SA businessman praise Mnangagwa appeal - N Korea mentality will not get us anywhere W Mukori

There are reports of investors, both Zimbabweans in the diaspora and foreign nationals, “flooding” into Zimbabwe to open shop following the “Zimbabwe is open for business call by President Mnangagwa.

“South Africa-based company, Big Time Strategic Group will launch nine companies in the country as part of efforts to heed calls by President Emmerson Mnangagwa for Zimbabweans in the diaspora to invest back home,” reported Bulawayo 24.

Group chief executive and proprietor Mr Justice Maphosa, a Zimbabwean, said the nine companies have already been registered in Zimbabwe.

"We may say nice things, but on the ground you find that there are issues that need clarification. We will direct them to correct authorities. If you find that a door is closed, a situation which was common in the past dispensation, come to my office and I will open that door," President Mnangagwa told would-be foreign investors in Zurich, Switzerland, last month.

Mnangagwa was right, it was Zimbabwe’s culture of corruption, bureaucratic meddling and lawlessness that had resulted in closing doors to would-be investors. The President was honest enough, whether he did not want to do so or not is now irrelevant, to admit the closed-door culture is still very much alive in Zimbabwe in the new dispensation.

Many of the would-be foreign investors will not going to President Mnangagwa’s office so he can open these doors for them; they will continue to shy away from Zimbabwe until there are no closed door. They know to see Mnangagwa they will have to wait their turn, that could take months, or have to “grease” a few connected people; business people hate this with a passion.

Mr Justice Maphosa was not phased by the prospect of having to deal with the many closed-doors. He will see President Mnangagwa and have the doors opened for him! It is not just crocodiles that thrive in muddy water, catfish too successfully hunt in these waters using their long whiskers! However, if we are serious about making Zimbabwe attractive to investors, especially the foreign investors who dread the challenge of having to wait and/or grease corrupt hands to do business then we must do more to open the closed doors.

For the last 38 years Zimbabwe has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship; the sacred cow which was not be criticized let alone removed from office. This was and still is the root cause of the country’s, seemingly, intractable political and economic mess.

Much as President Mnangagwa and his coup regime would want the world to believe that Zimbabwe has changed since the November 2017 coup, the sad reality is that it is still under the monolithic dictatorial grip. The coup removed Mugabe and the “criminal elements around him”, as the new regime claimed. What the new regime has failed to say is that many of the criminals are still in power and, most important of all, that Zanu PF is still a sacred cow.

President Mnangagwa has promised free, fair and credible elections and yet has done nothing to implement the raft of democratic reforms necessary to make that possible.

“Another South African tycoon, Mr Robert Matana Gumede, was in the country last month to cement a $1,2 billion investment deal in key sectors of the economy which include infrastructure development, energy, health services, tourism and financial services,” continued the Bulawayo 24 report.

“Mr Maphosa said the call for business people to invest in the country was long overdue and thanked the President for inviting business people to invest in the country.

"It's long overdue, we very appreciate a man, a comrade, a father, grandfather, a Zimbabwean like the President that we have right now. It's something that we have been crying for especially us in the diaspora, this is why we are in the diaspora. We have been crying for a President like him, a President who can appeal to us the youth," quoting Mr Maphosa.

“Kukanganwa chezuro nehope!” (Some people forget yesterday’s troubles with a night’s sleep!) as one would say in Shona. Those of us who care to remember, know that for decades many people have lauded praise on former President Robert Mugabe’s leadership but would never mention the elephant in the room – the corrupt and tyrannical dictatorship.

Millions of Zimbabweans are in the diaspora today NOT because successive Zanu PF regimes had failed “to call for business people to invest in the country”. As long as nothing is done to end the corrupt, lawlessness and tyrannical rule in Zimbabwe which has made doing business impossible the call to invest will remain a forlorn one.

What has and still remains long overdue is the implementing the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the dictatorship, sacred cow. The failure to hold free, fair and credible elections in this year’s elections; which is now a certainty, given that President Mnangagwa has stubbornly refused to implement the democratic reforms; will confirm what we already know – that Zimbabwe is still a lawless nation ruled by thugs.

No investor in his/her right mind would ever want to do business in a lawless nation ruled by thugs!

Zimbabweans have a simple choice; pile on the pressure on this coup Mnangagwa government to implement the democratic reforms and make sure the coming elections are free fair and verifiable. This will end the country’s pariah status and restore the public confidence in the country as a stable and law-abiding nation. All this globe-trotting telling everyone Zimbabwe is ready to do business will not be necessary – the world will know!

Or we can all bury our heads in the sand and pretend the world will be fooled into believing the removal of Robert Mugabe as the figure head of the Zanu PF dictatorship was enough to make the country a healthy and functional democracy. The failure to hold free and fair elections will confirm the Zanu PF dictatorship is alive and kicking. The business people will take note, if any had been fooled, and take flight!

What has been lacking in Zimbabwe and is therefore long overdue is outstanding Zimbabweans with the good sense to help the country finally make the right political choice. What the country needs desperately, more desperately than misguided business people like Mr Maphosa, is men and women who will stand up to these Zanu PF thugs, look them straight in the eyes, and tell them some home truths.

“Zimbabwe must implement the democratic reforms and end the Zanu PF dictatorship and the economic meltdown it brought! That is not negotiable!”  

Enough of all this North Korea style “Crying for comrade, father, grandfather, President who appeal to us!” nonsense!