AFTER listening to Finance minister Tendai Biti’s budget statement Friday one felt very sad indeed.
Comment by Itai Masuku
It’s a Mickey Mouse affair. An estimated 12 million-plus people pinning their hopes on US$3,5 billion, the same amount that can be earned by a single Hollywood blockbuster movie or half of what the Pick n’ Pay retail chain across the border in South Africa generates in a year?
The budget just shows how poor we are and paradoxically, in a country so blessed with abundant resources. At the diamond conference this week it was revealed Zimbabwe has a quarter of the world’s diamond resources.
That means we have a quarter of the world’s wealth in terms of those stones that are forever. And yet we are forever poor.
Elsewhere in this edition we have a story that focuses on Unki Platinum mine. That mine in that obscure part of the world called Shurugwi is home to what was initially thought to be the world’s largest platinum deposits.
This has variously been revised to second and third largest resource in the world. Host to such magnitude of the world’s most precious metal and yet we are still poor? This causes cognitive dissonance of immense proportions!
In addition we do have significant amounts of gold deposits, the time-tested precious metal and store of value.
Zimbabwe also has a myriad of base metals such as chrome and nickel in viable quantities. As for the organic deposits, there are vast, exploitable quantities of coal and gas. Some have even thrown in oil for good measure.
So why are we still so poor?
Notice, we have only dealt with the mining sector. Our potential for agriculture is immense; one Canadian investment expert says this country could solely live off contract farming for the Western nations, because of the ideal climate and soil qualities it has for an array of crops.
Still, others say we could make a mint from our education legacy, service industry etc.
The question remains: Why then, are we still poor?
In short, the causes of our poverty go beyond our Mickey Mouse budget.
The answer is because we fail to leverage on the endowments and potential we have. Poverty, therefore, is not out there, but in here; in our minds. We have a poverty mindset.
Thus the comparatively pea-sized budget is a result of our poor mindset and poor governance in both the public and private sectors.. And as for the budget itself, there is nothing really new.
It’s the same old story; we need to cut our expenditure and thereby reduce the budget deficit. Do we really need a 200 000-plus civil service, especially with the advent of IT?
If we assume our population is 12 million, this means one civil servant per 60 people. It would be better if that was the national doctor to patient ratio. Do we need to retain the loss-making parastatals? We need a new mindset.
Sceptics have dismissed the CEO Roundtable’s notion of a US$100 billion dollar economy. The Business Council of Zimbabwe has now thrown its weight behind this vision. Cynics question where we will get the wherewithal for this target.
Like I said; in our minds. Singapore is 550 times smaller in area than Zimbabwe, has next to zero minerals and yet has a GDP of nearly US$300 billion, about 30 times larger than Zimbabwe’s. What demonstrates that a change in mindsets unleashes wealth is our friends across the border in Zambia.
In just over a decade they have raised their GDP from less than four billion to US$20 billion. Why not us?
It is great to have you back Itai, now at least we can make sense of what is going on.
The budget like everything remotely connected to our political class was one disappointment and unndewhelming..no surprises there. What is surprising is with the so-called wide consultations that were made the end product buttresses what you are saying about our mindset. We are petty minded monky criminals driving the latest cars on Harare’s pot holed roads grinning at ourselves in the rear view mirror making out like we are successful when all we are is a bunch of beggar thieves with no clue which way to take the country.
I don’t know whats more patriotic than this article. This is a brilliant well thought article which deserves to be used to stimulate constructive debates across the political divide. I am saying this as a Zanu PF member who will obviously be isolated for agreeing with this article but I am one of those tired of seeing Madhara plundering wealth that belongs to our people. They are preventing us from being a great nation. Itai you love your country and let no one question your patriotism and love for Zimbabwe.
Itai. A well articulated article. The unfortunate reality is that the question you have tabled cannot be addressed by the current calibre of politicians and leadership that we have in all the political parties accross the board. Zanu PF was successful in ensuring that people with capability to deliver us out of poverty and create the first first world country in Africa wont dare get into politics. That is why they destroyed UZ. Zimbabwe does have people with capacity to create the zimbabwe that we want. With the litttle political space that MDC has managed to force Zanu PF to allow, it is time that a new movement come into being. Not necessarily for political power but to fight against corruption and challenge the way things are being done and set the tone of what should be done. It is evident that MDC-T N MkD etc have failed and do not have capacity. They have done what they could based on their capacity. To expect anything more now or ever would be wishful thinking. They have simply reached their capacity.
Very pertinent observations Itai. Let us find the answers together as Zimbabweans
I think the challenge arises from the people (politicians and the represented) of Zimbabwe regarding the Government as a public service provider first before being an Organization of many (primarily financial) responsibilities. If the Gov. were to be run as a company with the hopes of generating dividends for the share holders, then our largest contributor to Gov. income would NOT be TAX! but profit from parastatal activity.
The need to subsidize most of our services as a Public service provision has resulted in parastatals becoming a port of cash outflow instead of inflow. Spreading our meager budget thin (as opposed to targeted investment) has also hampered our efforts to invest in large operations which can generate more income for the Gov. e.g. a Uranium mine to sell the mineral to Russia or Iran (to at least do what we can to generate more).
If the government were to manage itself more efficiently as a company with public interests then achieving the $100 Billion Economy would be a walk in the park (a hard walk needless say).
And do we need all those ministries?
The country needs a government that encourages a fully functional market economy. Your article highlights one important word REGULATION, if we do have the array of resources we would have multinationals and companies exploiting them to improve our exports GDP and as a result our economy. Countries like Singapore have governments that encourage market economies.