Byo Waits With Bated Breath

The Financial Gazette

By Financial Gazette Reporter

19 September 2013

BULAWAYO — With a new Cabinet now sworn-in by President Robert Mugabe, the country’s second largest city is waiting with bated breath to see how the new ZANU-PF government will deal with the city’s multi-faceted challenges.

While some say nothing much will improve in Bulawayo, affectionately known as the City of Kings and Queens, others believe ZANU-PF could confound its critics and deliver ahead of the next elections in 2018.

City of Kings and Queens residents and the ruling ZANU-PF have had a tumultuous relationship since the country gained independence in April 1980.

Residents of Bulawayo accuse ZANU-PF of deliberately pursuing a policy of marginalisation, an accusation persistently denied by the party.

As a result, ZANU-PF has persistently been punished at the polls by voters from the province, who have instead backed the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) led by Morgan Tsvangirai.

In the July 31 elections, the MDC-T won all 12 National Assembly seats and 29 council wards, leaving ZANU-PF with egg on its face.

ZANU-PF succeeded, however, in making inroads into other perceived MDC-T strongholds such as the Manicaland, Matabeleland North and South provinces.

Included in President Mugabe’s Cabinet line up are long serving ZANU-PF bigwigs, among them Emmerson Mnangagwa and Sydney Sekeramayi who have served in government since the 1980s.

Interestingly, there is no Minister in the current Cabinet from Bulawayo, whereas under the unity government the province was represented by David Coltart, Welshman Ncube, Gorden Moyo and Samuel Sipepa-Nkomo.

Political observers believe the new Cabinet, dominated by the old guard, offers little hope of either making a change or causing a radical shift in policy.

They do not see the new administration expending its energy and focus on the crisis gripping the Matabeleland region.

Bulawayo has suffered massive de-industrialisation, persistent water shortages and a looming hunger season which is likely to affect most parts of Matabeleland South.

Once the industrial hub of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo is almost on its knees. Since 2000, it has been dealt a body blow by de-industrialisation with nearly 100 companies having either closed shop or relocated to Harare, translating into the loss of an estimated 20 000 jobs.

The massive migration of people from the southern parts of Zimbabwe into South Africa and Botswana has also been blamed on company closures in Zimbabwe’s second largest city. Both industry players and residents of Bulawayo had pinned their hopes on the just-ended inclusive government turning around the fortunes of the city but that was not to be as company closures and  the streamlining of operations remained the order of the day with no end in sight.

The US$40 million Distressed Industries and Marginalised Areas Fund (DIMAF) earmarked for the city’s ailing industries since 2011 has not yielded much fruit.

In fact, some companies have either shut down or been placed under judicial management while queuing to access the fund.

There was finger-pointing in the former government regarding the ineffectiveness of DIMAF and other strategies adopted to bring back Zimbabwe’s economy on track. The ZANU-PF side of the government put the blame squarely on then finance minister Tendai Biti (MDC-T) whom they accused of deliberately sabotaging the economy.

Just before the July 31 polls, ZANU-PF promised to take measures to bring back Bulawayo to its former status as the industrial hub of the country, once elected into government.

President Mugabe, who on his inauguration, acknowledged that Bulawayo had been reduced to an “industrial scrapyard” has repeatedly said his government would move in to rescue the city from distress.

All eyes are therefore now fixed on the new Industry and Commerce Minister, Mike Bimha and his Finance counterpart, Patrick Chinamasa to deliver on promises made in the run-up to the elections.

Political analyst, Dumisani Nkomo, said the incoming government might starve council of resources and instead channel these through Provincial Minister Eunice Moyo, so as to discredit the MDC-T.

“ZANU-PF is looking at the bigger picture which is 2018 and they may pour in resources from the Chinese or diamonds so as to win Bulawayo in the next elections.They will starve the Bulawayo City Council and fund Provincial Minister Eunice Moyo, so as to discredit the MDC-T,” said Nkomo.

Vivid Gwede, a political commentator, said President Mugabe’s new Cabinet has the old stains of patronage, duplication of ministries, and is unnecessarily large.

“There is also the creation of dubious provincial ministers to usurp the power of the provinces in line with his desire to limit devolution and de-centralisation of power,” said Gwede.

“That aspect of doing away with devolution shows early signs that President Mugabe has many tricks of evading the spirit of the new Constitution, which the people of Bulawayo want.”

Rashweat Mukundu, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute, said Bulawayo’s fortunes would not be improved by the new ZANU-PF government.

“This is so because there is no investment taking place or likely to take place which will even trickle down to Bulawayo.

“With the ZANU-PF government sticking to its guns on indigenisation, we will see more industries shutting their doors, streamlining operations and shifting to Harare. So far what we have from ZANU-PF is rhetoric and a wish list on resuscitating Bulawayo and no concrete plans,” said Mukundu.

Another school of thought contends that the challenges facing the city could present an opportunity for ZANU-PF to turn things around.

Although it is hard to believe, Khanyile Mlotshwa, a political commentator based at Rhodes University, sees possible revival of the city under the new administration for several reasons.

“Firstly, ZANU-PF would like to prove themselves and create the impression that the unity government was the worst thing ever to happen to Zimbabwe.

“Secondly, the idea is that in Zimbabwe we are perpetually in an election mood, so everything is politicised and ZANU-PF will try to do its best to put itself in good books with the people of Bulawayo for the next election in 2018. I foresee Saviour Kasukuwere, the Environment and Water Minister coming out and working hard on the issue of water challenges facing the city and in the process setting the stage for the revival of the industries,” said Mlotshwa.

Cletus Moyo, president of the Matabeleland chapter of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), said they would want promises made during the campaign period delivered as soon as possible.

He said CZI had since written congratulatory letters to both Chinamasa and Bimha in which they also requested a meeting with them in order to hear from the horses’ mouth how they intend to take the country’s economy forward.

“However, the first thing we would want them to do is to ensure that the few companies that are there in Bulawayo remain operational and ensure there are no further closures,” he said.

Moyo said the new government should also help struggling companies to attract investment before moving on to resuscitate some of those that collapsed.

He, however, acknowledged that not all of the collapsed companies were worth reopening arguing that some had already been overtaken by technological advancements.

“It is indeed a welcome development that the Cabinet has been set up and we will now be knocking at their doors,” said Lucky Mlilo, chief executive officer for  the Association of Business in Zimbabwe.

Mlilo said the government needed to immediately capacitate economic enablers such as ZESA Holdings, Hwange Colliery Company and the National Railways of Zimbabwe to pave way for reindustrialisation of Bulawayo.

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) Bulawayo chapter first vice chairperson, Tshidzanani Malaba, said they were taking the government at its word regarding the promises it made to industry and were also eagerly awaiting their fulfillment.

Bimha last week vowed he would implement the promises his party made regarding Bulawayo industries during the election campaign.

“Resuscitating industries in Bulawayo is a priority because this city used to be the country’s industrial hub,” said Bimha.

“Our party (ZANU-PF) campaigned on the basis of a manifesto and when people give you the mandate you have to deliver. I will look at how best to ensure the promises we made are realised. Sourcing funding for the recapitalisation of companies is a major issue and that will be our focus.”

Chinamasa, a former Justice Minister in the inclusive government, this week said he would not say anything on how he intends to take forward the country’s finances, arguing he needed to be first briefed by officials in his new ministry before making public pronouncements.