I found this whilst reading up on Moneyweb. It's rare that they post something worth while so I decided to share it.
'How wrong we were!
In my article "Creating A New Zim: Lessons From History" written in 2004 I wrote:
"In our naiveté in 1980 we a**umed that once and for all the colonial master's hold on our economy and social life was now history and it was time to witness the rise and rise of a liberal and democratic social economy led by the new black generation who had been waiting in the wings for some time. With an educated populace such as we had in Zimbabwe, our expectations were that we would inevitably become the 'intellectual' capital of Southern Africa if not Africa.... How wrong we were!
Our first mistake I think was that we a**umed that Zanu PF our so-called 'liberators' were guided by the very principles which they fought for but so lack today. We a**umed that the party was for the people and that the agenda had always been to liberate the African not only mentally but also economically by creating an environment that sought to propel the African and in our case the black educated Zimbabwean from the bondage of colonialism to freedom of thought speech a**ociation and black economic empowerment... A new economic order that promoted socialism made sense as we a**umed that the new economic policy must have, at its heart, the interests of the proletariat and down-trodden: mainly blacks.
However, we have seen the rise and rise of a black capitalist cla** whose behavior and interests mimic those of our colonial masters. We have seen the merging of the state and Zanu PF and a central command directing all social and economic activity to ensure that the party and the state remain as one. We have seen attempts to create an agrarian majority who depend on the land for subsistence and a cla** structure characterised by two economies, Zanu PF and its cronies and everyone else.
The fundamental mistake we made, as Zimbabweans was to trust that Zanu PF stood for our interests as blacks and therefore the stronger the party became the more probable our success would be. We inadvertently endorsed the one party mentality through our own naiveté.
Zanu PF believes it is the only party that is legitimate to lead us into oblivion and challenging what it stands for and what disaster of an economy it has created is tantamount to treason and being 'unpatriotic' or being agents of the British or white farmers. Our experience should therefore sound warning bells that any political party must never be allowed to usurp the state and a strong opposition is always critical to ensure that our freedoms are protected at all times." (
http://rejjy.freeshell.org/Foreign_Media_Reaction/2004/wwwh40804.html)
These were my views in 2004 and in 2010, we have seen them become the dominant factor in arresting the development of Zimbabwe. My fear is that South Africa will head that way as we have recently witnessed more and more intervention by the state and ANC in particular in the economy under the guise of the need to transform the South Africa economy.
Under Zanu PF, "indigenization" means that those who are friendly to the ruling party get access to owning national resources. It also means that those who are seen as threats to the dominance of the party are denied access to new business opportunities, specifically where the state has a role play in issuing operating licenses. We saw that with the Econet debacle in Zimbabwe, the banning independent newspapers, the exiling of Zimbabwean black business pioneers, the taking over of SMM Holdings, the takeover of indigenous banks, the issuing of mineral rights in Chiadzwa and the takeover of farms.
We have already witnessed the insatiable quest for economic power by the ANC-backed black capitalist cla** who in my view, as shown in Zimbabwe, are prone to behave in no way different to the very white capitalist cla** they seek to replace as they usurp economic control hiding under nationalisation or the misguided broad-based economic empowerment platform.
South Africans need to be therefore warned that the dangers of giving too much power to any party is likely to result in that party behaving in a similar manner as we have witnessed in Zimbabwe. Opposition is healthy and is critical so is a free press.
*Vince Musewe is an independent Zimbabwean economist based in South Africa. You may contact him on vincemusewe@yahoo.com'
