Sunday Opinion: Indigenisation law: another Zanu PF gravy train
Saturday, 13 March 2010 18:12
JOSEPH Chinotimba caused a stir at our offices a little while ago when he arrived unannounced demanding to see the Editor of The Standard. Understandably, the security guard at the reception was apprehensive about
allowing the war veterans’ leader into the premises because of his fierce reputation as the self-appointed commander of farm invasions.
Fortunately for The Standard, it soon dawned that Chinotimba had not come to “invade” the paper, but merely to deliver a letter to the Editor complaining of an sms message we published criticising the manner in which the land reform programme was undertaken.
Chinotimba has been fighting tooth and nail to prove that he is not the illiterate buffoon the local media makes him out to be.
His letter to the editor, although containing a few embarrassing literal errors, was reasonably well written for someone of his academic level, suggesting that the war veterans’ leader had either undergone a dramatic
metamorphosis in his literacy status or obtained substantial assistance from someone slightly better than himself. The latter seemed more likely.
Chinotimba may still be a little rough on the edges in terms of education and general academic knowledge, but he is no fool. He knows that being slavishly loyal to Zanu PF and President Robert Mugabe is all one needs to
become economically “empowered” in Zimbabwe.
From a lowly paid job as municipal security guard, Chinotimba has risen meteorically to own his own security company, a farm and built himself a posh house in the middle-income suburb of Mabelreign.
The location of the house, on land apparently designated for churches and recreation facilities raised eyebrows in the neighbourhood but the Harare City Council, evidently intimidated by Chinotimba’s political clout, has
done nothing about it.
Chinotimba is a typical example of what is patently wrong about the country’s indigenisation policies.
Saviour Kasukuwere, The Minister of Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment, speaking in defence of the new empowerment regulations, stated that if journalists wrote in support of the new legislation, they too would be
empowered. He declared that there was no way the journalists would be “empowered” after demonising the empowerment programme on Internet websites and local private media.
What Kasukuwere was effectively suggesting is that you miss the Zanu PF patronage gravy train, then you have only yourself to blame when it leaves you behind.
There is no doubt that the indigenisation programme, as orchestrated by, firstly the moribund Indigenous Business Development Centre (IBDC) then led by transport operator Ben Mucheche and the Phillip Chiyangwa hybrid, Affirmative Action Group (AAG), has done wonders for a handful of well connected black Zimbabweans.
Coming immediately to mind are the likes of former fitness trainer, Themba Mliswa, Former TV presenter turned business mogul, Supa Mandiwanzira, Jane Mutasa among scores of others whose rags-to-riches stories are a marvel to behold.
But what remains unconvincing is whether all these new business wonders owe their success to entrepreneurial acumen rather than their vociferous defence of Zanu PF and its populist policies.
There is a fundamental assumption in the empowerment doctrine that the mere wish to be a businessman backed by a law that catapults one into a business environment, regardless of the absence of any business experience or
knowledge, is enough for one to succeed.
Yet it is no secret that successful businesses are founded on resourcefulness, extensive understanding of one’s market and more importantly, adequate investment capital. Anyone lacking these essential requisites has no business being in business
Indeed, many Zimbabweans have built successful business empires from a scratch without the assistance of regulations that allow them to muscle into already established enterprises to become majority shareholders.
Many built their businesses portfolios through prudent and meticulous investment on the stock market and have reaped the rewards.
Investors, foreign or otherwise, have every reason to be suspicious of regulations that force them to give away 51% of their shareholding to people whose entrepreneurial credentials are an unknown quantity.
In terms of the new empowerment regulations, the minister will maintain a register of “eligible” shareholders who will be allocated specific companies.
Given the experience of the allocation of farms under the widely-discredited land reform programme, what guarantees are there that such a list will not comprise mostly of the likes of the Chinotimbas, Mandiwanziras and Mliswas, whose only claim to fame can be traced no further than blind loyalty to Mugabe and Zanu PF.
It is important to point out that no Zimbabwean worth his salt, black or white, should be opposed to indigenous participation in the mainstream economy of the country.
What most people find objectionable is the methodology and the timing at this juncture when the country is desperately crying for foreign direct investment.
While it is a historical reality that racial discrimination and economic marginalisation during the colonial period disadvantaged many blacks, there is a tendency to blame poverty among blacks, some of it owing to lack of
foresight or initiative, laziness and general lethargy towards self-development on racial discrimination.
Thirty years into our independence, surely this sort of victim mentality can no longer be a valid excuse for failure when there are abundant examples of scores of enterprising Zimbabweans that have independently found their niche in a competitive business world.
BY DESMOND KUMBUKA
Chief Sub Editor