Carte Blanche with Perry

With most if not all efforts focused on the now, for a considerable number of Zimbabweans, thinking about their economic future is an afterthought. Make no mistake about it; it is not by choice that people are leaving their economic future to fate. The present economic realities- a legacy of the 1998-2008 economic meltdown-simply dictate that survival is the rule of the game. With evidence suggesting that people are just ‘getting by’, the good old principle of saving for retirement, investments and for that rainy day has now become a flight of fancy. Most Zimbabweans are barely scrapping by and can hardly afford the basic necessities. For the purposes of this argument, let us exclude the highly contested unemployed figures (Zimstats-the National Statistical Agency- pegs this figure at 11% whilst the World Food Programme and other international organisations estimate that the rate is somewhere in the region of 85%). When one looks at that section of Zimbabweans who are em...

  From its exclusion, albeit voluntarily from the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings to the recently concluded US – Africa leaders’ summit in which over 50 heads of African states were invited in Washington DC, Zimbabwe has been like a black sheep missing out on such key events. Certainly, these and such other international gatherings are not make or break events, whose failure to attend would spell doom for countries. The State run media in Zimbabwe, certainly made this clear as it published an article that branded the August 4 to 6 event as, “President Obama`s speed dating exercise.” In it, the argument is made that it is inconceivable how anything significant will be achieved in a mere 3 days, when the Obama administration has ignored Africa for 5 years. The summit is viewed just as a talk shop and a series of lectures by Barack Obama, in which African leaders hold no sway. It's just that at a time when Zimbabwe has been pushing a re-engagement ag...

The African Development Bank (AfDB) board of governors as compelled by law and custom are meeting this week for their Annual Meetings in Kigali, Rwanda.  Running under the theme, “The next 50 years: The Africa we want”, it is fitting that this year`s meetings are being held in the East African nation. Rwanda, East Africa`s fastest growing economy most likely has been the poster child of the “Africa rising” narrative over the years. Africa largely remains a continent of paradoxes. Basing on the continent`s resource endowments, Africa is very wealthy. Yet the levels of poverty on the continent are appalling. According to the latest World Bank Poverty Headcount Ratio (which measures the number of people living under US$1, 25 per day as a percentage of the total population) about 48, 5 per cent of people in sub-Saharan Africa still live in poverty. For a continent which boasts of 6 of the last decade`s 10 fastest growing economies, this is a statistic that goes against t...

Zimbabwe`s Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa Recently, there have been amplified calls by government authorities in appealing for Foreign Direct Investment. The importance of foreign investment cannot be over-emphasised, especially for an economy at a precipice like ours.  In Mozambique for instance, during the past year, the country registered a 30 percent increase in its FDI flows to $7, 1 billion. It is no coincidence that the International Monetary Fund forecasts its economy to grow by as much as 8 percent this year alone, making it one of the leading ‘frontier market’ economies. What is clear from this example is the crucial role that capital accumulation can play in fuelling economic growth. The Zimbabwean government`s economic blueprint (ZimAsset) which is a set of policies meant to induce economic recovery requires at least US$27 billion for its successful implementation. In the policy document, the government emphasises on mobilising funding for the programme ...

Until recently, South Africa lay claim to the title of Africa`s biggest economy, being the beacon of its former President Thabo Mbeki`s vision of an African renaissance. Two decades post independence, the rainbow nation is at a precipice. Unemployment, particularly amongst the youths is high, service delivery has been a major bone of contention, and labour unrests in the mining sector; an integral component of its economy have been prevalent. As the national elections draw close, perhaps the most seminal issue at hand is that of ownership of resources and transformation of the economy to include the previously disenfranchised South Africans. The issue of resource ownership has never been more relevant as it is today to the ordinary South African. It is apparent that the means of production have remained in the hands of the minority, and the country is a reflection of the chasm between those living in plenty, and those of barely getting by. Contrasts between Alexandra township d...

For years South Africa has asserted itself as Africa`s most dominant economy, frequently being touted as the world`s gateway into Africa.  However, its anaemic growth in recent times has seen other African countries rise to the pinnacle of Africa`s economic landscape. At a time when six of the world`s ten fastest growing economies in the last decade have been in Africa averaging around 7 percent GDP growth, South Africa has only managed a miserly GDP growth rate of around 3.9 percent over the same comparable period. The growing inequalities between the rich and the poor, labour unrests, service delivery protests and corruption among a range of other ills have hampered South Africa`s progress.  Enter Nigeria, Africa`s most populous country with over 160 million people and whose GDP has grown at an average of 6 percent since 2006 according to the World Bank. Nigeria`s rapid growth over the years appears to have attracted noteworthy foreign investments as witnessed by g...

"If then a practical end must be assigned to a university course, I say it is that of training good members of society... it is the education which gives man a clear, conscious view of their own opinions and judgements, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them and a force in urging them. It teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the point, to disentangle a skein of thought to detect what is sophistical and discard what is irrelevant"-  John Henry Newman, The idea of a University Introduction                                         Education lies at the heart of societal progress. Throughout history, as nations have developed from medieval traditional societies to the industrialised nations they are today, educati...