Mugabe's State of the Nation address uninspiring

Economists have slated Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe's State of the Nation address as uninspiring and out of touch with reality.

Economists have slated Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe's State of the Nation address as uninspiring and out of touch with reality.

Published Dec 6, 2016

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HARARE, December 6 (ANA) – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday presented an uninspiring state of the nation address in parliament which analysts said was testimony of government’s cluelessness on addressing pertinent issues bedevilling the country. In an uncharacteristically short speech, which lasted slightly less than 30 minutes, in which he struggled to pronounce words, Mugabe failed to address topical issues affecting the country such as the cash shortages, introduction of bond notes, capacity utilisation and the scourge of corruption among others. Political analyst Fortune Gwaze said Mugabe’s address had left the country worse off as there seemed to be no solution in sight, adding the 92-year-old president had failed to meet the people’s expectations. 

“The people expected that President Mugabe was going to provide overarching solutions to the current economic challenges, the issue of bond notes, for example, unemployment all those issues, levels of poverty, the El Niño-induced drought and so forth that are affecting the people. Unfortunately that did not come out as much as we would have expected from the president,” he said. He said the President had not mapped the country’s trajectory in terms of 2017 and beyond. 

“There wasn't much that can give the people of Zimbabwe, that can give the investors a compass as to what can we expect in 2017 and certainly it is going to be what it has always been, that is nothing. We expect nothing in terms of the nation expecting the same things we are going through at the moment,” Gwaze said. 

Economist Prosper Chitambara said Mugabe’s government had not shown commitment to addressing the myriad of challenges facing the country. 

“That is why he did not address some of the burning issues that need urgent attention. The economic indicators are in the negative terrain so the outlook is not positive; even when you look at the IMF outlook, it even said the economy will shrink to about 3.6 percent,” he said. 

Chitambara said the problems in the country were insurmountable for the Zanu PF government to address. 

“We need a comprehensive policy that addresses the core of the issues, not just window dressing,” he said. 

In his address, Mugabe, seemingly out of touch with the reality on the ground, said tremendous progress had been made in improving the ease of doing business and promoting both domestic and foreign investment. 

“The promulgation of the Special Economic Zones Act should provide the major impetus to the country’s economic turnaround by facilitating foreign direct investment inflows, industrialisation, technology transfer, employment creation and increased export receipts,” he said. 

He said the time was ripe for the Tripartite Negotiating Forum social partners to work together to implement the social contract as agreed in the Kadoma Declaration. 

“Investor friendly measures to boost confidence, productivity and competitiveness should be started while the key tenets of good governance and policy consistency are also important. I therefore urge all the social partners, government, business and labour to work together to reduce the cost of doing business,” he said. 

Mugabe said Statutory Instrument 64 (SI64), which was recently promulgated imposing a ban on a selected goods that could be manufactured in the country, had already started to bear fruits. 

“The recently gazetted SI64 of 2016 has already started to bear fruit by improving the efficient use of foreign exchange and in enhancing local production thereby reducing import dependence in the plastics, packaging and food manufacturing sectors. The plastics sector has been the immediate beneficiaries of SI 64 of 2016,” he said. 

Mugabe said the tourism sector had also recorded tremendous growth, with tourist arrivals reaching 900 000, earning the country the much needed foreign currency and he added that arrivals into the country were projected to reach 2,5 million. 

African News Agency

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