meal will come from. Such a person is easier to manipulate politically as his vote is not influenced by an analysis of what would sustain him today, the day after and in ten years.
    Be that as it may the Mercs that the MDC MP’s grabbed deserved to be grabbed from Zanu PF hands because if that had not happened they would have been allocated to Zanu PF messengers of evil and undemocratic practices as they had long been bought and were parked in waiting to reward the messengers of evil.
    MrK you are a believer in the ZIDERA sanctions ruse but sadly you seem to lack an understanding of the US legislation’s purpose and intent.
    If you read ZIDERA again you will realise that the US Congress passed the legislation after taking cognisance of certain social, political and economic fundamentals that had gone off the rails in Zimbabwe and needed to be prised back onto the rails.
    Just in case you missed them or you mischievously omitted them to avoid contextualising discussion of ZIDERA sanctions I have taken the trouble to reproduce them for the avoidance of doubt and here they are;
    An Act
    To provide for a transition to democracy and to promote economic recovery in Zimbabwe.

    SEC. 4. SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY.

    (a) FINDINGS- Congress makes the following findings:

    (1) Through economic mismanagement, undemocratic practices, and the costly deployment of troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Government of Zimbabwe has rendered itself ineligible to participate in International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Monetary Fund programs, which would otherwise be providing substantial resources to assist in the recovery and modernization of Zimbabwe’s economy. The people of Zimbabwe have thus been denied the economic and democratic benefits envisioned by the donors to such programs, including the United States.

    (2) In September 1999 the IMF suspended its support under a `Stand By Arrangement’, approved the previous month, for economic adjustment and reform in Zimbabwe.

    (3) In October 1999, the International Development Association (in this section referred to as the `IDA’) suspended all structural adjustment loans, credits, and guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe.

    (4) In May 2000, the IDA suspended all other new lending to the Government of Zimbabwe.

    (5) In September 2000, the IDA suspended disbursement of funds for ongoing projects under previously-approved loans, credits, and guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe.

    On the basis of these findings the USA congress then formulated conditions which in its view would re-qualify Zimbabwe for financial assistance and they include;
    RESTORATION OF THE RULE OF LAW
    ELECTION OR PRE-ELECTION CONDITIONS
    PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION- to be declared free and fair by independent international monitors, and the president-elect is free to assume the duties of the office.
    PRE-ELECTION CONDITIONS- sufficiently improved the pre-election environment to a degree consistent with accepted international standards for security and freedom of movement and association.
    COMMITMENT TO EQUITABLE, LEGAL, AND TRANSPARENT LAND REFORM- demonstrated a commitment to an equitable, legal, and transparent land reform program consistent with agreements reached at the International Donors’ Conference on Land Reform and Resettlement in Zimbabwe held in Harare, Zimbabwe, in September 1998.
    FULFILLMENT OF AGREEMENT ENDING WAR IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO- good faith effort to fulfil the terms of the Lusaka, Zambia, agreement on ending the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
    MILITARY AND NATIONAL POLICE SUBORDINATE TO CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT-the National Police of Zimbabwe, and other state security forces are responsible to and serve the elected civilian government.

    Before then the US Congress deemed it prudent that it will not support any extension of multilateral financial support to Zimbabwe from institutions where it was represented.

    This is where you took up you argument that sanctions were imposed on Zimbabwe by the USA Congress from.

    Unless you can show us that the USA Congressional findings were inaccurate or incorrectly premised we must then agree that International credit lines had been shut long before ZIDERA became law.

    Secondly we should be able to at the very least concede that the very list the requirements for the USA to vote for Zimbabwe’s reconsideration for International credit lines were well premised and not impossible of completion by the Zimbabwe Government if it considered the lines of credit to be of more value to its wellbeing than the issues that motivated legislation of ZIDERA into law.

    Where I find unpalatable hypocrisy in the sanctions argument by Zanu PF is that when the MDC agitates for restoration of the closed credit lines Zanu PF says its puppetry that compromises national sovereignty but they in the same breath demand for the same credit lines albeit on their terms as if they are the lenders.

    Surely the lender has the right to dictate lending terms that will allow him to foreclose on the debt if the situation demands and the borrower has a choice to accept the most favourable terms available from the global lenders or reject the terms and then cobble alternative means to finance its projects without compromising sovereignty and economic welfare of the country.

  • http://www.zimsentinel.blogspot.com/news hatirebwi

    Haiwa Tigere believe you me I do not support the stupendous allocation of the Mercs to anyone at a time when the country is grappling with basic life needs that are in short supply like clean water, food, education, health services, shelter, safety and security. It is criminal for anyone to drive a £50000.00 to a rally and seek the vote of a near naked and hungry Zimbabwean whose children are out of school and who does not know where their next meal will come from. Such a person is easier to manipulate politically as his vote is not influenced by an analysis of what would sustain him today, the day after and in ten years.
    Be that as it may the Mercs that the MDC MP’s grabbed deserved to be grabbed from Zanu PF hands because if that had not happened they would have been allocated to Zanu PF messengers of evil and undemocratic practices as they had long been bought and were parked in waiting to reward the messengers of evil.
    MrK you are a believer in the ZIDERA sanctions ruse but sadly you seem to lack an understanding of the US legislation’s purpose and intent.
    If you read ZIDERA again you will realise that the US Congress passed the legislation after taking cognisance of certain social, political and economic fundamentals that had gone off the rails in Zimbabwe and needed to be prised back onto the rails.
    Just in case you missed them or you mischievously omitted them to avoid contextualising discussion of ZIDERA sanctions I have taken the trouble to reproduce them for the avoidance of doubt and here they are;
    An Act
    To provide for a transition to democracy and to promote economic recovery in Zimbabwe.

    SEC. 4. SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY.

    (a) FINDINGS- Congress makes the following findings:

    (1) Through economic mismanagement, undemocratic practices, and the costly deployment of troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Government of Zimbabwe has rendered itself ineligible to participate in International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Monetary Fund programs, which would otherwise be providing substantial resources to assist in the recovery and modernization of Zimbabwe’s economy. The people of Zimbabwe have thus been denied the economic and democratic benefits envisioned by the donors to such programs, including the United States.

    (2) In September 1999 the IMF suspended its support under a `Stand By Arrangement’, approved the previous month, for economic adjustment and reform in Zimbabwe.

    (3) In October 1999, the International Development Association (in this section referred to as the `IDA’) suspended all structural adjustment loans, credits, and guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe.

    (4) In May 2000, the IDA suspended all other new lending to the Government of Zimbabwe.

    (5) In September 2000, the IDA suspended disbursement of funds for ongoing projects under previously-approved loans, credits, and guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe.

    On the basis of these findings the USA congress then formulated conditions which in its view would re-qualify Zimbabwe for financial assistance and they include;
    RESTORATION OF THE RULE OF LAW
    ELECTION OR PRE-ELECTION CONDITIONS
    PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION- to be declared free and fair by independent international monitors, and the president-elect is free to assume the duties of the office.
    PRE-ELECTION CONDITIONS- sufficiently improved the pre-election environment to a degree consistent with accepted international standards for security and freedom of movement and association.
    COMMITMENT TO EQUITABLE, LEGAL, AND TRANSPARENT LAND REFORM- demonstrated a commitment to an equitable, legal, and transparent land reform program consistent with agreements reached at the International Donors’ Conference on Land Reform and Resettlement in Zimbabwe held in Harare, Zimbabwe, in September 1998.
    FULFILLMENT OF AGREEMENT ENDING WAR IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO- good faith effort to fulfil the terms of the Lusaka, Zambia, agreement on ending the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
    MILITARY AND NATIONAL POLICE SUBORDINATE TO CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT-the National Police of Zimbabwe, and other state security forces are responsible to and serve the elected civilian government.

    Before then the US Congress deemed it prudent that it will not support any extension of multilateral financial support to Zimbabwe from institutions where it was represented.

    This is where you took up you argument that sanctions were imposed on Zimbabwe by the USA Congress from.

    Unless you can show us that the USA Congressional findings were inaccurate or incorrectly premised we must then agree that International credit lines had been shut long before ZIDERA became law.

    Secondly we should be able to at the very least concede that the very list the requirements for the USA to vote for Zimbabwe’s reconsideration for International credit lines were well premised and not impossible of completion by the Zimbabwe Government if it considered the lines of credit to be of more value to its wellbeing than the issues that motivated legislation of ZIDERA into law.

    Where I find unpalatable hypocrisy in the sanctions argument by Zanu PF is that when the MDC agitates for restoration of the closed credit lines Zanu PF says its puppetry that compromises national sovereignty but they in the same breath demand for the same credit lines albeit on their terms as if they are the lenders.

    Surely the lender has the right to dictate lending terms that will allow him to foreclose on the debt if the situation demands and the borrower has a choice to accept the most favourable terms available from the global lenders or reject the terms and then cobble alternative means to finance its projects without compromising sovereignty and economic welfare of the country.

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