Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Open letter to economist Eric Bloch on indigenisation

Open letter to economist Eric Bloch on indigenisation
By: Chimedzamatore
Posted: Saturday, February 12, 2011 4:12 pm

Dear Editor -- This is a response to the article of Eric Bloch titled: "Kasukuwere’s policies destructive" that appeared in the Zimbabwe Independent. Eric yours is an alarmist view. Given the choice I would not even ask a single foreign investor to invest in Zimbabwe.

I would rather empower Zimbabweans to be the investors in their own country however slow and painful that investment process could become. This is because when things go wrong, as they have done in the past; Zimbabweans would not unceremoniously close shop like a foreign investor and ‘go home’ as they have no other home to go to.

They will stay put and stick to the fight and make every effort possible to keep their investments working, however painful that process would be.

Take the example of what happened during the last ten or so years. Most foreign owned businesses just decided to close shop (whether they had genuine economic reasons to do that or not) with the expectation of causing havoc and guarantee regime change.
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Unfortunately for them, the strategy has failed to work thus far.

As it is today, probably anything between 60 and 90 percent of the employable people in the country are out of work, if they are still in the country.

On the other hand, look at all national (indigenous) enterprises, (schools, hospitals, power utilities, etc) during the same ten or so last years, they never closed shop however difficult the situation became, they kept limping on.

Of course teachers, nurses, doctors, engineers, lawyers, economists, left, but the fact remains, the indigenous-owned institutions never closed shop, they remained open and available to provide service.

They kept limping on, providing whatever service they could afford under the circumstances.

Even if it was the worst service available on earth, the fact remains, they were there and they provided a service.

What would have happened to Zimbabwe if institutions like Hwange Colliery, Zesa, Air Zimbabwe, Post and Telecommunications and National Railways of Zimbabwe, government hospitals, schools, etc were all owned by foreign investors who would have conspired one day and decided to close shop, because they were not in agreement with the politics of the day?

The problem is people like you Eric claim to be in the know and to be telling the truth.

But the reality is you are very aware that out there in the international world, every country is fighting for foreign investment.

My interpretation of your article is that you would want Zimbabweans to believe that if it were not for Kasukuwere’s policies foreigners would flood to invest in Zimbabwe.

But you know very well that is not true. You know that even the very America and European countries have perfectioned their indigenization policies for the-would-be-investor to stay put at home and not invest anywhere in the world including Zimbabwe.

You also know that most investments in Africa out of Europe or America are meant to exploit the natural resources of the targeted country. That is the truth you are not telling the Zimbabweans for reasons best known to you.

Why should we have foreigners mining alluvial diamonds in Marange when the villagers can do it perfectly well using the most rudimental instruments?

Surely Eric you don’t want to tell Zimbabweans that to acquire simple technology such as earth moving machinery needed to mine diamonds in Marage we need a foreign investor for that.

You know that a one off sale of the diamonds in stock today should be enough to buy Zimbabwe enough earth moving machinery needed in Marange to improve production. That is the truth you are not telling the Zimbabweans. That is the option you are not suggesting to Kasukuwere, Mpofu and Biti to consider - an option that you are aware would keep every penny collected from the mining and selling of the diamonds in Zimbabwe and improve the financial position of the country.

For reasons best known to you, you want Zimbabweans to believe that government policies have failed the economy of Zimbabwe. Of cause that is what you read in every newspaper around the world.

But what boggles the mind is reputable researchers have been left wondering why under those “bad government policies” HIV prevalence is on the decline in Zimbabwe faster than in any other country with good policies and better funding.

I am sure you are very informed of the findings of several reputable researches undertaken on the land reform in Zimbabwe that have all concluded that it was a success contrary to the misinformation peddled around the world by people who claim to be in the know.

My point here Eric is, if the bad policies of the government of Zimbabwe have managed to do better than the best policies of some of the countries around us in dealing with HIV and the land reform, surely Kasukuwere’s “bad indigenization policy”, will at its own time prove otherwise also.

Again, I am not saying Zimbabwe should not invite foreigners to invest in the country. My point is foreigners should not be the pivot of our economic development, but should come in to compliment our own efforts, at our own terms as we are expected to do if we were to invest in their own countries.

We should not accept investments that are of no benefit to the country. We should not settle for investments that pay peanuts to the government of Zimbabwe and yet they pay a hundred times more to their governments of origin. That is just unacceptable. Period!

Thanks.

Chimedzamatore

Labels: NEOCOLONIALISM, NEOLIBERALISM

posted by MrK @ 1:21 AM