Thursday, 21 June 2007

Plot to destroy Zim economy

Here is a news item that I read in the Herald.co.zw of 21.06.07. what is your comment to this story. Is there substantiated evidence to this story or is the act of a government running scared. Is there an economy to talk about anywhere for it was long destroyed? My view is that there is no economy to destroy in Zimbabwe because economic principles have long ceased to functions. The citizens of this country are a major experiment of ideologies that do not seem to respect them as humans and have been laid out to dry from both ends of the worlds and we are surely counting body bags. I am eagerly waiting for responses from the people cited in this item to post here and many more around the globe and the implications of such innuendos with the assumption that the citizens are ambivalent about the quagmire they are treading.

Details of a major plot by the British and American governments to bring Zimbabwe’s economy down to its knees and incite an uprising against the Government emerged yesterday.The revelations explain why US Ambassador Mr Christopher Dell gloated on Monday that inflation would hit 1,5 million percent by the end of the year and that President Mugabe would soon be toppled.Chronicle can reveal that the British and United States governments, after failing to incite a public revolt against the Government of Zimbabwe, are now working overtime to destroy the economy, mutilate the Zimbabwe dollar, foment civil unrest and then dangle a US$3 billion "rescue package" to win the support of gullible politicians. The plan is to topple the Government before the March 2008 general elections, which the West knows the opposition could never win.A top-secret document outlining the grand plan says the Western governments have — through the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank — set up a vast network of regime-change agents, dubbed the Fishmongers Group, that will spearhead acts of economic sabotage against Zimbabwe.Mr Dell, who is leaving for a diplomatic posting in Afghanistan next month, openly boasted to journalists in Bulawayo on Monday that the inflation rate would reach 1,5 million percent by year-end. It has now emerged that his arrogant utterances, which even shocked opposition-aligned journalists, were made in the context of the Fishmongers Group plot.At last week’s World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, the World Bank’s chief economist, Mr John Page, made veiled references to this new phase of the anti-Zimbabwe campaign.Political analysts say the statements made at the WEF meeting by some Zimbabweans and non-Zimbabweans show that the Fishmongers Group has already bought the services of some leading Zimbabwean politicians, civil society activists, non-governmental organisations and donor agencies.Sources close to the goings-on said the recent substantial weakening of the Zimbabwe dollar on the black market — with the subsequent hike in prices of fuel, food and other essential commodities — pointed to the activities of foreign-sponsored agents.A key point made by the IMF as part of the Fishmongers plot is that the Zimbabwe dollar must be sent "into a free-fall for some time". This, the institution says, is "a big bang approach".It has also emerged that the British Department for International Development recently briefed a meeting of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and officials from governments active in "donor co-ordination" in Harare, including Sweden, the European Commission, Australia, the US, the Netherlands, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and Germany.The DFID has its own special document, entitled Zimbabwe — Economic Recovery, which smoothly dovetails with the Fishmongers plan.Interestingly, the top-secret Fishmongers report says the Western governments want to bring back the white commercial farmers who lost farms during the land reform programme. In a bid to buy the support of gullible politicians and reverse the land reform programme, the British and US governments are proposing to provide US$150 million in food aid in the first two years, including US$125 million in the first year, as well as US$500 million for "land reform" over five years. Foreign assistance of US$650 million is offered for the first year to support an economic reform programme that is part of a five-year US$3 billion package — which will be released "the day after" the Government is topple.The report talks of "donor-funded compensation for evicted farmers while the distribution of agricultural inputs and produce must be market-driven and involve the private sector’’ and also makes reference to a new land tenure to ensure the "multiracial farming community obtains access (to land) by means of long leases’’.The statement is a virtual call for the reverse of the land reform programme, which is at the centre of the bilateral dispute between Zimbabwe and erstwhile coloniser Britain.However, the catch is in the phrase contained in the Fishmongers report that the rescue package is "tied up with broader political questions around when Zimbabwe will transition to a rational, technocratic government’’.The architects of the plot hope that the economic suffering that Zimbabweans will face as a result of their actions will precipitate an uprising against Government.When he visited Bulawayo on Monday, Mr Dell was bubbling with confidence that the economy would collapse before the end of this year.Although he grudgingly admitted that the Anglo-Saxon regime change agenda had failed, he said inflation will hit 1,5 million percent this year, sweeping away the Government. "The spin will be too fast. No economic tool can stop it,’’ Mr Dell told reporters.However, he refused to explain further."What I can only say is watch this space,’’ he added, almost letting the cat out of the bag. The Government yesterday dismissed the new plot as an exercise in futility. "It is the reason why Dell spoke so eloquently about devaluation of our currency because they are throwing spanners into the works to spiral the inflation. They have also targeted manufacturing companies in their strategy because politically they have failed and Dell has admitted this himself," said the Minister of Information and Publicity, Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu."Their strategy is doomed to fail like all the others. Dell and his compatriots are failed prophets of doom and we say good luck to Dell as he goes to Afghanistan Hell for his new posting.’’In June 2004, Mr Dell, whose tour of duty in Zimbabwe ends next month, promised to "ratchet up pressure’’ to ensure regime change."Dell leaves Zimbabwe a disappointed man. For him Zimbabwe has turned out to be mission impossible,’’ said Dr Ndlovu.Dr Ndlovu said Britain, the US and other anti-Zimbabwe forces were shocked that the Zimbabwean economy had not capitulated despite the illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe and said the promised rescue package was a useless gimmick.He said only an "insane’’ person would be induced by the promised package to revolt against their own Government."It’s really a choice between re-colonisation and freedom. You understand that these people (Britain and other imperialists) do not want governments born out of a revolution in Southern Africa and Africa as a whole,’’ said Dr Ndlovu."As for the promised package, they gave money to the MDC but what has the MDC achieved?"There have also been suggestions that some members of the ruling Zanu-PF, who have always embraced the neo-liberal agenda, are in support of the strategy to bring the economy to its knees.One ruling party official reportedly told participants at the World Economic Forum last week that "change’’ was imminent in Zimbabwe."In any revolution there are sell-outs. So that won’t be surprising. However, you would expect that a member of a party would know what channels to use to air out their grievances if they do not see eye-to-eye with the leader of their party. But then you see that is the sort of democracy that we have in this country, that you can say what you want against Government outside the country and come back and still eat your lunch and supper nicely,’’ said Dr Ndlovu."As I said, even in the struggle there were sell-outs and some of the Selous Scouts were blacks.

2 comments:

... said...

Dear Mhofu: I agree with your pointview when you say: 'My view is that there is no economy to destroy in Zimbabwe because economic principles have long ceased to function.' However, don´t know what to think about your next sentence. If the two ideologies you are talking about are, say, socialism and a liberal order, then the first one is really a terrible experiment on humans, as history has shown. Regarding liberalism, as we know it in the West, it is far from being a experiment; in my opinion the liberal principles are the only ones, according to which may organize a decent society. However, in any given society you need to put in place several institutions for the principles themselves to start working -simultaneously, these institutional 'machines' won´t work without the 'oil' of the principles themselves-. The institutions I´m referring to fall under the umbrella we call 'the rule of law' -independent judiciary, equality before the law, freedom of expression, reunion and belief, and so on-. Another institution we need is a free and open economy, as free and open as we may get. Zimbabwe´s got problems on both realms, so considering its economy should be working right now as any other western economy is science fiction. Such a stance on the part of the international institutions would only hurt its citizens (even more than they are hurt by their own government). My view: once democracy begins to return to the country -and that leads us to the important issue of the (smart or dumb) sanctions in your next post- Zimbabweans should move towards restoring sound economic principles -yes, liberal ones- as soon as possible. A free economy would take people out of poverty faster and in greater numbers than any public - national or otherwise-policy. However, market forces alone won´t solve the social problems of Zimbabwe, and at this point is where national democratic forces, responsive to its people, on the one hand, and international institutions and donors, on the other, should get together to initiate a frank dialogue on the Zimbabwean problems, and what both sides may do to help overcome them.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mhofu: Government mechanisms and institutions in Zimbabwe have been wood winked by the present political order to think that all is well in the house of stones. How can anyone in their right frame of mind with the slightest bit of sense suggest that there is an economy to talk of in Zimbabwe? Where in economic books does anyone come across such blatant disregard for economic principles? The House of Stones has made History with its flawed political decisions characterised by populist leftist policies meant to benefit the masses but in actual fact it has benefited the few ZANU (PF) elite who now have large tracks of land to talk of at the expense of the suffering majority. It only requires man of the night like Nathaniel Manheru and brainwashed quarters like Government controlled media not to see that there is no economy to talk of in Zimbabwe.

Yes there are forces working tirelessly to bring difficult to the Zimbabwean economy. There is no way an economy once rated as the third largest in Africa after South Africa and Egypt can fall to its knees just like that. To portray the Zimbabwean government as a saint as suggested in this article is self indulgency and delusional. Sometimes one wonders whether these guys write these articles with guns on their heads. How can one fail to see the quagmire around them? The degree of suffering all around. Having to queue for hour on end for something as basic as a loaf of bread. Having to walk for miles on end just to get to work because you cannot afford the bus fare. One can go on and on. Zimbabwe has deteriorated to a basket case not because of these forces of Darkness as portrayed in the Chronicle. It is because of the present political order that has given these forces reason to act as they are doing. By political order reference here is also made to opposition politicians in Zimbabwe who consciously or unconsciously have not done or done things that bring us to the present status core in the house of stone. The present political order has got a lot to answer for to present and future generations who know nothing about politics.

The mindless government bootlicking institutions like the Chronicles in their paranoia are at loss of what really hit the Zimbabwean economy. Everything else in the world has gone potty save for the Government of Zimbabwe.

The sovereignty and independence of Zimbabwe are to be guarded jealously but Zimbabwe does not exist in isolation. Even our saviours in the east have seen it hence their interest in investing in Zimbabwe. The Philosopher Jean Jacque Rousseau once wrote "men are born free but everywhere in chains”. One cannot exclude one self from this social contract. Who are we in Zimbabwe to think that we can escape the social contact? Icho

Nathaniel Masikati