Democracy in Zimbabwe will not necessarily lead to economic prosperity: We need revolutionary ideas and people to take Zimbabwe to the next level

If there is anything we must be taught from South Africa, it is the fact that democracy will not necessarily result in economic prosperity and the amelioration of life conditions of the masses. Despite a good infrastructure, a sophisticated financial sector, a diverse industrial base and the largest GDP in Africa, 70% of black South Africans remain poor while 60% of youth remain unemployed. South Africa's democracy is failing to deal with the economic imperative of black empowerment and the eradication of mass poverty. It is clear therefore that, democracy and economic prosperity are in fact mutually exclusive.

We in Zimbabwe must be circumspect, and realize that the best constitutional framework needs to be supported by the creation of appropriate political and socio economic structures designed to deliver economic value to all Zimbabweans; otherwise we will be the architects of our own future problems and most probably fail to move the country forward.

Our new economic program must be inclusive in nature and must reject racism and partisan politics that have decimated Zimbabwean pride and potential. Our politics have deliberately marginalized a significant part of the country's productive population and as a result, we have failed to reap the education dividend that the country invested so much in immediately after political independence.

If there is anything the last 32 years has achieved, it is the obliteration of both our human capital and national assets especially in agriculture and, to a large extent, in mining. Zimbabwe has the potential to rise again, but only if we create space for new thinking and new leadership. The results of the last 32 years of negligence must be clinically reversed as we move into a new era of democracy underpinned by national pride and economic development.

For me, the development of institutional managerial capacity is more urgent if we are going to see any economic development and prosperity. We are very educated in Zimbabwe, with a large number of doctors and professors in almost every field of endeavour and yet, we cannot even supply clean water to our people.

Our state enterprises are a joke and almost all the large developmental projects on hand, are mired in political interference, resource misallocation, corruption and incompetence. For example, it has taken us almost 16 years to construct a 40 km stretch of road to the airport. Our Harare water works were built 56 years ago to cater for 300,000 people and are clearly inadequate to cater for a population in excess of 2 million. This means that for the last 56 years nothing has been done to expand them. Unfortunately this is a common trend in almost everything we have touched; democracy is not necessarily going to change that.

It is also quite evident to all that the GNU has dismally failed to begin turn around a hopeless economic condition. What it has achieved, in my opinion, is to somewhat stabilize the fall and provide a soft landing to what would have been a catastrophic economic crash. It has acted as a band aid to a festering wound that now needs our urgent attention.

One fundamental challenge we shall face is the successful planning and implementation of developmental projects. Our institutional managerial capacity as a country has hit rock bottom, and in my opinion, no amount of funding will correct that. As a country, we cannot even organize to collect our own waste and yet, we must undertake the mammoth projects of rebuilding our infrastructure.

I am of the opinion that our focus must be first, to create appropriate social management structures including a restructured government. We desperately require a "new age government" that includes transparency, delivery and the effective use of technology. We also to note that Zimbabwe has an unlimited skills base which we desperately need. We need them back now and we also need revolutionary ideas to take our country to the next level

In my opinion, after elections, we must not blindly adopt the old system of government which has created a silo mentality, where ministers act in their silos as if what they do has no impact and is unrelated to the others. This has tended to promote narrow thinking and a partisan mentality while it has been ineffective in providing sustainable solutions. The separation of responsibility around ministerial boundaries based on the traditional economic sectors has contributed to ineffective government system and promoted rampant corruption. South Africa shows us a clear example of how this structure is not delivering on social progress.

Every system is designed to give you're the results that you get. Change the system and you achieve different results.

My point here is that: a new democracy in Zimbabwe must radically change the way we have done things in the past, it must change the structure of government, must make full use of the diverse pool of talent and the national assets that we have and finally, it must remove all vestiges of the ZANU (PF) legacy of entitlement, managerial incompetence and corruption.

It is only when we have done the above, that we are likely to achieve economic progress and thus create better conditions of life for all Zimbabweans. My anxiety continues to be enlarged as we see the incessant focus on the attainment of political power and position without the necessary open debate on how that power ought to be used to our best advantage. Several hundreds of ministers, deputy ministers, senators, governors, chiefs, councilors and their hangers on as contemplated in the new constitution will not add an iota of value to our economic progress and prosperity.

I fear the worst.

Vince Musewe is an independent economist currently in Harare. You can contact him on [email protected]

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