Budget
Zimbabwe's economy in 2006: Goodbye (and good riddance) to 2005!
Sokwanele Article: January 6th, 2006Surely things can't get worse! Or can they? Haven't we been asking this for over 5 years now?
What can we expect from 2006 financially and economically? Let's take a look at what we can expect of the new year - bearing in mind, of course, that any form of prediction in Zimbabwe is whimsical, given the proven tendencies of this regime to interfere with economic forces in order to protect or better their own lifestyles, regardless of the effect on the people they are supposed to be serving.
Will we see any improvement to our standard of living?
Deceit and Deception
Sokwanele Article: February 4th, 2005Ever since Gideon Gono was promoted to the post of Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe he has practised a form of intense deception directed at the general public, for whom he obviously has scant regard. The nation has been subjected to a carefully managed media circus every three months as the Governor spells out in lengthy form his view of the "State of the Nation" and the circumstances for which he has personal responsibility.
These statements are always a mixture of the truth (the parastatals have failed the public) and half-truths or just blatant lies and distortion. Sorting out what is good and what is bad is difficult for the layperson and many are being deceived by the bright smile behind the statements that pour out of the Bank.
One thing that does come through, though not intended, is that Gono is Mugabe's man and is carefully pursuing the objectives he was set when he was given the job. Let's look at the situation and compare the real situation to what Gono is saying.
Huge Budget Allocation for Spying
Sokwanele Article: December 3rd, 2004The 2005 Budget presented to Parliament last week by the acting Finance Minister reveals a huge allocation of the country's scarce resources to the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), Zimbabwe's dreaded secret service agency. A massive Z$ 395,8 billion is allocated to this notorious force under the special services allocation which falls directly under the President's office and is not subject to any parliamentary scrutiny.
The massive surge in expenditure by the CIO takes it to more than six times the Z$ 62 billion voted for it in 2004 - an allocation which was exceeded by over 60 per cent in any event without recourse to parliament for approval.
A separate equipment procurement account for special services is also set to increase from Z$ 10 billion in 2004 to Z$ 61,3 billion for 2005. No information has been given to parliament or the country on the sort of equipment the spy agency is acquiring.
