The Failure of Institutions
Successful countries all over the world are built on strong institutions of all kinds. We often assume that the failure of the State in Zimbabwe is solely due to poor government policy and management. I do not think so - the malaise is much wider and involves many different local institutions, some with a proud tradition and record in the past.
The first of these failures are the many organisations that represent sectoral interests and are meant to act as lobbyists and protectors of the essential interests of the companies in the sectors they represent. The main ones are the Confederation of Industry (CZI), the Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC), the Farmers Unions and the Chamber of Mines.
As an economist and then as the CEO of a major agribusiness enterprise I had to deal with the Farmers Unions - more specifically the Dairy Producers Association and the Cattle Producers Association - both part of the Commercial Farmers Union. Of all the institutions representing sectoral interests the CFU, in my own view, was the best managed, funded and led. They were a very powerful lobby and no one concerned with matters to do with the farming industry could ignore them. If they did it was at their peril.
After I left the agricultural industry in 1988 and then went into the private sector I joined CZI - rising to the position of Vice President before I left to join the political game in the MDC in 1999. Again I found that CZI, representing industry, was a powerful organisation - well led and managed although not on the scale of the CFU which was in a league of its own.
But all these institutions have become victims of the political culture and practices of Zanu PF, like the coils of a large python they have been gradually taken over by politically linked individuals and co-opted into the State system of patronage and loyalty to the ruling Party no matter what. As a result they no longer can represent the real interests of the companies in their sectors and instead have become just an extension of a corrupt and incompetent State system. In consequence they have failed and become dysfunctional.