The Sunday Mail
Vision 2030
Allen Choruma
In pursuit of Vision 2030, Zimbabwe is on an overdrive mission to woo both domestic and foreign investors through its mantra “Zimbabwe is open for business.”
While the drive for foreign direct investment (FDI) continues, we should not fall over backwards and forget that the tide for building Zimbabwe’s economy cannot rise if Zimbabweans are not united and share a common vision as one nation.
Zimbabwe can only be built into a great nation as envisioned under Vision 2030 if we look inward and use both our human and natural resources for the good of our country. Zimbabwe’s economic recovery is not a mission impossible – it’s a mission possible.
Open for business
Government has opened up the economy and declared unequivocally that “Zimbabwe is Open for Business”. According to recent media reports, FDI deals worth an estimated US$20 billion have been clinched since November 2017.
That’s a big feat for Zimbabwe considering where we are coming from, and its certainly a walk in the right direction. While some of these FDI deals are already “secured”, some investment deals are “promissory”, meaning the investment inflows into the country will happen at a future date. Open for business calls for dramatic change “from the business as usual” approach to creating an environment conducive for attracting investment, supported by unwavering political will to bring about political and socio-economic transformation.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Dr John Mangudya, in his 2018 First-Quarter Monetary Policy Statement hit the nail on the head when he stated that: “The narrative ‘open for business’ means that Zimbabwe is ready and willing to embrace a paradigm shift to attract investors, both local and foreign, for the total transformation of the economy in respect of increased production, jobs, exports, fiscal space, access to capital and foreign finance. Improvements in these economic variables will greatly benefit the monetary environment and, in doing so, enhancing financial stability and confidence within the national economy.”
Domestic investment
Zimbabwe cannot transform itself into a middle-income country by 2030 if it does not look inward. History is full of examples of countries that have looked inwards and used domestic resources — both natural and human — at their disposal to spur development.
We have seen it work in Rwanda, China, Singapore and United Arab Emirates, to mention a few countries. As the country focuses on wooing foreign investment, it should not close doors to its own citizens. An inward look into mobilisation of domestic resources could offer quick and sustainable economic solutions.
Zimbabweans should come up with home-grown disruptive innovative solutions that leverage on what the country already has — its human capital, land, natural resources — and use that as a foundation to spur growth and prosperity.
Zimbabwe has a rare asset — its own people within the country and outside it — who are willing to participate in the economic development of their beloved country, provided the right political and investment climate is in place.
Our youth, at home and abroad, are the key to transformation and have amazing innovative ideas which require “incubation” and a “nurturing” environment to sprout and grow.
Zimbabweans in the diaspora have made significant inroads in acquiring skills, global networks and connections, and resources which can be tapped into to turnaround our economy. Over the last two decades, diaspora remittances have eclipsed FDI. Yes. Diaspora remittances, through formal and non-formal channels, are in the region of US$2 billion per annum. For example, in 2016, diaspora remittances (through formal channels) to Zimbabwe were US$780 million, compared to FDI of US$319 million. Instead of chasing after elusive deals from multilateral lending institutions, whose stringent and unfavourable conditions could hurt Zimbabwe’s economy in future, we should focus on leveraging on our abundant human and natural resources to drive Vision 2030.
We should end this “cult” of celebrating things that are foreign. In Zimbabwe, we have thinkers, academics, professionals, businesspeople, creative writers and artists, who, combined, can be mobilised to create a prosperous Zimbabwe.
Fruitless trips to Western capitals are a clear signal that we should move away from thinking “foreign” as a means of creating the Zimbabwe we want as envisioned under Vision 2030.
We need to look inward, we need new partnerships, new ways of doing business and win-win deals that benefit us.
Innovation
Aid, donors and freebies cannot help us achieve Vision 2030. A peaceful and prosperous Zimbabwe can only be built primarily by our own people and resources. Innovation and hard work can change the face of Zimbabwe and bring about change in a relatively short period of time and even in the most extraordinarily difficult situations.
Innovation will allow us to leverage on our abundant natural and human resources, and use them to our advantage in developing an inclusive economic system that benefits all Zimbabweans and does not leave others behind.
Zimbabwe’s abundant land, natural and mineral resources, which we boast of, have not changed our economic situation drastically because we have not been innovative enough to make these resources work to our benefit.
Instead, we have perpetuated colonial economic systems that kept us in the extractive stage and export of low-value primary products, which are prone to price volatility on global markets, while factories and industries and jobs were created in Europe and the US.
This model worked well for resource-poor European countries, which built factories, created jobs in their homes and then produced finished products which were resold back to Africa at higher prices. The Zimbabwe we want can only be created if we think afresh and come up with innovative ideas, plans and models that disrupt these inherited predatory colonial economic models and create a diversified and inclusive economy that works for us. Our mineral resources are high in demand globally, but because we have not radically disrupted the colonial way of extracting resources, through value addition, the paradox is these resources have not improved the livelihood of our people.
Foreign aid
The Zimbabwe we want cannot be built if we continue to have a penchant for foreign aid, investment, donors and freebies. This simply won’t cut it.
Foreign investment and aid should be used to augment the funding our economic development programmes, instead of being the primary source. While we cannot divorce ourselves from the global financial architecture, we cannot at the same time continue to knock on doors of Western countries when each time we do so, the doors are not opened — and we come back home empty-handed. As an example, between 2018-2019, while Zimbabwe was busy re-engaging so-called Western development partners, some of them were acting otherwise.
US President Donald Trump renewed the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) in August 2018. US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions. ZDERA denies Zimbabwe access to US markets as well as benefits from AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000), promulgated by US Congress to promote trade between African countries and the US.
The European Union (EU) on February 19 2019 also extended sanctions on Zimbabwe by another year until February 20 2020.
EU and US sanctions block Zimbabwe’s access to international development finance provided by Bretton Woods establishments — International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB) — and other multilateral development institutions such as Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) countries.
Our traditional Western development partners often masquerade. Time and again they have expressed interest to support Zimbabwe achieve its debt arrears clearance roadmap, but have not made commitments to extend new credit lines or offer tangible debt-relief packages.
Zimbabwe still remains in a debt trap and saddled with a huge foreign debt of around US$8,1 billion.
Zimbabwe we want
The Zimbabwe we want cannot be created unless we, Zimbabweans, are united and do not look and refer to Zimbabwe as another country – as if it doesn’t belong to us and as if we don’t live in it. That should stop.
Some of us, Zimbabweans, speak of our country disdainfully, yet it’s our motherland, our country, our birthright. Come on Zimbabweans, we can do much better than this. With our enormous resources we can create the Zimbabwe we want — if we want and when we want.
Allen Choruma can be contacted on e-mail: [email protected]
