Govt must sell Airzim shares to locals

money to capitalise the airline or to meet the ever escalating operating costs or to pay its debts.
It has been reported that the Government may be looking for a strategic partner to bring the airline to its former glory where it can replace the ageing aircrafts with state of the art technology.

What comes to mind is that Zimbabweans are throwing around their money purchasing expensive houses and cars.
Surely, this money could be used to purchase shares in Air Zimbabwe so that, those Zimbabweans with money could recapitalise the airline.
If any partner has to come in, well and good, but the people of this country should be invited to own their airline, not through taxation but through purchasing shares in the airline.
Another aspect of indigenisation has been for foreign owned banks to cede or sell their controlling stakes to Zimbabweans and remain with 49 percent ownership.

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Has it occurred to many people that the percentage of shareholding to be ceded could be as little as 15 to 20 percent? If this is so, then the depositors in these banks could buy the shareholding with their funds held by the banks.
For example, if five percent of each depositor’s funds were used to buy this stake in the banks, the foreign shareholders would get their money without any hassles. Many people would own part of the bank through such shares. At present, deposits with banks are not earning any interest. Instead, bank charges are being deducted from these deposits, which means that the depositors are losing for keeping their money in the banks.

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Instead of losing money through bank charges, the depositors would be paid dividends if they owned shares in the banks.
The same method could be used by depositors to buy shares in Air Zimbabwe. The money could be transferred from the banks to purchase shares in Air Zimbabwe. The money would be used to capitalise the airline.

If the citizens of this country were seen to have confidence in the airline, this would make it attractive to any investor who could come into the partnership with citizens of Zimbabwe.
The Government could have a small shareholding in the airline but its Ministry of Transport would cease to play any part and the airline would cease to be a parastatal. This development will not be new because Dairibord Zimbabwe ceased to be a parastatal many years ago, when it was weaned from Government control. Today it stands on its own and runs like any private company. The same, to some extent, goes for the Zimbabwe Newspapers Group.

When people talk of privatisation they do not mean foreign ownership. Many Zimbabweans have money, they are prepared to invest in well run entities. As long as politicians stay out of Zimbabwe owned companies and allow them to be run professionally, many people are willing to invest their hard earned money.

Whenever people go out of the country, the diaspora always display their love for their country. But one thing they mourn about is the failure by politicians to instill confidence in the way they manage the politics of the country and the economy. They ask whether they could earn a return on their money if invested in the country’s economy.

With the drafting of the constitution at its early stages, what an opportunity the politicians have to instill confidence in the governance of the country. What guarantees will investors – get enshrined in the new constitution?

There is no doubt that the people of this country are patriotic. One Israeli remarked that if his country was as endowed with resources as Zimbabwe, it would have been second only to the USA in economic development. What he meant was that, with skills at our disposal, this country could rival any Asian tiger if only we realised how fortunate we are with such abundant natural resources.

We can own everything in this country, lock and barrel, but it is another thing to harness skills and technology to develop this country.
Yes, we need capital. The people of this country have capital, maybe, not in such abundance like those in developed countries or oil producing countries, but if only we can translate our educational prowess into

economic development, we would become the pride not only of Africa but of the rest of the world.
Lets us get our politics right. Let us realise how fortunate we are. Others will come with technology and capital to invest together with us to develop this great nation.