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Lawson Mabhena News & Politics Editor
One of the most irresponsible forms of economic policy is populism. Sadly, it is also one of the most effective ways of upholding political power.
It sounds redundant, but populist policies are popular.
A responsible Government, however, does not always have to embark on populist policies.
That is because a responsible Government is not afraid of being unpopular, or even being removed from office.
What may be unpopular with the masses, may not be the best decision for public good.
The way the social contract works is that citizens empower their leaders to make decisions on their behalf. Citizens also give their leaders the authority to enforce laws and sanction those who infringe on the rights of others.
While the temptation to seek immediate satisfaction is very high, when citizens vote, they understand that part of the job of a responsible Government is to plan for the future even if it means suffering in the short term.
Setting the tone for the Zanu-PF 18th Annual National People’s Conference on Thursday last week, the party’s First Secretary, President Mnangagwa, made it clear that populist policies were not welcome under his Government.
He called for the correction of economic wrongs of the past by crafting sustainable policies that will sail the country towards the attainment of Vision 2030.
Addressing the 112th Ordinary Session of the Zanu-PF Central Committee at the party headquarters in Harare, the President said populist policies for short-term benefits were dangerous to the economy.
He said citizens should be mobilised to take advantage of economic opportunities presented by Government in various programmes.
“The course we have taken as a party and Government to resuscitate and reform our economy is the correct one. Never be swayed from it,” President Mnangagwa said.
“We must strengthen our resolve to correct the past wrong decisions we made with regards to our economy. Populist policies and initiatives for short-term benefits have dire long-term complications.”
The President spoke as a responsible leader.
Zimbabwe’s current economic mess is a result of trying to feed an appetite that can never be satisfied. Populism is a cycle — there is no end.
The end result of decades of populist policies under the late former president Robert Mugabe is the mess that Zimbabwe is in right now.
The dangerous short-term benefits President Mnangagwa spoke of are a living reality.
The long fuel queues, for example, are a result of living a lie for almost a decade. At one stage fuel was cheaper in Zimbabwe as compared to anywhere else on the continent, excluding oil producing countries like Libya.
Parastatals and State enterprises have since collapsed as a result of give-aways and nepotism.
Running State institutions and entities professionally is a new culture brought about by the new political dispensation and may be a bitter pill to some voters who have grown used to freebies.
But that is the nature of the job; Government’s work is not always popular.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube, in presenting his first National Budget in 2018, started by quoting 19th century philosopher John Stuart Mill.
The quotation which laid the foundation for the “Austerity for Prosperity” Budget reads: “I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than seeking to satisfy them.”
Mill is the thinker who argued that pursuing happiness was not an activity on its own.
It is not a physical destination. One has to actually do something first in order to achieve happiness, including austerity.
No one voted for austerity, but it was implemented by a Government that was alive to the situation facing the country.
A populist government would have taken the easy way.
A populist government would have made people happy in the short term in order to gain votes in the next election.
Instead, President Mnangagwa’s responsible Government bit the bullet and took the unpopular route.
Laws are another example of unpopular work. The father of liberal democracy, English philosopher and physician, John Locke, said human beings created governmental structures to formulate laws, resolve disputes and enforce laws.
He said the social contract entered into by the voters and their government sought to establish organised law and order.
While laws are unpopular, they are necessary in the survival of any country.
Laws promoting good governance, for instance, are paramount if Zimbabwe is to achieve Vision 2030.
The World Bank defines governance as “the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources for development”.
Good governance, therefore, is an integral part of economic development as no country can develop when economic and social resources are being mismanaged.
Natural resource management can never be separated from the concept of sustainable development.
In Botswana, for example, a joint venture between government and conglomerate miner De Beers founded in 1982 has seen sustained development, and one of the best examples of how Africans can manage their natural resources to improve the lives of locals.
This is in sharp contrast to the Marange fields in Zimbabwe were the former president once claimed diamonds worth US$15 billion could not be accounted for.
When former South African president Thabo Mbeki in 2012 told the former Zimbabwean leader that senior Zanu-PF ministers had demanded a US$10 million bribe to facilitate a US$1 billion investment by African National Congress (ANC)-linked investors, no investigations or arrests were made.
Instead, a public pronouncement was made just to give people something to talk about for the rest of the year.
As a result of such tolerance to high levels of corruption, investors lost confidence in Zimbabwe and the new administration which has been touting the country as open for business has had to act on corruption.
Lack of investor confidence results in lack of economic development as new businesses are not created, jobs remain scarce, the tax base remains low and export earnings are lost.
The bold statement by President Mnagagwa that his Government will not fall into the trap of populism gives traction to Vision 2030.
Short-term benefits have long-term repercussions.
Online Reporter