By Patrick Guramatunhu- Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic but when it comes to find individuals to fill its window dressing positions both Mnangagwa and before him Mugabe have been spoilt for choice!

“Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, on Sunday, appointed five new members to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Monetary Policy Committee (MPC),” reported Bulawayo 24.  

“The new members, whose appointment is with immediate effect, are Professor Albert Makochekanwa, Persistence Gwanyanya, Dr Daniel Makina, Dr Charity Jinya and Matilda Dzumbunu.  

“The head of state and Government, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, approved the selection, Minister Ncube said.”

There is no deny that Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic governed by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous tyrants who believe they and they alone have the divine right to govern the country as they see fit. The regime has seen the need to appoint people outside the Zanu PF hard core to fill some positions to give a human face to the ugly Zanu PF regime, the velvet glove hiding the iron fist. 

Both Mnangagwa and Mugabe have never had any problems finding, seemingly honest, outstanding and professional, Zimbabweans to be the window dressing manikins! Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube was one such manikin although he pretended to be anything but! 

As Zimbabwe’s knight in shining armour Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube was cocky, loud and was convinced he would administer the right doses of the latest monetary and fiscal policies to kick start Zimbabwe’s comatose economy. 

In October 2018, two months since his appointment, Minister Ncube presented the IMF, WB and other international institutions with his over 600 page long Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) blue print. He was cocksure they will all be bowled over and would give Zimbabwe all the financial assistance the nation asked for. 

The IMF, WB, etc. all kept their purse strings drawn. They asked, instead, for proof of how Minister Ncube would keep the many TSP promises.

The Minister promised to reduce Zimbabwe’s bloated public sector wage bill, for example; an issue the IMF and WB were all too familiar with. The Minister has all but failed to the hundreds of super numeral Zanu PF youths from the public service payroll!

Corruption is the greatest criminal waste of resources in Zimbabwe; the IMF, WB and even Mnangagwa himself admitted it and hence his “zero tolerance on corruption!” promise. As Minister of Finance, corruption would have been Professor Ncube’s number one target too. And yet he has not done nothing to stamp out this scourge. 

Indeed, the generous mining concession, the licence to loot, granted to the looters in Chiadzwa and Marange diamond field have now been extended to other areas such as gold, platinum and lithium mining, to fuel procurement and even to procurement of corona virus requirements as the Drax Scandal has shown. 

Minister Ncube was told, in no uncertain term, that the bloated public sector, corruption and many, many other areas were ring-fenced and no-go areas for him, even in his capacity as Minister of Finance. 

And so to raise revenue earnings to meet his TSP targets of reducing public deficit the Minister end up charging street vendors a 2% transaction tax. The Nutty Professor was taxing the people he should be welfare benefits and looting millions of dollars are not even paying a penny in tax! 

Of course people like Professor Mthuli Ncube know Zanu PF rigged the 2018 elections and has retain power all these decades by rigging elections. They conveniently ignore the reality the country is in this economic and political crisis precisely because the country is dictatorship and a pariah state. 

They agree to work for the regime under the pretext they will make the dictatorship work for the good of the nation. 

The old MPC was supposed to ensure inflation will never rise above 10%; it soared to 848%. The new committee will do no better. 

Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is because the country is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs and the RBZ’s policies will not change the pariah state status.

The bottom line is people like Professor Mthuli Ncube work for Zanu PF for r selfish reasons. By accepting his appointment Pressor Mthuli Ncube will be known from henceforth as Zimbabwe’s (or former) Minister of Finance. Professor Albert Makochekanwa and his fellow appointees will from henceforth be known as members of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Monetary Policy Committee. Who knows what other financial benefits and opened doors the appointment will bring! 

These manikin window dressing appointments are but a curse to the nation because they help sanitise the dictatorship and thus perpetuate it. Those pretending Zimbabwe is a health and functioning democracy are not doing the nation any favours!