Disgraced Zimbabwe Media assassin Tofataona MahosoZanu PF solidarity messages with under siege RBZ governor Gideon Gono and AG Johannes Tomana would not be complete if left to the youngsters.
Disgraced former chairman of the defunct Media and Information Commission, renowned for closing down media houses hostile to Mugabe and Zanu PF by any means over alleged failure to comply with stringent registration and ownership rules had to have the final say.
In his “Temporary entity parading endurance as achievement” instalment in the Sunday Mail Mahoso was at his scathing best against the MDC and Finance Minister Tendai Biti from the same party.
He was enraged that the MDC was pushing so hard for Dr Gono and Tomana’s ouster from their key positions at the Reserve Bank and Attorney General’s office respectively.
The anger had been simmering in him for some time as he is one old Zanu PF addict who has never really bought into the regime change agenda be it to another political formation of to a coalition of political formations.
And for the coalition to even discuss parity in sharing governmental responsibility was totally unacceptable for Mahoso.
“The fanatical pursuit of parity in the allocation of posts would not only be costly to the people; it would also cause the parties to treat citizens as if they are there to serve this temporary structure (musasa) called inclusive Government, instead of the IG serving the people in achieving specific tactical objectives over a short period of time.
Fanatical insistence on parity would mean that some of the parties to the IG would treat citizens of Zimbabwe as if they were created to serve the Global Political Agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding among the parties instead of these pieces of paper being treated as vehicles to enable the nation to cross a few dangerous trenches dug by the axis of illegal regime change.
Fanatical insistence on parity instead of equity in the IG would see the parties celebrating structural "balance", "inertia" and even "stalemate" as demonstrations of great innovation and achievement — when in fact what people expect is competency and speed in demining the gulf of Anglo-Saxon sanctions dividing our people so that we can dismantle this temporary structure and move on to our permanent and palatial house of stones — Great Zimbabwe!
Too much time has gone into efforts to maintain that cumbersome and fragile musasa for the IG to pay attention to the priorities of the people. The IG does not exist to serve or save itself,” growled Mahoso.
Mahoso is miffed that the Premier has twice boasted that the greatest achievement of the coalition has been its ability to survive adversity and remain intact to date.
“Why should endurance or longevity be viewed as an achievement for a temporary entity?”he grudgingly asked.
Fortunately we can answer that for him. There are not many institutions that have survived that long when Mahoso was opposed to their existence. Add to that what has happened in the past to political entities that were not favoured by the Military Chiefs and War Veterans as well as George Charamba and you will know why survival of a coalition government opposed by the same fundamentalists is on its own a major feat.
Mahoso’s next issue with the coalition government is over the Finance Ministry’s performance to date.
“Three months on, citizens of Zimbabwe have the right to ask whether or not the allocation of the Ministry of Finance to MDC-T under Finance Minister Tendai Biti was in the best interest of the people,” he bared his soul.
He threw a salvo at the Finance Minister for having launched an economic recovery plan steeped in “foregrounds and priority slogans borrowed from the neo-liberal "human rights" propaganda associated with the cynical and discredited Bush-Blair era.”
We can assume that the previous regime’s economic plans which yielded economic disaster were grounded in Pan African socialist dogma without substance and validity.
This is why Mahoso was impressed by President Robert Mugabe’s opening remarks at the same launch wherein he tried to hijack the launch as an occasion to sing the illegal and racist sanctions against Zimbabwe blues that have become the obsession of the
Zanu PF victims of the restrictions on travel to Western countries.
Mahoso complained that the recovery programme relegated the sanctions obstacle to a distant priority 14 behind political governance issues, a new constitution, good governance, rule of law and media reform which were ranked 8th in priority sections.
But then Mahoso immediately contradicted himself on the origins of the STERP economic intervention launched by Biti when he realised his next argument would be rendered meaningless if the Minister borrowed the programme from the Bush/Blair unholy alliance.
“The cogent sections of the STERP document were borrowed from previous Government of Zimbabwe plans, which means Minister Biti's real contribution were the ideological slogans.”
If STERP is well and truly a neo liberal anglo-saxon economic blueprint it cannot be modelled around previous Zanu PF socialistic models.
That is why Mahoso’s argument is without foundation and impossible to sustain. It does not make sense to claim that Finance minister Biti plagiarised Zanu PF economic models and clouded them with neo liberal anglo-saxon rhetoric.
Tendai Biti and the MDC party he represents are smarter than Mahoso thinks. They are clear in their minds that whatever sanctions were imposed on Mugabe and Zanu PF by the EU and the USA were restrictions against Zanu PF excesses which can only be lifted by imposers once the Zanu PF adherents desist from behaving in manners contrary to internationally expected norms.
No amount of protest from Zanu PF, Sadc, NAM and Au can force the EU and USA to lift the restrictive travel bans imposed on Zanu PF malcontents unless the affected take on board democratic governance and respect civil liberties of citizens.
That is why Biti stated on his return from a visit to the USA that;
"The World Bank has right now billions and billions of dollars that we have to access, but we can't access those dollars unless we have dealt with and normalised our relations with the IMF.
"We cannot normalise our relations with the IMF because of the voting power, it’s a blocking voting power of America (the US) and people who represent America on that (IMF) board cannot vote differently because of ZIDERA . . ."
The pointer he was highlighting which Mahoso completely missed was that for amicable relations between the country and the IMF to be restored there is need for Zanu PF malcontents like Mahoso to cease behaving outside the spirit and letter of the country’s laws.
But Mahoso never listens and that is why now he has been humiliated in Court by freelance journalists he wanted to levy registration, licensing and accreditation fees from notwithstanding that his MIC organisation was invalidated by the passage of Constitutional Amendment No 19 in January.
“Equally disturbing are indications that, while complaining against international financial institutions for obeying a US sanctions law which his party asked for, Minister Biti is also accused conniving with the very same institutions and donors against the national interest.”
Before dealing with the question of the disturbing connivance Mahoso raises it is pertinent to remind him that the sanctions he complaints about were never asked for by the MDC. That is a blatant and shameless lie.
What happened was that in the Zimbabwe Government barred accreditation of Commonwealth, EU and US Presidential election monitors in 2002.
The defiant EU still sent Pierre Schori heading its election monitoring mission. He was duly ridiculed by then Foreign affairs Minister who declared the EU election monitoring mission persona non grata and mocked Schori’s visit as that by a tourist rather than head of an election monitoring mission to establish the veracity of claims of unbridled violence and electoral processes manipulation by Zanu PF hoodlums.
Back to the connivance of the Finance Minister with the Anglo-Saxon neo liberals,
Mahoso alleges the Minister of inviting the former colonial masters and international donors to create “create the impression that the credit lines sealed by ZIDERA will be opened to Zimbabwe if the IG violates its own laws and releases MDC-T supporters being tried on allegations of committing serious crimes.”
It is hoped the serious crimes he alludes to are not those related to the acquittal of MDC Secretary for Defence Dr Mudzingwa and MDC Highfield constituency legislator Mr Mungofa as well Buhera East legislator and Minister of Parliamentary and Constitutional Affairs Advocate Eric Matinenga over trumped up allegations of inciting violence and causing disaffection within the military.
If not those we hope it is not the cases hanging over MDC Treasurer Roy Bennett and
other prominent Party and Civil Society Activists of involvement in banditry and insurgency recruitment and training and or bombing State infrastructure.
Surely he cannot be referring to the allegations against MDC legislators of electoral fraud.
If at all he was then it appears the cases were not as serious as they were trumped up to look given the numbers that a falling through on trial.
Mahoso is aware that the cases are nothing but political persecution of opponents by a Zanu PF party in its twilight.
That is why he quickly moved away from the subject and zeroed in on the Finance Minister’s alleged connivance with the international donor community to set up what he calls “a financial apartheid regime through a so-called Multi-Donor Trust Fund which bypasses the Cabinet and the normal treasury channels in order to finance certain ministries and projects selectively and enable MDC-T ministers and other officials to impress the population by appearing to be more effective in delivering tangible results through the discriminatory trust fund.”
Mahoso is miffed by the setting up of Multi Donor Trust Funds by a Minister who accuses the under siege RBZ governor Dr Gideon Gono of setting up similar parallel government structures within the Central bank to circumvent sanctions yet he is doing the same to circumvent the treasury.
Clearly Mahoso does not understand that the Government treasurer is the Minister of Finance and in the past the finance Ministers preferred to execute fiscal management responsibilities through the RBZ but the RBZ betrayed the trust bestowed on it when it transformed into a willing Zanu PF Party treasury as opposed to remaining a national treasury.
“But whereas Dr Gono’s principals have publicly sworn that the RBZ Governor was authorised for every project he carried out and that all projects intended to defeat illegal sanctions were authorised central government projects, Minister Biti has yet to explain what he and the donors have been up to and the Cabinet has not defended the use of that Multi-Donor Trust Fund to by-pass normal state structures,” lamented Mahoso.
It took an MDC Finance Minister’s questioning of RBZ quasi fiscal indulgences and the courageous decision to shut down the RBZ mint for former Zanu PF principals of the RBZ governor to come out in defence of the governor.
Before then they never felt it proper and obligatory to explain why they were allowing runaway inflation to subsist.
Mahoso did not find it proper to seek clarification on causes of inflation from the same principals preferring instead to peddle lies from the same principals that sanctions were responsible for inflation which is no longer sustainable after the MDC minister arrested the scourge through the simple act of shutting down the RBZ mint and liberalising trade in multi currencies.
Mahoso now claims that Zimbabweans feel that Multi Donor Trust Funds that have stabilised runaway inflation are a disguised continuation of illegal sanctions.
For obvious reasons he does not specify which Zimbabweans hold this belief for it has always been an exclusively Zanu PF held fallacy.
In addition to these fallacious concerns Mahoso is angry that the Zimbabwe Finance Minister is trying to rehabilitate discredited IMF at a time when the developed Western world is distancing itself from the antiquated global financial institution.
Where does that leave his argument that the same Minister parroted the same countries in launching STERP if all of a sudden he turns around and accuses the minister of swimming against the tide in those nations?
The stubborn fact is that the Finance Minister is more streetwise than the antiquated Mahoso whose RC factor must rank the in the upper quartile in Zimbabwe.
The most serious economic problem the Zimbabweans are facing at present is how to secure adequate cash for their day to day needs because the currencies in use are foreign. But even then the majority looks back to their current economic capacity and admit it is an unquantifiable percentage improvement to what they faced before the formation of the coalition government.
“The majority of Zimbabweans wants the Zimbabwe dollar to be remonetised or replaced by a new currency. This demand is not based on sentimentality about sovereignty.
This demand is based on practical experience and business wisdom. Very little production and manufacturing will recover without a local currency and Zimbabwe forfeits any attempts at monetary policymaking with the shelving of the Zimbabwe dollar,” bleated Mahoso.
Indeed they do but not the worthless paper they were being loaded by Dr Gono. The only reason manufacturing productivity will not improve is because of the scarcity of funding but that cannot be alleviated by flooding manufacturing entities with worthless local currency.
The reason why inflation has been falling to deflation levels during the tenure of the coalition government is because there is too little cash chasing too many goods.
The supply of imported goods from diaspora funded projects has exceeded the real demand for goods in the country although it may not have satisfied potential demand.
This is because the actual demand includes demand from people without the purchasing power and as long as the glut persists innovative entrepreneurs can manufacture for export to earn more forex for the country and improve accessibility of the scarce currencies in use at present.
The Finance Minister is closely monitoring the money supply in the country and when he is convinced that there is a reasonable spread of income to justify introduction of the re-valued Zimbabwe currency he will not hesitate to introduce that currency.
Mahoso wants the Zimbabwe dollar back because he used to enjoy unlimited access to the wards of notes from the RBZ which used to convert into valuable forex at preferential rates that were being offered Zanu PF bigwigs by Dr Gono.
STERP is a short term economic recovery programme intervention that is aimed and correcting entrenched fiscal inconsistencies that were allowed by lax fiscal management at the RBZ and when the true equilibrium position of what valuation the Zimbabwe dollar should have has been established it will then be introduced.
Before then Mahoso can bleat and whinge as much as he likes but that will not make
it economically prudent to reintroduce local currency.
“There is mounting suspicion that the rushed announcement was yet another ploy to settle scores with the RBZ Governor, since it is the RBZ which is empowered to mint and regulate currency,”Mahoso usefully disclosed to which we can only add within Zanu PF circles.
“Most damaging to the finance minister are allegations contained in the RBZ Governor's letter to Prime Minister Tsvangirai which appeared in the Zimbabwe Independent of May 23 2009,” claimed Mahoso.
Since when has government business been discussed through privately owned media houses which Mahoso did everything in his power to shut down as MIC chairman?
Since when has this loathed source of concocted stories become invaluable and reliable sources of information for Mahoso?
Mahoso knows the letter was never delivered to the Premier officially but still relies on it to advance lies contained therein that the standoff between the Finance Minister and the RBZ governor is motivated by personal interests than national service and or professional considerations.
Mahoso goes to town quoting from a letter that never was to make his point and in the process divulges what we all suspected that the letter was a political smear campaign from Zanu PF intended to cast aspersions on the suitability of Biti as Finance Minister that Mahoso crystalises.
Not so long ago professor Jonathan Moyo wrote expressing similar misgivings about Biti’s suitability for the Finance Ministry and the published letter in question which never reached its destination was written by Dr Gono in collusion with the
Professor and George Charamba according to my findings.
Be that as it may the allegations therein are ludicrous and of no consequence.
The crime of externalisation of forex is only a crime in Zimbabwe created by Gono,Moyo, Charamba and Tomana.
If pursued logically the very authors of the criminal statute will be the first ones to be found in breach of every facet of the law on externalisation as they have been paying forex for transactions when they were not exporters of any known products to earn such currencies.
Notwithstanding that the real reason why it was thrown in was to justify the suitability of Toamana as AG which he is not .
“Taken together, the issues raised here put the suitability and competence of Minister Biti in uestion in ethical as well as technical-professional terms.
The minister would help the IG and the nation if he were to resign quietly. That is what normally happens in most democratic countries when so many questions arise about the suitability of one incumbent,” concluded Mahoso.
It appears resignation for alleged incompetence is a must in a coalition government but not in MIC where Mahoso has caused havoc through political vindictiveness against innocent media houses whose only crime was to write widely held concerns about the competencies within the successive Zanu PF so called democratic governments.
Not even when he has been convicted of illegally extending his tenure of office in a constitutionally invalidated MIC must he resign but instead appeal against a hopeless situation.
That is democracy in Mahoso’s antiquated definition. We disagree. If there is anyone who must let go it is Mahoso and the cronies he has stuck his neck for and not the elected Finance Minister whose stance against excesses at the RBZ has unqualified support from those of us who elected him.
No comments:
Post a Comment