One would swear we are still living in the Robert Mugabe era.
The late former President Mugabe used to blame all the economic woes in the country on his detractors, the opposition and the West. Never in his lifetime did he take any responsibility or admit that his government had made bad decisions that were hurting the economy.
Fast forward to current times, President Emmerson Mnangagwa is now pointing to his enemies for the economic meltdown.
Addressing his party’s youth league conference on Sunday, the President insisted the prevailing economic crisis was ‘man made’ by people who want to topple him. I swear there is a script our Presidents read from!
Having ousted Mugabe, Mnangagwa obviously fears history might repeat itself and we wouldn’t be bothered really if that happens.
But what is annoying is that our leaders always see a third force in all the problems that befall us as a nation – whether they truly believe it or not is another matter entirely!
Then in trying to fix these economic challenges they come up with policies that make things go from bad to worse.
Remember how Mugabe okayed the printing of billion dollar notes to curb inflation until we reached sextillions, the highest ever denomination in recent times; how he also introduced price controls only for goods to disappear from the shelves.
In their wisdom, or lack of it, the current regime has also started coming up with measures which they hope will bring sanity to the economy. However, economic analysts have warned that things could turn for the worst.
Banks in Zimbabwe have been banned from lending money to individuals and corporates as the government argues that borrowing money from banks has been fuelling the parallel market.
It is a given that banks make money through interests and that most businesses rely on borrowing from banks for short-term needs – you can therefore imagine the effect of this decision!
There is a high risk of banks collapsing and some companies going under and that would be catastrophic for Zimbabwe.
Anyway, enough of sorrows… I was in the Ghetto last Friday having last visited in March 2021. As always, it felt good to be there.
It was nice spending a few moments with my wonderful colleagues, who always welcome me with open arms.
They were also kind and thoughtful enough to get me my favourite All Gold tomato sauce, though my dear Sub Editor, George Moore (you know, the dashingly handsome one) jokingly said I mustn’t think it’s now a given that I get the sauce each time I visit.
They have started the tradition so they might as well make it permanent….ha ha ha ha!
