The Citizens’ Cabinet deliberated on the recently announced Statutory Instrument 127 of 2021 which seeks to penalize businesses that abuse and manipulate foreign currency obtained through the foreign currency auction system. We commend the Zimbabwean government for finally stepping up to this challenge, and we urge the authorities to go beyond just naming and shaming the offending businesses by making all culprits accountable for their actions beyond newspaper headlines. At the same time, we must highlight that like most interventions from this government, the latest statutory instrument is blunt and lacking in the necessary nuance to minimize collateral damage to the general transacting public already suffering from years of economic turmoil. In all its measures, we urge the government to be highly targeted against the most responsible culprits and work as much as possible to minimize widespread collateral damage to an already suffering general public. The current framing of the statutory instruments is such that it is open to blanket application even against those who do not access foreign currency from the forex auction. This opens room for unnecessary harassment of vulnerable citizens by bribe-seeking rogue law enforcement officials.
A Consultative Approach Towards A Healthy Social Contract
In line with our mantra that there should be nothing for us as citizens without us, the challenges highlighted above would, in our respectful view, be minimized if the government adopted a consultative approach both in the formulation and implementation of policy. Accordingly, we call upon the government to embrace the need for a new social contract with citizens anchored on inclusive social dialogue. This should go beyond the traditional tripartite platform comprising government, business and labour, to include the informal sector, civil society, church, social movements and community-based organisations as part of a sustained multi-stakeholder forum. It is only then that government policies will be a reflection of not only what the citizens want, but also how they want it done to alleviate unintended negative effects of well-intentioned initiatives. The same blunt approach and lack of nuance is reflected in the recent statutory instrument imposing new COVID-19 lockdown measures. In all cases unnecessary pain is inflicted on the general public which could be easily avoided with consultation with citizens around policy formulation and implementation.
Public Finance Management
The second major issue arising from the government’s 19thPost-Cabinet Press Briefing of 15 June 2021 relates to public debt and public finance management. Specifically, Cabinet adopted the Principles of the Air Zimbabwe Debt Assumption Bill, as presented by Finance Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube. As citizen’s we reject as unacceptable the mutualization of huge debts arising from the mismanagement of public enterprises by well-known individuals. Similar to the huge RBZ debt assumption, it is unfair for the government to assume these debts accrued by well-known individuals and spread the responsibility to all citizens. The country is presently saddled with a huge unsustainable public debt in excess of USD12 billion. As citizens, we are acutely aware that debt repayments represent lost public revenue that must be channeled towards improving critical public services such as health, education and infrastructure. Thus, the need for full transparency and accountability in public debt contraction and complete adherence to the best principles of public finance management can not be over-emphasized.
Recommendations
In light of the above-cited we call upon:
1. Government of Zimbabwe to widen its consultative processes in developing policies that impact citizens’ livelihoods and fully consider civil society as a valuable stakeholder in policy making and implementation.
2. Government of Zimbabwe to invest in developing a new social contract with citizens and engender the necessary trust and reweaving of our torn social fabric. treat any deviation of this as a breach of contract.
3. Government to revise the latest statutory instruments to give them the necessary nuance that avoids blanket targeting of citizens and closes loopholes for rampant harassment and extortion by law enforcement agents.
4. Government to carry out a comprehensive public debt audit with a view to holding culprits accountable and reform debt contraction processes to ensure full transparency and accountability at all times.