adminWhen reflecting on the achievements of 2012, we need to be realistic and call a spade a spade. The inclusive Government is dysfunctional and has been holding the nation back since its formation. Granted, it stabilised the economy and brought to an end the political tensions which were threatening to tear the nation apart but because of the divergent views and constant bickering within the Government, not much has been done since its promulgation in 2009. Policy clarity has been lacking largely because there was no coordination between line ministries.
Simmering tensions between Cabinet ministers from the three political parties in the inclusive Government saw some of them sabotaging each other by deliberately scuttling progress of their colleagues’ projects. A classic case has been the war of attrition brewing within the Ministries of Finance and Industry and Commerce.
The Distressed Industries and Marginalised Areas Fund that was created ostensibly to rescue ailing companies in Bulawayo has been the victim of a power game between Ministers Tendai Biti and Professor Welshman Ncube. Due to the opaque manner in which the fund is being administered by Cabs, there have been conflicting statements on Dimaf to the extent that the public has been left confused as to who is supposed to benefit from it and how many companies from Bulawayo have been rescued by the fund.
On the one hand, Government insisted from the onset that the fund was meant for struggling companies but Cabs came up with stringent requirements for beneficiaries of the fund, effectively shutting out some key firms particularly in Bulawayo. Prof Ncube has been scathing in his criticism of Cabs and Minister Biti for refusing to back down and accept that there is no way an ailing company can come up with a sound balance sheet when the purpose of the fund is to rescue it from its myriad of problems.
Last week, Prof Ncube said Govern-ment’s drive to revitalise local industry under Dimaf and the Zimbabwe Economic and Trade Revival Fund facilities had been scuttled by a lack of cohesion in the inclusive Government. He said there was reluctance by some ministries particularly the Finance portfolio to implement Cabinet directives with regards to industry capitalisation. Prof Ncube also revealed that no company from Bulawayo had benefited from the $10 million availed by Treasury due to the stringent requirements agreed to between Cabs and the Ministry of Finance which he described as nonsensical.
We find ourselves agreeing with him. Said Prof Ncube: “Government has put $10 million and Cabs has not disbursed a single cent because they say they have an agreement with the Ministry of Finance to observe commercial rules. They say companies should show that they are viable and have the capacity to repay. Under Dimaf Cabs say they want companies to prove that they are healthy.
“That is nonsense because the fund was set up for failing companies. Can you ask the failing companies to prove that they are not failing so that they can be given money?” The future of industry in Bulawayo therefore appears to have been sacrificed at the altar of political expediency.
The political brick bats being thrown back and forth between the two MDC formations are worsening the plight of industry in the country. Yesterday, Prof Ncube told our sister paper, the Sunday News, that Cabinet had agreed at its last sitting that Treasury should release $5 million from Dimaf to 30 Bulawayo companies.
We hope that this money will not be bogged down in bureaucratic and political skullduggery as ministers play their costly power game. The New Year should bring with it a renewed sense of urgency to deal with the nation’s problems. It also seems the parties in the inclusive Government agree that a single party Government was the only solution to the lack of cohesion in the current Government. And with the current impasse in the constitution-making process, there may be a need to hold elections even without the new constitution.
Online Reporter