FINANCE and Economic Development minister Patrick Chinamasa has gained some modicum of respect for admitting that the economy is on the ropes, but last Friday he lost the plot.
He told a business meeting in South Africa that “the perception that you have that we don’t respect private property is not true. The land issue has been addressed”.
Zimbabwe’s land reform programme was found by a regional court to have violated the basic tenets of natural justice as it targeted commercial farmers on the basis of their colour.
However, the government refused to take responsibility for its actions and instead campaigned vigorously for the suspension of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Tribunal.
The Sadc Tribunal’s landmark judgment has been used by some of the dispossessed farmers to seek compensation mainly through South African courts after being denied justice locally.
In its pursuit of the populist land grab, the government has violated bilateral agreements and many farms were seized illegally.
The madness has not stopped as shown by the seizure of David Connolly’s farm in Figtree by a very senior government official Ray Ndhlukula.
There are reports of more farm takeovers in Matabeleland South. The government’s indigenisation programme is still open to manipulation where people connected to the ruling Zanu PF still find it easy to grab companies from fellow Zimbabweans.
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Zimbabwe does not live in a vacuum especially in this age of a global village. The chaos cannot be hidden from the world anymore.
Besides, property rights, violations in Zimbabwe’s political situation in the past two months or so cannot be described as stable with upheavals in Zanu PF.
President Robert Mugabe appears determined to leave no stone unturned as he tries to cling to power amid fears of an internal revolt.
The selfish pursuit for power has relegated efforts to revive the economy to the periphery, hence Chinamasa’s pronouncements in Johannesburg sounding out of touch.
Investors would not be persuaded by propaganda, but pronouncements backed by what is happening on the ground.
