Reply to Kaizer Nyatsumba
8 October 2020
For a man with an impressive record in journalism, communications and corporate affairs, Kaizer Nyatsumba’s recent missive from his current desk as CEO of SEIFSA is perplexing (SEIFSA News 01.10.20).
He begins by lamenting the parlous state of Zimbabwe which he says is “fast becoming a Venezuela,” and while I’m uncertain as to which country leads in the race to economic destruction the following is clear: Venezuela’s economy is in its seventh straight year of recession and forecast to shrink another 20% this year due to the coronavirus lockdown and the collapse of oil revenue, with inflation now running at an estimated 2,400% in the past year; and many in Zimbabwe’s are seeing their savings evaporate while struggling to afford basic commodities such as sugar and the staple cornmeal as the country’s annual inflation rate soared to almost 840% in the middle of 2020.
Nyatsumba then turns to South Africa whose economy is set to shrink by 8,3% having been identified as among emerging economies expected to record the biggest shortfall in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021. While the South African government moves to finalising its economic recovery plan and GDP fell by a record annualised 51 percent in the second quarter of the year Nyatsumba balances his praise for President Ramaphosa as having the necessary gravitas and meaning well in his public pronouncements against a call for action and for a principled stance vis á vis Zimbabwe. He recognizes that “our country is in trouble” and laments it being “bereft of leadership”.
The absence of leadership applies, by Nyatsumba’s reckoning, to both the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA). The slack he cuts President Ramaphosa is unfortunately not extended to the DA, whom he accuses of “turning its back on the black majority” in an alleged return to represent the country’s minorities. The economic policies of the DA, recently laid out in its policy conference, are ignored by Nyatsumba and the DA’s clear championing of non-racialism – which has a venerable tradition in the historical and intellectual body politic of our country – are similarly and disingenuously racialised.