tional Security Council, a powerful committee chaired by President Robert Mugabe which includes top military commanders, selected Cabinet ministers and other prominent figures such as Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono.
It is a virtual admission of charges by the political opposition that Zimbabwe’s economic and political troubles stem from a crisis of governance, noting that the government’s “business as usual” approach in the face of the country’s worst ever economic crisis was only helping worsen the situation.
The document titled, “Memorandum to the National Security Council on the National Economic Development Priority Programme,” also says a massive brain-drain as young professionals fled economic hardships to find better opportunities in other countries was also to blame for lack of progress in ending the economic crisis.
But says in the main: “Lack of urgency to resolving the crisis (and the government’s) ‘business as usual’ approach, lack of effective policy co-ordination and implementation, lack of an over-arching monitoring mechanism, mistrust within government which is resulting in conflicts over turf, mistrust between public and private sectors, lack of commitment and above all the absence of shared national vision among stakeholders, have exacerbated the economic situation.”
Zimbabwe is grappling with an economic crisis described by the World Bank as the worst in the world outside a war zone.
The meltdown, critics blamed mainly on state mismanagement, has seen the economy contract by more than a third over the past seven years, while inflation has shot beyond 1 000 percent. Skyrocketing unemployment, shortages of foreign currency, food, fuel, electricity and increasing poverty levels are some of the highlights of Zimbabwe’s crisis.
Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe’s independence from Britain in 1980, denies ruining what was once one of Africa’s most vibrant economies and instead blames Western sanctions against his government and erratic rains for crippling the agriculture-based economy.
But the government document says European Union and United States sanctions against Mugabe and his top officials were only part of the causes of Zimbabwe’s crisis.
It says: “The country is in a state of an economic crisis which has partly been caused by international sanctions by the Western countries.
“The economic crisis also reflects a lack of consensus and shared National Vision among stakeholders. We cannot, therefore continue with a ‘business as usual approach’ because the crisis demands quick win-strategies to stabilise the economy.”
Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba and Economic Development Minister Rugare Gumbo were both not available to take questions on issues raised in the document. – ZimOnline
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