The Sunday Mail
Today is International Day of the World’s Indigenous People.
The United Nations resolution that created this Day had a strong conviction that “the development of indigenous people within their countries will contribute to the socio-economic, cultural and environmental advancement of all the countries of the world”.
This is a very important Day to every mwana wevhu/umntwana womhlabati, as it reminds us of the long and painful path we walked in our relentless pursuit to gain independence and for the indigenous people to reclaim what they had been dispossessed of.
Who forgets the brutal invasion of the Ndebele Kingdom in 1893 that resulted in the indigenous people being condemned to the rocky, thorny and barren Gwaai and Shangani Reserves, while the minority white settlers were helping themselves to all the rich and fertile land there was?
The fallen heroes we remember tomorrow, as we commemorate Heroes’ Day, perished while bravely fighting to bring back the land into the hands of the indigenous people.
And it did not come zvekumhanya, as the born-frees would put it.
Even after independence, we had to wait for a while to get it as the colonial masters continued to frustrate the process of regaining it. But the Svosve people could not wait a day longer, as they went on to occupy Igava Farm, which was owned by a white settler.
That triggered similar occupations in Nemanwa, Nyamajura, Nyamandhlovu … until Government was compelled to implement the Fast Track Land Reform Programme.
The themes of International Day of the World’s Indigenous People also come as constant reminders on what has to be zeroed in on for the indigenous people to optimally contribute to sustainable socio-economic transformation.
Take the 2014 theme, for instance, which said: “Bridging the gap: Implementing the rights of indigenous peoples.”
This one still reverberates in my ears.
Having been suppressed for nearly a century under ruthless colonial rule, we have lost so much as our forefathers were subjected to discrimination, dis-empowerment and exclusion, which was also inherited by the present black generation.
Deliberate initiatives that seek to emancipate the indigenous folks are, therefore, indispensable and deserve priority.
It certainly goes without saying that the white minority who controlled the Zimbabwean economy during the colonial era transmitted a legacy of that advantage to the contemporary white offspring.
Which is why we must not be apologetic and compromising in implementing the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act.
We simply have to foster that deliberate involvement of indigenous Zimbabweans in the economic activities of the country to which, hitherto, they had no access.
This will ensure equitable ownership of the nation’s resources just as we have clearly defined indigenisation.
This year’s theme for International Day of the World’s Indigenous People is also equally punchy — “Post-2015 Agenda: Ensuring indigenous people’s health and well-being.”
It speaks to our context and we have to be seriously inspired by it to work on improving our health system.
At the moment, only 10 percent of the population has medical insurance, the majority of which are those employed in the formal sector.
The 2014 Finscope Consumer Survey established that 37 percent of the populace had to go without treatment or medicine when they fell sick, which is up from 20 percent in 2011.
The 2015 National Budget allocation to health was just 6.3 percent of the total National Budget, which is way below the 15 percent prescribed by the Abuja Declaration.
These realities should be taken on board as we understand the above theme.
Government’s initiatives at both policy and implementation level — to address the above — are, however, commendable.
Health is now a right in our new Constitution.
Section 76 says “every citizen and permanent resident of Zimbabwe has the right to have access to basic health-care services” and that no person may be refused emergency medical treatment in any health-care institution.
We have seen President Mugabe commissioning medical equipment worth US$100 million to be distributed countrywide, with plans also underway to actually set up a national health insurance scheme to cater for the welfare of the most vulnerable members of society.
As we commemorate this Day, we also must celebrate the fact that our Constitution cited “celebrating the vibrancy of our traditions and cultures”, as one of the key driving forces that led to its writing.
And to ensure we appropriately celebrate our traditions and cultures, the Constitution now also officially recognises 16 indigenous languages, and has pronounced commitment to ensuring they are treated equitably.
We have already seen the Constitution being translated into these languages, and so should key policy documents such as Zim-Asset and the National Budget and Monetary Policy statements.
You see, the Monetary Policy Statement announced last week Wednesday by Central Bank governor Dr John Mangudya is only available in English and not in any single indigenous language.
How can we expect indigenous people to meaningfully support economic programmes that they do not understand?
Dr Mangudya’s Monetary Policy talks about issues that need the buy-in of those indigenous people who don’t understand English, too; like financial inclusion.
How do we expect Mbuya vaKeresenziya in Chendambuya to unfurl the notes that she keeps stashed in her douke when she doesn’t even understand the Monetary Policy in English?
Yet, she can read her Bible and perfectly understands it in Shona.
“It is, therefore, my fervent view that we all need to have faith like the paralysed man who, even after spending 38 years by the pool at Bethesda (John 5 verse 1-9), could get up, take his mat and walk”, said Dr Mangudya in the concluding statement of his Monetary Policy presentation whose theme was: “Beyond Stabilisation”.
Wouldn’t Mbuya vaKeresenziya have said, “Powerful”, had the above been said in the indigenous language she understands?
Be that as it may, I would like to applaud the theme of Dr Mangudya’s Monetary Policy.
We have to bust the stabilisation inertia. We cannot stay in survival mode forever.
We have to establish dynamic firms that are competitive.
We have to boost the export of manufactured goods.
Which is why I commend the proposal to extend pre-shipment and post-shipment credit by commercial banks to manufacturing exporters for the purchase of raw materials upon presentation of confirmed export orders or letters of credit.
It will certainly boost manufactured exports as many manufacturers may find orders, but do not have the working capital to produce.
But the move needs to be accompanied by a strong verification mechanism to ensure it is not abused by firms creating fake export orders, just like they did with Sadc certificates of origin.
The Monetary Policy also mobilised resources worth US$210 million to finance capital projects that are necessary to enhance production within the country.
Our productive sectors are currently using antiquated machinery, which impedes the attainment of competitiveness.
My view is that these resources should be extended to bankable capital projects in the prioritised sub-sectors of manufacturing. We cannot afford to watch strategic companies in the prioritised sub-sectors going bust just like we watched Caps going under.
The Monetary Policy has also told us that the Central Bank has agreed on interest rate guidelines with the Bankers’ Association of Zimbabwe to rationalise interest rates that are currently at usurious levels.
What remains to be seen is whether that seemingly “gentlemen’s agreement” will be honoured as there doesn’t seem to be apparent punishment for those who may not honour the interest rate guidelines.
I doubt whether banks are willing to compromise the growing profits they have hitherto been making.
Banks are making profits folks.
Fourteen out of the 18 banks have posted profits.
They made aggregate profits of US$43 million between January and June, up from the US$27 million they made in the same period last year.
Let’s see if they are willing to slash them by lowering interest rates.
Another phenomenon that worries me is how individuals continue to top in terms of banking sector loans and advances, having borrowed US$1 billion.
Compare it with the manufacturing sector’s US$400 million.
We need to be more pragmatic and lend to the productive sectors, which have the capacity to turn around the fortunes of the economy as opposed to individuals who may go on and use the money to shop imports.
As we look beyond stabilisation, we must not lose sight of the role indigenous people can play in moving this economy to higher levels of progress.
See you later folks!
