Title of Column: Mthwakazi Forum

With: Kernan Mzelikahle

Heading: The Destructiveness of Lawlessness

The events of the 14^thof January 2019, where Zimbabwe saw uncoordinated protests across the country with rampant destruction to property, were quite disturbing to say the least. There is evidence that these events will recur, in one form or another, in the future — immediate or later on. The fact of the matter is that whenever a leader in society calls for a public action by a social group, (s)he does not have sufficient control over, then disaster shall inevitably ensue. It so happened that in the recent past, for whatever reason, some social leaders called upon public action, yet they did not have full control of the public. What then happened is that the youth, without foresight of their actions, took the advantage to pillage businesses and other unguarded elements of society. The question, therefore, is: Do such actions contribute to the development of Zimbabwe? Do the social leaders who called for these public actions take responsibility for their uncontrolled youth? If the authorities in the land attempt to make arrests for the vandalised properties, will these social leaders view such actions as protection of property? Or, these leaders feel justified at all times, for all actions they take, no matter the consequences of their indirect action? This article seeks to discuss this matter in an unbiased manner, to the extent humanly possible, and in an effort to create dialogue among leaders.

Let me begin by acknowledging that in Zimbabwe, true and unbiased solutions to problems bedeviling our country are difficult to come by. Generally, both, social leaders and politicians prescribe solutions that tend to advance their interests, at the cost of the nation. This tendency is not limited to one party or another, nor one individual or another, not even one church or another. Rather this tendency is a nation wide phenomenon, cutting across tribe, race and gender. It therefore goes without say, that all the current solutions on the table have in them some elements of self serving interests. This observation holds true for the reason why the Bond Notes have been kept in circulation despite their visible harm and distortion in the economy. Similarly, this phenomenon holds true for the so called “economically driven general protests” we saw on the 14^thof January 2019. It is clear as daylight that these protests in a way are an attempt to advance a political agenda, that may not translate into improvement of the economic situation as it stands. There are errs on both sides of the isle. The government is obviously in error when it attempts to manipulate market forces. This certainly distorts the equilibrium point of the market. On the other hand, social groups that call for discordant protests are equally in error because such protests disturb the flow and confidence of business in Zimbabwe. It is therefore clear that both parties standing on opposite ends of the isle, are basically pursuing their interests and not the interests of the country.

The call to discordant protests, executed by disgruntled and unguided youths, is basically a call to lawlessness. This is a call to anarchy and the law of the jungle. The social leaders who made this call must wake up and face the grim reality and truth, that they do not have sufficient control over the youths they are putting onto the streets. Once the youths have been poured onto the streets, they will invariably act on impulse and indiscriminately. We witnessed today (14 January) the vandalism of properties, the pillaging of retailing shops, confrontation with law enforcing agents, and once again the firing of hand held weapons. It is not clear at the moment who fired the weapons, and to whom were they aimed. There are reports that two civilians were shot and injured (possibly dead), and there are also reports that some law enforcing agents personnel were attacked and injured. All these reports point to one unfortunate reality, that the call to such protests can easily get out of hand, thus creating lawlessness and the propensity to violence. In all fairness, the circulation of such news around the world, created by such disturbances, does not paint a good image for the country. This in turn scares away investors who may have considered investing in the country. It is, therefore, without doubt true that the protestors wrongly conducted their protests.

The Zimbabwean constitution allows for peaceful protests, be they sit-in demonstrations, or marches, et cetera. However, the organisers of such demonstrations must take necessary measures to ensure that they reign in their members in order to successfully execute such protests without destruction to property and/or loss of life. With this point in view, the protestors failed dismally in conducting the protests constitutionally. Now, the law enforcing agents need to act in order to assure the nation that the arm of the law is existent. Will the protestors accept that they made errors on their part and the State has to bring them to justice? Or, they will conclude that they are being victimised? This clearly shows how broken the thinking process of some of our social leaders is.

Turning to the policies and actions of our government. First and foremost, the government need not only acknowledge that it has stollen people’s savings, rather it has to go further and apologise for it. In 2016, when this government introduced Bond Notes, it guaranteed the nation that no money will lose its value, as the Bond Notes carried the USD value. In fact, all bank accounts were maintained reflecting USD valuation in banks. Some two years later, the same government comes up and says there is a difference between RTGS/Bond notes value and hard USD currency. At this point, the government is throwing people’s savings under the bus. Of course, this distortion was caused by the government’s abuse of Treasury Bills. In stead of owning up to its responsibilities, the government decided to throw the people’s savings under the bus. Therefore, the government can not expect people not to be frustrated. Further, the government went on to temper with economic fundamentals by putting price caps on commodities, and overindulging in regulation of business activities. For example, the government went into a self appointed business of determining how much foreign currency should one company get, and whether some products listed by that company should be imported. That is not the role of government. In fact, the government must step back and make sure that each company raises its own foreign currency to import goods, while the government focuses on macro-economic fundamentals. Running the country’s economy by distributing resources is reminiscent of socialism, and we know that it failed dismally. So what is the government doing? From this angle, it is clear that the government through poor policies has caused discontent in the general public.

To top all this off, the Finance and Economic Development Minister, went further to announce that there shall be a return of the Zimbabwe Dollar, and he was attempting to give assurances. You see, we were given the same assurances of a backing USD reserve fund before, when the bond notes came in. At the time, it was through the AFREXIM bank facility, which of course has turned out to be a disaster. So, the government, by oversight perhaps, is once again trying to introduce some other measure that will further fuel disgruntlement in the general public. This will cause further protests, and further loss of life.

The solution to our problems, to me, is simple. It can be summarised in three step-points:

1. The government must decommission the surrogate currency (Bond Notes), and fully adopt the US dollar. This is because there is value in the US dollar, and this measure will tame inflation. The fuel shortages and challenges are only symptoms to a broken monetary policy.

2. The social leaders (opposition parties included) must seek dialogue with the government, without making egoistic demands. This will create an environment conducive for sharing of ideas towards solving the macro-economic fundamentals.

3. The government must cut down on its expenditure bill, especially when it comes to financing a political party and other non-essential players from government coffers. This may be difficult for the government to do, but it is the elephant in the room.

In conclusion, I do not seek to label one side as either wrong or right. I seek to point out both the good and bad in all actors involved. The clearest problem identified by this article is the phenomenon by all actors who tend to act in self interest, and not the interest of the country. This is a quagmire that shall continue to bedevil our country unless we have a benevolent leader, who does not act for self interests. In the mean time, I call for dialogue among all actors involved, non-egoistic dialogue such that Zimbabwe may at last begin to address the real causes of its problems.

Kernan Mzelikahle is an apolitical analyst, and may be contacted by cellphone on 0775195334, or by email on k.mzelikahle@gmail.com, twitter handle is @Mzelikahle. This article and others like it may be found on Mthwakazi Forum website: sites.google.com/view/mthwakaziforum