The Ides of March

THE QUEEN BEE AND THE NEW HIVE
The lady who was fired from a party yet to be born did something in March. She pointed her middle finger to her worker bees in ZPF and to Morgan Tsvangirai of MDC-T. She then proceeded to form her own party.

As l had earlier indicated in my previous post she had to shake her war veteran image and her past to links to ZANU Pf if she has to attract the money from Western regime change sponsors.

In March Joice Mujuru weaknesses were exposed. The BBC had her in a tight knot as she failed to articulate her position on the land issue, Gukurahundi and why she formed her own party.

NERA DEMONSTRATION
The self-declared 'elections' reforms watchdog NERA called for a demonstration and they did half fill Robert Mugabe Square. The demo was called after Rita Makarawu of the Zimbabwe Election Commission had walked out of a meeting organized and called for by the disorganized NERA.

The demo organizers said Robert Mugabe Square ( Haru Mutasa of Al Jezera sheepishly called it Freedom Square ) was half full which means, in reality, it was half empty.It was a non-event as the people of Zimbabwe went on with their lives.

Didymus Mutasa of ZPF, Morgan Tsvangirayi,  Evan Mawarire and other suspicious characters were at the  NERA demonstrations. Some were booed from the stage.Some were cheered off the stages. Some were lifted onto the stage. Others never reached the stage.

This sums up how our so called opposition is disoriented and disorganised. 

IS HE A SAVIOUR OR A TYSON
On the same day of  NERA demonstration, members of the ruling party's Women League carried out a demonstration calling for the ousting of Comrades Sandi-Moyo and Sarah Mahoka to resign their posts.Whoever organized the demo must have a hidden agenda. The political commissar Saviour a.k.a Tyson Kasukuwire professed total ignorance of the demonstration.
The political commissar has been accused by both the war veterans and youths, as out of touch with the grassroots of the party.

He might be the saviour of the party or as destructive as  Mike Tyson.

THE PROFESSOR AND THE PAPERS
This month Professor had a tiff with the state media. Jonathan was accused of misleading the public. He had said what he saw in Tsholotsho but the state media wanted him to say what was politically correct. He misfired again about the cost of the Command Agriculture program, and the state media was quick to point fingers at him. I feel there is no love lost between the state media and Professor Jonathan Moyo.

For the record, though the Professor's twitter handle has more followers than the state media publications. I think that the guys at the Herald and Sunday Mail are just out fo some mischief.

THE BOND NOTES
The bond notes reached 100 days and the usual suspects, the international banks and the illegal dealers are at it again. A three tier system of our monetary system has been created and the Reserve Bank has remained a toothless bulldog as no punitive action has been taken against the culprits.

I demand the governor of the Reserve Bank to proactive and come up with an effective piece of law to stop the bond notes abuse and manipulation by banks and illegal foreign currency dealers.

THE GREAT CAF AND THE GREEN MACHINE COUPS
The Green Machine and Philip Chiyangwa were in on fire in March in our Football circles.

Hayatou was pushed out of office by the solo effort of Bra Fidza. Bra Fidza always do his thing with style and great noise. Yes, Bra Fidza was there.

T.P Mazembe were the victims of the ides of March. They lost to CAPS United of Zimbabwe.The current  CAPS United squad has by this act made history.  It was a great month for Zimbabwean football!!

It was a month of positive and negative ides .

Zimasset Successes Unpacked

The Command Factor

You have heard of the success of the command agriculture. The program has managed to stimulate the growth of the agriculture sector in terms of production and employment levels.The program has also managed to stimulate the rural areas economies.
There are those among us who have been critics of the command agriculture program. It has become a victim of its own success, as people are at pain to dismiss it as a non-event, but its result is there for us all to see.



The Two Million Jobs Myth or Fact

The command agriculture has been a game changer in terms of employment levels on the farms and in downstream industries such as milling, processing and transportation of the produce. The facts on the ground indicate that more than two million people were employed in one way or the other during the program.

 I know we have heard a lot of air on the jobs created!! By using the simple method that is used in USA employment data, we might have created those jobs. The USA classify jobs as farm and non-farm jobs.



Import Substitution And Job Creation

One of the objectives of Zimasset is import substitution and saving the vital foreign currency, the government has come up with Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016. The purpose of this instrument is to protect local industries and create jobs.

The Value-addition and the Food and Nutrition Clusters have seen the most noticeable deliverables of  ZIMASSET. In Mutare, for example,  a cooking oil manufacturer Willowton has set up shop and Cairns Food has increased both production and employment.

 The two entities are going to contract farmers to produce crops for their production intake. This will create more jobs downstream.

ZIMASSET In Action

The people of Zimbabwe are seeing the result of Zimasset and will continue to support and benefit from it.

My Budget Proposals For 2018

SECOND-HAND MOTOR VEHICLES

 I propose that motor vehicles duty on second-hand cars should be lowered as the duty only serves to burden the poor as it makes transport expensive. We do not have the comparative advantage in the manufacturing of motor vehicles and the so-called motor vehicle manufacturing companies are importing kits which they assembly.

These companies in light of advancing technology and automation are never going to employ as much as they were employing in the seventies and eighties.

In short, we do not have the motor industry to protect, and the notion that second-hand cars are a nuisance is an elitist one. The benefit of having more second-hand motor vehicles on our roads beat that of not importing as I shall highlight on my second proposal.

CASH AND SPOT FINES
I propose that spot fines charged for traffic offenses be reduced to between $1.00 and $5.00. All other fines should be paid directly to the Consolidated Revenue Fund by direct deposit or by bank transfers.

FUEL TAX

I propose that a fuel tax is charged per every liter of diesel and petrol. This will work as opposed to the one-time import duty on the second-hand vehicle. Every vehicle that is moving on our roads will be contributing to the fiscus; in short, it means every vehicle registered or not, will become a revenue source that will contribute to the fiscus  on a daily basis. The more the merrier as the Englishman will say.

This tax is hard to invade and easy to collect and Zimra should have their supermarket machines at every service station and collect hard cash every morning.

 50%  EXCISE DUTY ON THE ALCOHOL

I propose that the excise duty is the same on imported beer and local beers as these are all manufactured by a cartel. Canned and bottled beer is being dumped in Zimbabwe and the importers should fund the fiscus. I propose 50% excise duty on a liter of beer, wine, and spirits.

Gonomics (the economics according to Gideon Gono) used to call these sin taxes let the sinners pay. The official smugglers (Multinational Corporations) and the unofficial smugglers pay the tax for their sins. Amen!!!

EXPORT PRE- INSPECTIONS

I propose that all exports be pre-inspected and valued before being shipped. I also propose that all companies that export and do not want their shipments inspected pay a refundable deposit of say $10 000 per consignment for exemption.

My proposal is in view of the rampant under-invoicing by multinational companies and former foreign-owned companies especially those in Manicaland 

WHISTLE BLOWERS FUND
I propose that a fund for whistleblowers be set up at the Anti Corruption Commission which will reward people who make genuine

reports on corruption be rewarded. This will go a long way in reducing corrupt activities in our economy.


More Proposals to Follow

Coalition of Confusion

We have heard a lot about the coalition of the Zimbabwean opposition parties. It seems it's all about talking and more talking. The opposition as a whole is in disarray. It is a coalition of confusion.

Deadline for Coalition

Morgan Tsvangirayi had set up a deadline for a coalition. The deadline was the 31st of July. It has come to pass. The self-declared head of coalition had the cheeky ( no pun intended ) to threaten the other parties that if they fail to meet the deadline, he would go it alone. A coalition of one party l believe!!

The other parties, which are not real parties but for individual hiding behind names, just put up their middle fingers at Morgan Tsvangirayi and his deadline.

Our question to Morgan Tsvangirayi the self-declared leader of the yet to be formed a coalition is: What next?

The Price for Coalition

The little parties led by individuals, including the likes of Hosea Chipanga,  Egypt Dzinemunhenzva and of late Nkosana Moyo are aware of the price they have to pay just to associate with MDC-T and Morgan Tsvangirayi. It will cost them their clean names just to sit down on the same table.

MDC-T has had a history of being a project of the former Rhodesian white supremacists settlers. It has been seen as the sponsor of economic sanctions against Zimbabwe. It is also viewed as an opponent of the land reform program. Not one sane person would associate with the MDC-T and still have his or her hands clean.

The price is too high to pay for most parties.

Coalition Before or After Elections

I have an interesting observation on the coalition. Why can't MDC-T go it alone and contest the elections? Why is it that the MDC-T wants the coalition so desperately?

The MDC-T has lost support over the years due to dictatorial tendencies of its leadership. The likes of Ncube, Biti and Mangoma have jumped ship and formed their own parties. This has drained, confused and split the party's constituency.

It is my belief that we will have a coalition of some sort after the elections.

The coalition will according to the facts on the ground, be to make up one-third of the parliamentary seats. ZANU Pf is assured of two-thirds or more of the parliamentary seats.

The July lessons for all Zimbabweans

Lesson 1 The Office and The person

One lesson all Zimbabweans learned in July was that you have the person in the office and the office. It is acceptable to insult the President of Zimbabwe as a person but it is unacceptable to insult the Office of the President and Cabinet.
The politician in Robert Mugabe can be bar talk or food and fuel for a political rally. It is his office that we need to respect as Zimbabweans. This rule applies to all civil servants and their offices. We can insult and fire our politicians at rallies but We cannot do the same to our civil servants.
This l believe every village fool (including those fools with doctorates) have learned.

Lesson 2 The Laws of Gravity

I had to remind myself of my primary school teacher, sometime long ago and in some forgotten school in Bocha. He could throw a stone into the sky and ask the class if the where the stone had gone. We, in our childhood ignorance we came out with some very wild answers. The teacher repeated that exercise for three days and that is how we learned about the Law of Gravity.

The guys at The Sunday Mail and the Herald should look for my Grade 5 teacher and have a crash course on the Laws of Gravity. I think that they have seen gravity at work though, especially on the Saviour Kasukuwere and Professor Jonathan Moyo stories they have been feeding the public with.

Lesson 3 Politics is not a beauty contest

I am not going to be very hard on Advocate Fadzayi Mahere. She got a beautiful yellow manifesto and she cut a beautiful figure. Has she ever contested in a beauty contest?

I will like to congratulate her for offering herself as an independent candidate for  Mt. Pleasant.

I am still in the beauty contest. Who is the fairest of our  Cabinet ministers?
Is command agriculture ugly or beautiful? Was command agriculture ever discussed in Cabinet?  Were all Cabinet minister present?  Is command agriculture a beauty contest?

As a layman and a citizen, I leave those questions to the politicians and the guys at The Herald and The Sunday Mail.

I have learned some really good lessons on Zimbabwean politics!!!

Zimbabwe's Bond Notes And Archaic Banking Systems

Success or Failure

My recent experiences with my bank have shown me that our banking system needs a complete overhaul. I have seen queues growing and being told that there is no cash available. I have had my money transferred and getting lost in our banking systems. 

The fin-tech overhauls are necessary if we have to make our banking systems work. The cash shortages and bank queues are symptoms of archaic traditional systems and technology which is still being used by most of the banks. 
I suggest we get rid of the RTGS , the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe force bank to adapt to new technologies and give the Bond notes the respect they deserve. I will discuss how and why below.

REAL TIME GROSS SETTLEMENT SYSTEM 
Our economy and the world is going digital at a fast pace than the banks can match. Our banks still talk of  RTGS as if it is real time. It is not!! Real Time must be real time, not four weeks or four days it must be real time. It must be immediate.

REGULATED OR FORCED ADAPTION
The general banking public and I in particular needs improved customer service and products. I want my bank to have effective and efficient data. I need to bank with a bank that meets all regulatory requirements.  All my banks have archaic legacy core software systems, implemented decades ago, are letting me down. The Reserve bank must put in place regulations that force banks to replace old systems and adopt new financial technologies.
 
INCENTIVES ON NEW TECHNOLOGIES 

Cash or plastic money

It's a fact that adopting new technologies is costly in terms of retraining and retooling. Government via the Reserve Bank must offer incentives and tax rebates on training and waiver customs and exercise duty. These costs are deterring most banks from even trying to overhaul their systems. 

THE BANKING PUBLIC ATTITUDES
We have blamed banks and the Reserve of Zimbabwe for the queues and cash shortages.However, this is a mistake, the banking public has to familiarize themselves with the new technologies use this knowledge to reduce the queues and avert cash shortages in our economy.
I believe the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and banks are doing very little to familiarize the banking public on new technologies and persuading them to use the new technologies such as mobile banking.
 
BOND NOTES FUNGIBILITY 
The bond notes are now being used as a currency. They can cross the borders of Zimbabwe and can be moved from bank to mobile wallets. The fungibility of the bond notes is the cause of its shortage in our banking system.

Bond notes are crossing our borders 

The bond notes fungibility is higher that of neighboring countries notes. This is a positive development but our banks, including the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, still treat the bond note as a surrogate currency. It is time for the research on the movement, value, and quantity of the physical bond notes. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe can use this information to carry out market operations by printing the deficit in the physical bond notes in order to wipe out the bank queues and cash shortages. 

The reduction of bank queues and cash shortages is the responsibility of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and the banks.The banking public expects action and results from them.

History and His Story

Tell me your story 

Tell me your future

 History is yesterday's story, 

 Today is yesterday's dream 

This future we built it yesterday,

 We shall live it to day,

 And make it our story

This day Is made up of yesterday,

 And today.

 We can not have today 

Without yesterday.