AT THE height of the liberation struggle back in 1978, a herd of 22 cattle, leftovers from a larger rustled herd by marauding villagers from Marange and Buhera, just showed up in our village close to the Mozambican border.

After some hushed discussions among the village elders, and in line with teachings of that day whereby everything was to be done to hurt the ‘enemy’, the cattle were distributed across the village and an orgy of killing followed. There was meat everywhere, even up in trees and for the first time dogs in our community could walk away from meat.

More than 30 years later, there are some among us who have not moved from the mindset of war plundering -- especially where public resources are concerned. They have not learnt that when the rich and middle class grab public resources, they are in fact depriving the poor of the most basic needs.

The financial decisions we make at individual level affect families, family decisions impact communities and before we know it they drive national pre-dispositions. For us to build a successful modern economy in Zimbabwe, one of the values we have to promote is that there is no free lunch anymore and everyone should settle debts when incurred.

Paul of Tarsus put it succinctly over 2000 years ago (2 Thessalonians 3:10) when he said that “If a man does not work, he should not eat”.

A point that has been raised by some members of the Zimbabwean Diaspora is that while they are quite keen to pool their resources together and purchase listed stocks and other Zimbabwean assets, what happens if some senior politician just decides to change the rules and reward themselves with say 5% of a listed company you are buying into without paying for it? As efforts are made to craft a new constitution, it is important to put checks and balances that protect property rights.

At the height of the previous patronage system perpetrated in Zimbabwe, I remember driving from South Africa to find fleets of Hummers and Prados blocking Simon Mazorodze Road, as we entered Harare. Oblivious of what was happening, I had to stop and enquire whether General Motors was having a showroom in Harare, only to be informed that these were “needy” farmers receiving their farming equipment from the RBZ.

How a CEO of a listed company and someone who could afford to buy a Hummer for cash could be classified as so needy to receive a government-purchased tractor at the expense of the poor communal farmer is still difficult to comprehend.

Zimbabwe would never had required importing maize if we had used just a third of that money to lend inputs to the un-bankable communal farmers in Mwenezi, Muzarabani, Checheche, Zaka, Jotsholo, Chivhu, Mtoko and Dewedzo. I was in Malawi some time back and there are good lessons Zimbabwe’s mukwenyana Bingu wa Mutharika can teach us.

The maize that Zimbabwe imported from Malawi for the last two years or so is coming from small holder farmers with one to ten hectares that the government has supported with seed, fertilizer and crop chemicals.

It would set a very dangerous precedent if the elected representatives of Zimbabwe continue to ignore the $1.5 billion RBZ debt, at a time the national debt is ballooning. The current crop of MPs does not inspire much confidence after the tantrums they threw last year with regards to the Mazda BT50 offered to them.

The new RBZ board is made up of individuals of the highest ethical integrity such as labour activist Dr Godfrey Kanyenze, and I am sure they will not continue to tip-toe around this debt like the inclusive government and will do everything to recover this debt which was recklessly incurred. If they do not have the stamina to do it, then they should hand it over to private debt collectors who can get the job done.

If they can just recover just a third of the debt outstanding, then they can start a $500 million revolving fund which can be placed with Agribank for onward lending to the A2 farmers rather than them coming back to the fiscus every rainy season. With exports from tobacco alone exceeding $300 million this year, some aspects of land reform are clearly working and there is need to cultivate a culture of paying for services rendered. Repayment of debt incurred at individual or national level is one of the keys of a functioning financial system.

If we cannot learn from our supposed enemies as a nation, then the least we should do is learn from our supposed friends. Despite their low wages, China is reported to have savings rates northwards of 38% of their GDP compared to less than 5% in the USA. This gives them sufficient economic muscle to fuel their economic growth without the need to rush cap in hand to the IMF to borrow. Currently, China desperately wants the US economy to recover because they have trillions invested there.

I believe it was naive of our Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti to declare that we ‘shall eat what we hunt’ then go ahead to budget from $800 million to come from donors. The world does not owe us a living. It is part of this expectation that donors will support us which has continued to make Africa a charity case. We should live within our means even if it means shutting down embassies in every corner of the world which do not add any value to our nation.

“Nothing about us without us” is a slogan that has resonated with groupings involved in issues of the disabled in South Africa. It is a slogan those toiling in the Diaspora can also adopt with respect to issues of their homeland. If you already work hard enough for your money, then you need good risk management wherever you invest it.

While issues like the current constitutional reform process are important, this should not be done at the expense of putting our national finances at risk. I hope as the diamond resources start flowing in we will not resort back to spending with reckless abandon. We need to build a culture being prudent in the way we handle national savings.