afrol News / The Zimbabwean, 3 May - There has been much song and dance about the recently launched National Economic Development Priority Plan.

The propaganda machine is trumpeting about how this will turn around Zimbabwe's ailing economy – the cause of so much suffering and needless death and destruction in the land.

We beg to differ.

Zimbabwe has been ranked the world's fifth failed state behind Sudan, DRC, Ivory Coast and Iraq in an index of rankings by the USA's Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace. The fund uses 12 indicators to rank the 148 countries surveyed. These include corruption, criminal behaviour, inability to collect taxes or otherwise draw on citizen support, large-scale involuntary dislocation of the population, sharp economic decline, group-based inequality and institutionalised persecution or discrimination.

The reason the NEDPP will also fail is that there is no sign of any serious attempt by government to create an enabling environment in which business can thrive once again.

Government itself does not generate income. It simply collects taxes from people who are gainfully employed and companies who are making a profit.

Because of stupid, if not downright wicked, government policies, the business community in Zimbabwe is practically extinct and the tax base has shrunk to 20% or less or its capacity. No amount of policy u-turns and economic blueprints will change that - until government tackles the fundamentals that are wrong in our society.

For as long as government itself is the source of national insecurity because of its stubborn and selfish disregard for the rule of law, and for as long as property and human rights are not guaranteed, no sane businessman will invest.

Zanu (PF)'s convoluted patronage system and the plethora of investor-unfriendly legislation, not to mention the inflation rate of nearly 1000% and the absence of foreign exchange, has made it very difficult to operate a company in Zimbabwe, let alone start a new one.

Add to this the government's track record of disregarding international agreements, as has happened with the agriculture and mining industries and you have a recipe for disaster – not development as the propaganda machine would have us believe.

The government itself needs fiscal discipline and accountability. Until they get serious about wanting to improve the lot of Zimbabweans as a whole, instead of simply looking after themselves and trying to preserve their power base at all costs, they can have as many blueprints as they like – there will be no turn-around.


'The Zimbabwean' editorial

By 'The Zimbabwean' editor

© afrol News / The Zimbabwean

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