For far too long Zimbabweans have been fed lies that the economy is on the rebound and that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is on top of the situation when it comes to the perennial currency crisis and other related problems.
The government has told so many lies about economic revival for the past eight years such that the authors of the propaganda now believe their delusions.
Zimbabwe’s economy is nowhere near being on the rebound. Business is choking under the weight of currency uncertainty, a liquidity crunch and a generally hostile environment.
Companies are bleeding jobs and for workers that are still employed, only a fraction still gets their salaries on time. Even the government itself has not been paying contractors for several months as it tries to maintain the façade of a stable local currency.
Business has suffered in silence for a very long time because executives know the monster they are dealing with when it comes to the government, but this changed last week.
Someone had to be brave to speak truth to power and it was the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) that took up the challenge. CZI, the voice for industry in Zimbabwe, wrote to the Industry and Commerce Ministry alerting the government to the unfolding disaster in the economy.
The letter identified nine areas requiring immediate intervention, including the government’s debt to the private sector, the need to reduce sugar taxes on beverage makers and adjusting the 305 foreign currency retention thresholds for exporters.
Business did not sugar coat the fact that the government’s currency polices are a recipe for disaster. CZI urged the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to formalise and legalise its proclamations on dedollarisation to end the uncertainty that investors now have to contend with because of hazy policies around dedollarisation.
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The RBZ has indicated that it will phase out the use of the United States dollar in 2030, which means that the one year-old Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) would become the sole currency, but the roadmap to a mono currency regime has not been forthcoming since last year.
CZI emphasised that Zimbabwe “requires bold and accelerated reforms, including systematic deregulation inspired by Argentine President Javier Milei’s one deregulation per-day model.”
For once, the government must listen to the authentic voice of business in Zimbabwe and stop believing the propaganda about an economic renaissance, and get down to the business of fixing the economy.
Zimbabwe’s economy is in the doldrums and it is the poor people that are bearing the brunt of the decay.
