Zimbabwe Business Watch : Week 47
The unfolding catastrophe manifests itself in new developments everyday in the life of a Zimbabwean business. The hyperinflation barrier was passed in January this year and there are no words to describe what is taking place now as no country in the world has experienced these proportions before. The OMIR has reached 443 qdrln and valuing the US Dollar has become a worthless exercise. The government, or shall we say the illegitimate government, has no answers and resists every practical opportunity to deal with the emergency simply because it incurs a high political cost. Companies are paying their workers in a variety of tradable commodities as the daily cash withdrawal limit cannot even begin to buy a loaf of bread. This is inflicting immense hardship on the worker and his community as, clearly, the rights of individuals are being violated whilst their employers stand by helpless. Parastatals and local government institutions are now insisting on cash and this very development is bringing the remaining business activity to a halt. Authorities continue to arrest and detain businessmen for trading in foreign currency, their only hope of survival.
November 23rd, 2008 05:04
The blatant refusal of the Elders into Zimbabwe, and the farcical reasons given by the government is just another sad chapter of the Zimbabwe Saga. But on a happier note, I do believe that there are only a few chapters left in this long and sorry tale.
November 23rd, 2008 16:39
There is much talk in the world today of the ‘broken society’. This is used, particularly in the West, to describe a society which has become irreligious, greedy, amoral etc.etc., but mainly it is a society which on the surface still enjoys the freedoms which other less fortunate societies do not enjoy because they are under an iron rule of whatever political persuasion, i.e. under dictatorial rule. The latter societies have not been broken by their own, usually hardworking and brave people, but by laws and repression forced upon them for the benefit entirely of a small elite, who suppress their populations, and bend them to their will by force, in order to maintain either some higher ideal, as in Nazism or Communism, or simply out of greed, as in Zimbabwe. And, as any mechanic will tell you, the only way to repair a piece of broken equipment that cannot be mended is to replace it. So it is with such regimes. They must be replaced if the country is to prosper.
The MDC believes that it can ultimately engineer that replacement. Presumably, after the events of 2008, they do not have a very urgent timescale and may think that with a steady drip of diplomacy they will eventually achieve their goal. Next year they will celebrate 10 years of existence. But Zimbabwe cannot wait another 10 years before it is free. The mechanics won’t allow it.