IT’S THE ECONOMY STUPID- THE TRAGEDY OF INVESTING IN ZIMBABWE

 

This term was coined during the 1992 successful presidential run by Bill Clinton. I remember flying home to Harare on Saturday 18 November 2017 to participate in the demonstration to demand Robert Mugabe resignation. My expectation from the then incoming president Mnangagwa was not that democracy would improve in Zimbabwe, I thought at least he would manage the economy better. Throughout Africa we have less democratic countries such as Uganda, Botswana, Egypt, Rwanda etc but whose leaders know how to manage economies.

I have tried doing various projects in Zimbabwe since I left the country almost 13 years ago, the economic environment has become worse. Early this year, I took the painful but rational decision to stop our only project left in Zimbabwe being our piggery project. The issues are state corruption, the absence of rule of law, the poor management of the economy etc. In Zimbabwe authorities do not excessive just administrative actions. You can wake up one morning, the state will have imposed far reaching measures that might mean the closure of your business.

For the last five years we bought maize from local farmers and from nowhere the government gazetted a law to make it illegal to buy or sell maize. A farmer next door could get arrested for selling maize to you😢 For years I would bring maize from Mutoko to Chivhu about 300kms away without a problem but the new laws made doing that a criminal action and police would impound your  vehicle and permanently forfeit it to the state.

After the disputed 30 July 2018 election, a then respected finance minister was appointed and I welcomed this move. From the minister’s statement before he was appointed, he had proposed using the South African Rand and that made economic sense. Around November 2018, he announced his budget and announced that he would stick with the Zimbabwean dollar. At that time I already had tobacco seedlings ready to be planted and my target was 10 hectares of tobacco. I was planning to go home permanently and managed the farming on my own. Although I had already incurred costs, it was prudent not to send more forex to Zimbabwe and I donated the seedlings to local farmers.

We still stuck with our piggery project but we decided not to expand it horizontally and vertically as per our plans. The decision to bring back the Zimbabwe dollars made inputs in Zimbabwe very expensive and we started buying from South Africa. The problem was when selling the pork, we always lost money because of the premium on physical cash as compared to EFT.

The power shortages of 2019 when Lake Kariba water level were very low made it worse, abattoirs couldn’t buy more pigs as the butcheries were not stocking huge quantities. What really sunk us was the shortage of maize and a tonne of maize was costing US$300 as compared to $130 in South Africa plus transport. The logistics of buying maize and pig concentrate were a nightmare as you require an import permit.

If we had a stable and properly managed Zimbabwe, I would be better off in Zimbabwe than in South Africa farming as there is a huge gap in Zimbabwe. There is so much land that lies idle and a lot of dams that are not being utilized. The reality now is that you will need your head examined to send your hard earned forex to Zimbabwe as things stand. I discuss with many Zimbabweans based overseas and they would rather buy properties in South Africa than build a house or start a project in Zimbabwe

GENERAL JAN CHRISTIAAN SMUTS, A PROPHET WITHOUT HONOUR IN HIS OWN COUNTRY

 

One of my prized possessions was a Time Magazine Person of the Century issue published around December 1999-January 2000. Unfortunately I left it in Bulawayo in August 2007 when I migrated to South Africa. The person of the century award went to Albert Einstein, incidentally Einstein once said then that Jan Smuts was one of only eleven men in the world who conceptually understood the theory of relativity. Mahatma Gandhi was a runner up person of the century. Nelson Mandela wrote for Time about the life of Gandhi in an article titled, ‘The Sacred Warrior’. That article compelled me to read Gandhi’s biography years later. This led me to read about Jan Smut and will lead me to read about Winston Churchill.

Both Smuts and Gandhi were lawyers educated in Britain. Smuts had been the Attorney General of Transvaal colony and later Minister of Interior. There was a policy to restrict the settlement of Indians in the Transvaal. It is said the racial prejudices that Gandhi witnessed in South Africa and the violence he witnessed in the saw-called Bambata Rebellion changed him forever. Nelson Mandela wrote, “ he led his Indian stretcher-bearer corps to serve the Empire, but British brutality against the Zulus roused his soul against violence as nothing had done before.” Gandhi’s passive resistance inspired many including Dr Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement in America.

As a native my first instinct was not to read Smut’s biography given the complicated history of colonialism and segregation in Africa. I am glad I did. Smut was an intelligent man, a brave soldier, a statesman, a legendary military leader, a man with a deep love for nature and above all a visionary as well as a realist. During the Anglo-Boer war, you can track his journey as a commander fighting the English in then Transvaal colony, Orange Free State, present day Eastern Cape and Western Cape.

A truce was declared, as the Attorney General of The Transvaal colony his presence was required in Pretoria. You then trace his journey fulfilling his vision of uniting the four colonies into one South Africa. He knew the importance of uniting Afrikaners and the English despite a difficult past between the two people. I believe he loved his people but he was realistic and sought to have South Africa declared as a republic under the protection of the British empire. He knew the painful reality that if South Africa didn’t have the protection of British empire, another foreign power such as Germany could have come and takeover.

During First World War, Smuts and Prime Minister Louis Botha led an army of volunteers to fight the Germans in present day Namibia. 12 years earlier these gentlemen had fought the English during the English-Boer war and now he was fighting for the British empire. Within six months, the South West Africa campaign was over, Germans formally surrendered. Smuts was invited by Britain to take Command of British forces in East Africa. By January 2017, he accomplished what the British government had asked him to do in East Africa.

Smuts headed to London and was included the Britain’s Imperial war cabinet. He had the ear of prime minister Lloyd George. To those of us aviation enthusiasts, the role of Jan Smuts in the formation of Royal Air Force can never be under estimated. Smuts used his influence within Britain to lay down the foundation of British Commonwealth. He was also instrumental in the formation of The League of Nations an organization that preceded United Nations a feat that later made Nelson Mandela to be excited listening to Smuts at a 1939 graduation ceremony at University of Fort Hare.

During the Paris Peace Conference after the end of First World War both Smuts and Botha were in favour of reconciliation. They had the foresight to see that a weakened Germany would be a danger to the future of Europe and the world at large. They lost the debate and hardliners won the day. In 1922 Prime minister Smuts made an attempt to include Rhodesia as the fifth province of South Africa. Thank god white Rhodesians voted against the move. Whilst in 1948 Apartheid started in earnest in South Africa and present day Namibia, in Rhodesia premiers such as Godfrey Huggins, Roy Welensky, Garfield Todd and Edgar Whitehead were not pursuing openly racist policies such as the ones in South Africa.

Garfield Todd introduced reforms aimed at improving the education of Africans in Rhodesia, before he became prime minister he ran the Dadaya Mission school for Africans.  The openly racist Ian Smith took power in 1964 and later declared independence from Britain and followed a policy of segregation similar to Apartheid South Africa. Even though the education of Africans was not a priority of Smith’s government, reforms laid out by the likes of Garfield Todd and many church run schools from Tegwane, Kutama Mission, Murewa Mission, Nyadire, Gokomere, St Augustine, Waddilove Mission etc meant that a number of Africans still got educated unlike in Apartheid South Africa which introduced Bantu education. The legacy of Bantu education will require decisive government intervention to improve the education among natives in South Africa.

With the start of the Second World War in 1939, Smuts understood that South Africa could not remain neutral, the matter was put to vote and 80 voted to support Britain and 67 voted to remain neutral. Smuts was again in East Africa again this time to thwart Italy’s plans in Africa. The Allies captured Addis Addis Ababa in April 1941 and after the surrender of Italy, Emperor Haile Selassie was restored to the throne of Ethiopia. Fate is a funny thing, in 1963 Haile Selassie together with Kwame Nkrumah and other African leaders formed the Organization of African Unity and one of the goals of OAU was the freeing the rest of Africa from colonialism. OAU would fight for total liberation of Africa and would be at loggerheads with Apartheid South Africa. In 1962 Nelson Mandela under the alias of David Motsamai travelled to Ethiopia for military and political training.

During Second World War, Smuts travelled to Cairo were he met Churchill, the Allies were fighting in Northern Africa and Middle East. Smuts impressed Churchill and he was invited to London and he was again in the war cabinet. Towards the end of the war Smuts travelled to America to attend the San Francisco Conference towards the formation of United Nations, he suggested that UN Charter should contain a declaration of human rights.

During the 1946 UN General Assembly India laid a charge that South Africa was discriminating against Indians in Natal. South Africa was censured by the General Assembly and ordered to bring the treatment of its Indians into line with the UN charter. Smuts told the Indian representative, “This vote will put me out of power in our next election, but you will have gained nothing”. Smuts had become the first victim of the new institution he had been instrumental in creating. ANC representative Dr AB Xuma was impressed by the manner in which India’s representative had raised the banner on behalf of South Africa’s other races, Xuma forged links between the ANC and India which were to prove useful later.

In 1948 Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, Smuts paid his tribute. Smut was voted out of office in the same year and in came the National Party led by D.F Malan. Policies of Apartheid and segregation were instituted in South Africa. Smuts died aged 80 in 1950. It is understandable that he was viewed with suspicion by his people as he was too close to the British Royal Family. Other races in South Africa might feel that he didn’t do much for them either. As a native, I grudgingly accept that Field Marshall Jan Smuts was also my hero.

The institutions he helped create such as UN and Commonwealth helped to transform many countries. In my native Zimbabwe Commonwealth was one of the institutions that stood up to the facist government of Robert Mugabe. Many citizens of the Commonwealth have been given bursaries to study at some of the world’s leading universities. The Commonwealth Games have also acted as a springboard to usher many athletes to greater heights.

The fight against fascism in the Second World War is one of my favorite moments in the life of Gen Smuts. During the 1936 Berlin Olympic, Hitler did not shake the hand of African American Athelete Jessie Owen who won four Olympics gold medal. Hitler considered people of “non Aryan (non white and Jewish)” to be inferior. I have no doubt that Hitler also despised Africans. Smuts as member of British cabinet and also and also as commander during Second World War, by fighting fascism to preserve the British empire he also saved Africans and other ,”Non Aryan” races. Over a million Africans also fought in the war and after the Second World War Africans started demanding independence from colonialism.

Smuts was also a friend of the Jewish people. He fought against government policy of restricting the number of Jewish immigrants. Smuts was friends with Dr Chaim Weizmann, founder and first president of Israel. He had met him in 1917 during the First World War. In 1948 South Africa under the leadership of Smuts announced the recognition of the state of Israel becoming among one of the first countries in the world to do so. He once went to Dublin, Ireland to meet Sinn Fein Leadership to convince them to attend a conference called by their arch-enemy Britain

One sentence to describe General Smuts, “ A prophet has no honour in his own country”, I am confident that Smut’s place in the history books of the world and South Africa is assured.

WHY YOU MUST ALWAYS SPEAK UP FOR THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS

Last week in Zimbabwe there was a despicable act perpetrated by the Zimbabwean government towards three young women from the opposition party MDC. They are Joannah Mamombe a member of parliament, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova. These MDC youth leaders had participated in a demonstration and were arrested by the police, when they got to Harare Central Police instead of being taken into the police station, they were bundled into a private vehicle, blind folded and they were driven away to be tortured for two nights.

According to their testimony they were forced to urinate on themselves, forced to urinate in cups, drink each other’s urine and Honorable Mamombe was forced to eat feaces of her colleague. They went on to say they were physically and sexually assaulted. A lot of people in Zimbabwe are afraid to speak-up and condemn this act. To be fair Zanu-PF has never changed and the system has been using violence against its opponents.

After the war of liberation ended, General Josia Tongogara who pushed for Zapu and Zanu-PF to contest the 1980 election as one party died on the way from Mozambique. Many believe he was murdered for his beliefs. If Zapu & Zanu-PF had contested as a unity Joshua Nkomo as the most senior member would have become the prime minister. From early 80s Zanu-PF started targeting Zapu members and I have written about my experience in the 1985 election. Over 20 000 Zimbabweans were murdered by the state in Matebeleland and Midlands provinces.

My father was a policeman at Amaveni Police Station in Kwekwe from 1982 to 1989. There was so much violence towards Zanu-PF opponents that the police was helpless to act. Incidentally our member of parliament for Kwekwe was Mr ED Mnangagwa our current president. The current minister of intelligence Mr Owen “Muda” Ncube is an enforcer for the president from city of Kwekwe. The same violence in 1990 towards Edgar Tekere’s ZUM. In 2000 after Mugabe lost the Constitutional referendum there was so much violence on the farms against white farmers, farm workers etc. I know about the farm violence first hand as I worked in the farming claims department for AIG Zimbabwe Ltd. Towards the June 2000 parliamentary elections I feared visiting my mum in Marondera due to the violence.

The story goes on to 2002 presidential elections, 2005 Murambatsvina, in 2007 Morgan Tsvangirai and other opposition leaders were arrested and beaten-up in police cells. 2008 after Mugabe lost the March 2008 election hundreds were murdered thousands were injured and displaced from their homes. In 2011 General Solomon Mujuru who had been General Tongogara’s deputy during the war died in a fire at his farm. Many believe he was murdered by the system.

Zanu-PF has never changed since it was formed almost 60 years ago, the violence it used towards its comrades during the war, they are still using it today towards its opponents. No one is safe so we have no choice but to condemn these barbaric actions because tomorrow it’s you🙏🏿

IS A CAR AN INVESTMENT OR ASSET IN SOUTH AFRICA?

Disclaimer- I am not a financial advisor, I speak from my own personal experiences on what I encountered in Zimbabwe & South Africa during the last 22 years in the Insurance industry. I do have an accounting degree as well An Advanced Diploma in Insurance Management ( Fellowship Diploma) from The Insurance Institute of South Africa.

During the Zuma years especially around 2015 up to the time that he fired Nhlanhla Nene as the finance minister some of us who lived under Robert Mugabe years in Zimbabwe from 1997 when Zim dollar to 2008 when hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans left for South Africa started to panic.

I saw the same signs I saw in Zimbabwe. I had joined the insurance industry in Zimbabwe at the end of 1997 and I can write books about the ravages of inflation. In a normal economy a vehicle is supposed to lose value and it is not considered an asset. Assets such as vehicles somehow traces the value of US$ as vehicles are imported. It is no secret that the Rand has lost its value over the last 10 years. In 2009 when we started building our house in Zimbabwe, for every R100 I could get $12.50 and now it is more like $7.

So my first car I bought in South Africa was a Toyota Tazz at the end of 2007 on finance for a price of R54 000. My monthly installment was around R1 200, I sold it in 2016 for R 32 500.00, after driving it for 9 years. When I left Zimbabwe in 2007 my allocated company car was a 2002 Toyota Hilux KZTE 3.0 D d/cab similar to the one in the photo below. You will be surprised that this 18 year old vehicle is being advertised for R139 000. Incidentally I once considered buying this vehicle in 2007 for the same price when I came to South Africa.

In 2014, I bought my first Hyundai H100 Bakkie for R90 000 on finance. A similar 2008 Bakkie is now being advertised for R100 000.00. Of course when you consider the time value of money R100 000 in 2020 is not the same as R90 000 in 2014. My point is that you can finance a car and use it ( very few of us can afford to buy a car cash) and still be able to dispose it for a decent some. With the state of public transport a vehicle is a necessity especially if you have a family. Maybe you wish to apply for home loan and one of the question is do you own a vehicle? Is the vehicle paid up? What is the value of the vehicle? Food for thought.

I don’t recommend buying a car on residual finance, there is no free lunch in this world.

ZIMBABWEANS ARE TOO INDIVIDUALISTIC, HENCE WE WILL SUFFER LONGER

 

I always remember this scenario, from 2000 onwards Zimbabwe started experiencing fuel shortages due to the continued devaluation of the Zimbabwean dollar. Around 2005 we were renting a flat next to Marlborough Civic Centre. So petrol was expected to be delivered at a fuel station along Harare Drive not far from home. We spent almost two days queuing in an orderly way. One of the guys in the queue I discovered was my sister’s boss at Red Star Wholesalers head office. We sort of became friends with the group and we got along very well. On the day petrol was delivered there was chaos those people you thought were your friends didn’t care whether you got fuel or not, cars got scratched in the process. During that time is when corruption got entrenched in the Zimbabwean psyche. As long as zvangu zvaita I don’t care about you became the attitude.

This week at our complex in Pretoria there was a police van on a purely civil matter within the body corporate. Our white controlled body corporate fired cleaners and they appointed a white company to provide cleaning services. We opposed the move to no avail. We have a long running dispute with the body corporate and they are using tactics to delay the AGM where we want to vote them out. In true South African style the only route left is protest. Protest is the language of the unheard and South Africans use it effectively🙏🏿 When I first arrived in South Africa, I never understood why people protested so much but now after nearly 13 years in South Africa, I now realise it is very effective. I remember last year driving into Cape Town along N2 traffic was at a standstill at Paarl for almost 4 hours as community members were protesting. I am sure Zanu-PF is nervous as thousands of Zimbabweans who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 are making their way back home.

In Zimbabwe the government banned minibus taxis for the last 7 weeks, just imagine if that had happened in South Africa there would be mayhem. Even the lockdown in South Africa people are no longer complying. The problem in Zimbabwe is that we are not united and we look at our problems in isolation and we are easy to be divided and then be ruled. Taxi drivers, vendors, farmers etc don’t realise that they have the common enemy in the misrule of Zanu-PF.

If opposition supporters, taxi drivers, farmers, vendors, workers, students etc united under a proactive leadership, Zanu-PF would not last a day. The truth is that Zanu-PF cannot put everyone in prison.

REMEMBERING DJ PETER JOHNS & RADIO 3

I still remember the first time Radio 3 became a 24 hour station in 1997. I was teaching at Kambarami Secondary School just outside Murehwa Center. I was renting a room at the pink house from Mudhara Ndorochena at Murehwa. I was busy with my accounting studies with Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. I went to the then brand new beautiful Westgate Shopping Center in Harare and bought myself a radio cassette radio player from Discom shop. 3 years later I would join AIG Zimbabwe at their Westgate offices.

Back in Murehwa I would wake-up early around 4am to study listening to Radio 3. Growing up in the 80s and early 90s, adults would mostly switch the radio to Radio 2 which alternated between Shona and Ndebele and we were forced to listen to it. The fact that I can understand Ndebele (Zulu) is thanks to Radio 2. In high school we started listening to the mainly American music and a bit of British music on Radio 3. Saturday evenings were special with the reggae session. On New Year we would listen to the top 100 songs, in 1995, I Swear was the best song👌🏿

When I started working in 1996 I would go to the flea market in Union Avenue and bought cassettes from American, Canadian and British singers. I liked one or two songs from local artists but not much to buy their music. End of 1997, I got a permanent job in Harare and I eventually opened an account with Greatermans Stores, I would go to Spinalong in Miekle stores and bought cassettes from international stars that was being played on Radio 3.

In 1999 after a very short stay in Unit J, Chitungwiza where I met my wife in early 1999, there was an advert for a 2 room cottage in Avondale behind St Anne’s Hospital, I went to view the place. It turned out the block of flats belonged to ZBC employees and the flats had been sold to employees. The lady who prepared the lease was working for Radio 1 and she would shortly leave for Canada. I bought a Sharp CD player from Clicks. I stayed in Avondale for 4 years and the place was very convenient as it was a walking distance to Avondale shopping center were I went every weekend for movies.

After 2000 elections, Jonathan Moyo became the minister of information and started making changes to state media and introduced local content. I stopped listening to the radio and I would play my cassettes at home. I never liked the new local music. In 2002 I would get my first car and I would play my cassettes in the car. Later I started subscribing to DSTV and I would watch MTV then it only played music. My neighbour whose garden flat was attached to my cottage Mai Daisy was a producer of the 8pm ZBC News complained to me that Jonathan Moyo was directly involved in this propaganda news that was being churned out on ZTV.

In 2005, I got a company car a Toyota Hilux double cab with a CD car radio player. After I became Bulawayo Branch Manager in 2006, my friend Stanley Nyatala came from Chinhoyi and we drove to Beitbridge. He introduced me to Jacaranda FM and I fell in love with the station. I looked forward to going to Beitbridge so that I would listen to Jacaranda FM. On the way to Bulawayo, I would listen to Jacaranda all the way to Gwanda 👌🏿Jacaranda FM played the music I grew up listening on Radio 3. Up to this day I listen to Jacaranda on weekends and during the long drives to Beitbridge on my way home to Zimbabwe.

In 2006,I drove to Pretoria for the first time. My youngest sister took me to Menlyn Shopping Center. Near to the entrance, there was Reliable Music Warehouse. I bought so many cassettes in that store. I have no problem with buying 3 things; vehicles, books and music. Radio 3 gave us magic 🙏🏿 I thank it’s DJs such as Peter Jonhs, James Maridadi, Kudzi Marudza (Kudzi once came you our flat in 2008 to visit other Zimbabweans I shared the flat with in Pretoria) and many others. Davis Mugadza every morning would play a song by Regina Belle, “be in love again”👌🏿