Zanu PF claims the idea behind its indigenisation crusade is to empower disadvantaged Zimbabweans by facilitating their entry into the mainstream economy.
It was envisaged that the policy would be used to enable all Zimbabweans with an interest in business to buy into established foreign-owned enterprises.
President Robert Mugabe, among others, took exception to critics who argued that the programme in its present form amounted to nationalisation and reverse racism. He promised the programme would not be vindictive and a threat to future economic prospects for a country that has suffered so much.
Zimbabweans are unanimous that because of our history broad-based economic empowerment was long overdue.
But the move by Indigenisation minister Saviour Kasukuwere to extend the programme to foreign banks, crèches and private schools was the clearest indication yet that just like the land reform programme, the empowerment drive has become the country’s latest source of self-destruction. Mugabe, perhaps for political expedience, was not able to rein in his supporters once they started to abuse the land reform programme for short-term gains.
We have enough reason to fear that Kasukuwere is leading us up the same path as those who presided over the destruction of commercial agriculture, and subsequently the economy as a whole. Zanu PF cheered them on as they led the country into a deep hole.
It is against this background that we welcome Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono’s stance on Kasukuwere’s flat-earth mentality to seize foreign-owned banks.
Gono has become the voice of reason and potential saviour of Zimbabwe’s resilient banking sector.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
In a story we carried yesterday, the RBZ chief told Kasukuwere and National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board chairman David Chapfika to stay away from the banking sector.
Other than stating the legal reasons why the crusade by the two Zanu PF politicians is madness, Gono rightly pointed out that Kasukuwere and Chapfika are failed bankers who had no moral standing to determine the future of this important sector.
“The fact that the two main proponents of the recent illogical moves have presided over the failure of their own two banks before, namely Unibank (Chapfika) and Genesis (Kasukuwere), call for Solomonic wisdom on the part of Zimbabwe’s population and leadership,” he said. “Ordinarily, anyone who was near a failed bank is not a fit and proper person to deal with banking matters or to ever own, run or talk about the ownership of a bank again until cleared by the central bank. This is a universal practice.”
We could not have said it better.
Zimbabwe cannot be held hostage by politicians who only think about themselves and nothing about future generations.
The onus now is on Mugabe to put his foot down and stop the Kasukuwere madness.
Gono deserves everyone’s support because our country’s very existence is now at the mercy of economic saboteurs.
