ALTHOUGH people from different backgrounds have hailed MDC-T’s Jobs, Upliftment, Investment, Capital and Environment plan (Juice) strategy, which they said offered a better package than Zanu PF’s indigenisation policy, they expressed fear that successfully implementing the ambitious project could be problematic.
Report by Business Reporter
Commenting on the NewsDay’s online platforms, various people said the Juice economic strategy was more workable than the indigenisation plan.
“Juice is only the start of what is a far more workable and friendly investment plan. Zimbabwe has some beings with a tiny glimmer of intelligence and basic honesty who can take the reins of power and steer a very simple course back to a hard working and fruitful future,” posted one reader.
Critics said the challenge with the indigenisation programme was that it was benefiting only a few.
“On paper, Juice does sound exciting; it is the implementation that is in doubt. The MDC have been in government for 4 years, they should have given us a peek into this progamme in action. Of course they might have been hampered in doing this by their colleagues in government, but surely we could have seen glimpses of this, but what have we seen instead,?” said another reader.
“The current version of indigenisation is tantamount to nationalisation and expropriation . . . The difference therefore is in implementation and not in principle. Revolutionary ideas and democratic ideals do not mix easily. The world over, it’s always revolutionary then democratisation.”
Most readers said both the land reform and business ownership reforms were revolutionary that required serious review, drastic fine-tuning and above all, democratisation within and outside political parties, such that the implementation processes are legitimised, and become more transparent for benefits to trickle to the intended beneficiaries — Zimbabweans.
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They said the world had become global with foreign companies being allowed top to invest in other countries without hindrance. What Africa and Zimbabwe need, according to readers, was to ensure empowerment programmes benefited the generality of the population, not personal aggrandisement.
“We will have all the super textbook type economic theories and fail until we honestly pursue the good of the nation without being partisan, selfish, or deliberately torpedoing good efforts by colleagues with opposing views,” reads part of the response in part.”
“Our actions, more than our plans, are what will rescue us from the doldrums, even before getting any foreign direct investment. If we harness what we have towards the State – not political parties or individuals- we will recover.”
