Zhuwao must have resigned

Obituaries
Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment minister Patrick Zhuwao’s admission on Friday that he failed to interpret the controversial indigenisation law must have been followed by a resignation letter.

Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment minister Patrick Zhuwao’s admission on Friday that he failed to interpret the controversial indigenisation law must have been followed by a resignation letter.

Standard Comment

mugabe-chairman The admission by Zhuwao came a fortnight after his uncle President Robert Mugabe took the unprecedented route of publishing a press statement clarifying the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act.

To put Zhuwao’s incompetence into perspective, it would be important to understand his uncle’s track record.

Mugabe is an epitome of failure but he is not the kind of person who would publicly acknowledge his shortcomings. During last week’s independence celebrations, the 92-year-old president claimed without shame that the economy was on the road to recovery.

Basically, Mugabe is a man who lives in his own world and this is why Zimbabweans became despondent when Zhuwao started pressing the self-destruct button with his ruinous rhetoric directed at foreign-owned banks and other companies.

The overzealous minister used his uncle’s name in his efforts to bully Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa in a futile effort to force the Treasury chief to go along with his flawed interpretation of the law.

Zhuwao and Chinamasa’s public spat caused anxiety among investors and had brought a lot of damage on the economy before Mugabe’s belated intervention.

Zimbabwe is already rated among the worst destinations for foreign capital.

Such a tag comes at a cost for an economy that is bleeding jobs and suffering from years of international isolation.

Before Mugabe’s intervention, Zhuwao had managed to create confusion in the economy to an extent that Zimbabweans are now enduring a cash crisis last experienced during the Zimbabwe dollar era.

The government’s aggressive policy to lure foreign investors, as signified by the tens of business delegations that have visited the country since the last elections, was pegged back by Zhuwao’s infantile exuberance.

A Zanu PF faction cheered the youthful minister as he embarked on this dangerous path because they believed this was what Mugabe wanted because the president is also fond of double speak when it comes to such important national matters.

As much as Zhuwao should resign for his failure to discharge his duties, Mugabe must also be held accountable for failing to supervise his ministers.

If he was a responsible leader, Mugabe would have put brakes to Zhuwao’s madness as far back as December last year when he started fighting Chinamasa and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya over the indigenisation policy.

Mugabe has a lot of ministers in his Cabinet that do not have any idea what they should be doing, like Zhuwao. There is Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere who has made it his job to destroy urban councils because the office holders do not belong to his party.

Agriculture minister Joseph Made, whose incompetence has become stuff of legends, also enjoys the president’s protection.

Besides being the appointing authority, Mugabe supervises these clueless ministers and that means the buck stops with him.

The president’s appointees are a reflection of his capacity, or lack of it as a leader.

Zhuwao’s admission is actually confirmation of what Mugabe’s critics have been saying for years; that he is not suitable for the country’s top post.

The president cannot properly supervise the dubious ministers that he picks all the time to handle critical portfolios because he is also out of his depth.