Munyaradzi Huni
The ministers of defence and security, together with service chiefs, played a major role in the introduction of the multi-currency system in 2009 as the country’s coffers were empty, posing a serious threat to national security, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa has revealed.

He said his 2009 national budget had nothing to do with figures as he sought to change direction in terms of managing the economy following years of hyper-inflation.
Minister Chinamasa, who was the Acting Finance Minister at the time, revealed in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Mail last Wednesday that when he took over the ministry, he panicked after discovering that the country had nothing in its coffers.

“I was appointed Acting Minister of Finance with effect from January 1 2009. Naturally, as anyone assuming new responsibilities, I spent the first few days getting briefing about the state of the economy and the state of our coffers. Arising from those briefings, I was in a state of panic because the coffers were not in a good state. To stay they were not in a good state is an understatement: the coffers were empty.

“As you know, there had been hyperinflation to a point where there was no foreign currency, the local currency had been successfully undermined by the forces which imposed sanctions,” said the minister. He said what made the situation worse was that there were a lot of turf wars between the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank and the Ministry of Finance and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority.

Minister Chinamasa said he later gathered energy and was galvanised into action.
“The first thought that entered my mind was that we were in a serious state of vulnerability as a country. Our security as a nation was at stake. I also thought about the matter and concluded that there was need for a major shift of policy; maybe a major shift on a wide range of policies. To do it was a challenge. It became clear to me that this was a task beyond my individual capacity; that I needed a bigger team to share my thoughts with.

“Because this was a security issue now, I involved people who would normally have nothing whatsoever to do with the (national) budget and finances of the State. So, I informally put together a team to brainstorm and quarrel with.

“The team comprised General Chiwenga, Police Commissioner-General Chihuri, Director-General Bonyongwe, Minister Goche, Minister Mnangagwa, Cde George Charamba, Gershom Pasi, Willard Manungo, Dr Gono and, at some point, Cde Sekeramayi, I think in the initial meetings.
“It was a war room, should we say, essentially, because the country’s security was at stake. I wanted all these people to appreciate that the coffers were empty and that that posed a serious threat to national security.

“I first spoke to them individually to tell them what I was thinking. I explained to them that this is the situation which I find with the coffers. It is a cause for concern and should also be a cause for concern to those who are entrusted with national security and that we should have a paradigm shift on a broad range of issues, policies.

“As you can see, these are people who can tell you that your view is rubbish and still look you in the eye. They will not pamper you. That, in fact, is what I thought I wanted at that time; people who will tell me what is at the bottom of their hearts and what comes into their mind and who will pull off gloves and who will also take any punches if I have to throw any punches. So, that is how we constituted this team, informally,” he explained. He said this team started meeting daily and some of

their sessions went well into the night.

He said as Zanu-PF, they had come to the conclusion that the MDC was not willing to join the Government and “we had decided to go it alone.”
Said the minister: “In fact, when the inclusive Government came, it was almost like a disappointment because all our plans were on the basis that we were going to go on the long haul alone as a party.

“There was not a day — Saturdays and Sundays — that we did not meet. People would absent themselves here and there, but they would know that we were meeting.

“They would know they must catch up. What was important was that whatever we decided eventually, each of these individuals, individually and collectively, should defend the decision.”
He said the team came up with a number of measures, including the introduction of the multi-currency system, which was supposed to be complemented by a local currency.

“In other words, we were to come up with a new currency, which was to be revalued and was to run concurrently with any multi-currency that came into the system.
“We agreed to liberalise prices so as to remove price distortions, arbitrage and basically the whole host of things that were happening on the market.
“We agreed to free exchange control and obviously the introduction of multi-currencies meant that we were no longer keeping exchange control in place.

“We also agreed on a number of issues: the introduction of toll gates. Some of the policies that were agreed have not been implemented, unfortunately.
“We had also agreed to form a mining exploration company. That has not been done, unfortunately and regrettably,” said the minister.
In reference to the budget he presented at the time, Minister Chinamasa said: “To be honest, figures were far from my mind at the time. If you are changing direction, the detail is of no consequence.

“The budget that I presented in 2009 should not be known for the figures, but for the paradigm shift; the change of direction. Manungo (permanent secretary, Ministry of Finance) and his group had to put in figures later on.
“But what we wanted was that the direction should shift, should change and that we were able to do in this budget.”

Asked whether he was not afraid of plunging the nation into economic problems, he said: “No, we were clear that this was the correct direction. I could not have taken that decision alone.
“That is why I needed a team to say: Am I still sane? When you are thinking of something new, you need someone who will say: I think you are mad.

“That was the purpose of the team. When we had crystallised what we wanted, it was then that I was able to go to the President.
“It was then that I told him that I was not alone.”
Minister Chinamasa said it was not easy to convince the President and he had to sweat while explaining.

“At first, he was sceptical, but with the President, he never says, ‘No’. He will say justify it and that basically was the tall order. I would take to him what I thought was a water-tight argument and he would prick holes into it.
“In the beginning, I was made to feel               very uncomfortable and felt that all the effort that we had put in was going to come to naught.

“Clearly, when you are changing direction, it is not an easy decision and I understand why the President would insist and ask so many questions for me to justify. But at the end of the day I was happy to get his ‘okay’”.