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Howdy folks!
The problem with our free market economy is the hypocritical thinking by business that just about every cost has to go down, irrespective of convenience to production.
Organised business in the Republic, to this cowboy, can be likened to that mukwasha who has gone to marry and is trying to negotiate with his in-laws who have asked him to buy a size 10 shoe for tsano to allow him to buy a size four instead.
Some things are just not negotiable!
And business should wake up to this urgent reality because the hypocrisy surely stinks to the high Heavens.
We may not have the best doing-business environment in the whole world, but we certainly cannot run away from the absolute advantages that naturally come with the proximity we are to an avalanche of our natural resources, situated right under our armpits.
Talk of beggars sitting on a gold mine.
This cry-baby syndrome by business will not take us anywhere. There are certain crosses we have to carry, as they will eventually bring progress.
Business wants to cry when Government mulls increasing Zesa tariffs, yet the opportunity cost is actually a ferocious ogre.
Lately, Zesa has been giving us a foretaste of what it feels like to live in a country where power is not an issue, where you wake up any time of the day and there is electricity.
Where industries that require 18 hours of uninterrupted power supply daily no longer have to go for 18 hours without electricity; or are condemned to using expensive generators or being idle.
While the cost/benefit analysis of having a 49 percent electricity tariff increase should naturally tell us that there is more to benefit from this necessary evil than otherwise, hard-core capitalists don’t view it that way.
And if the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority gives a nod to the tariff hike before the end of this month, you will obviously hear them making loud noise.
Let’s be real here, doing something about our power tariff situation is inevitable.
Other costs are going down too, talk of water, fuel, you name it; which should somehow be a contra with the Zesa tariff.
But it appears no one in business is ready to give a standing ovation to these costs that are going down.
In fact, some don’t even want to transmit that benefit to consumers, which is why the fall in oil prices on the international market is still not proportional to the fuel prices obtaining in the country.
If Government does not actually come and read the Riot Act to fuel dealers to reduce their fuel prices in light of international developments, they will still continue profiteering as if nothing has happened.
Why wait for Government to waste scarce money conducting all those studies to tell you something you already know, that fuel prices have significantly fallen on the international market and you ought to slash your prices too?
Business only wants to cry when the ugly inevitable happens.
But we all know that there are certain costs that businesses have to absorb by reorganising their cost structures and rethinking outside the box.
We all sacrifice in this economy! Why should business be sacred cows?
Consumers actually bear the brunt. Each time that the National Budget Statement announces a raise in customs duties, for instance, to protect local industries, it means that consumers have agreed to sacrifice paying higher prices for local goods and services for a certain, maybe uncertain, period of time.
Consumers actually understand, or at least think that things will be eventually normal.
And they place their complete faith in business, that business will do the trick and genius of doing things right — which is why they don’t oppose such developments.
Yet, consumers are betrayed by business in the majority of those cases.
We have heard about companies that have successfully applied for protection, only to Nicodemously start smuggling the very goods they want protected against into the country.
And do you think they will have something to show at the end of the protection period?
Yet, consumers would have sacrificed, buying the very cheaper imported product now wrapped with a “made in Zimbabwe” packaging at a very high price.
Then dare to take a stand to say “Buy Local! It is lekker!” My foot!
If business is really serious about coming in direct confrontation with the challenges of the day, it must start by being sincere and fully willing to bust the skeletons in its closets.
Otherwise, it’s pointless to tell us that Zimbabwe has the highest minimum wage of US$246 when we obviously know that we get a totally different picture if we are to use average wages.
Why should we act as if the Finscope Consumer Survey has not told us already that 76 percent of the Republic’s adult population earns US$200 per month or less; including seven percent who do not have an income at all?
To then get into the internal devaluation frenzy against the above background is clearly misguided.
Business should come out of the comfort zone as it is no longer comfortable there too.
This country needs real and patriotic businesses that are willing to pay the price and not shameless speculators.
But before I jump on the saddle of my horse and ride back to the country, let me bring your attention to the new and amended International Standards on Auditing released by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board which are earmarked to change the way we look at auditing.
The audit report has been noted to be a mere pass or fail report with limited information relating specifically to the entity.
Not anymore!
The new standards are coming to increase the scope of the audit, admittedly the cost of audit, too, but will certainly enhance disclosure in financial statements. The amended standards are effective for years ending on or after December 15, 2016.
It is important for business to consider being early adopters of these standards so as to gain mileage from stakeholders and investors.
This is a dynamic move that might set our economy on a positive spotlight.
Later folks!
Online Reporter