Inflation, Profiteering, Collapse

Hello All,

I thought I would comment today on the financial situation in Zimbabwe as I currently have a vested interest in an ongoing matter.

It would seem now that the entire economy is going through the death throes of collapse. The intransigence of ZANU-pf and it's ludicrous financial "management" is going to be the catalyst that will erupt in civil war very shortly.

It is now time for Mbeki (in whom I do not have much faith) and the regional leadership to sit up and take notice and act before a total breakdown in society takes place. As many commentators have noted, ZANU-pf lost the March election, despite much rigging, the evidence of which has been seen by the world after the very brave prisons officer secretly recorded his "vote" for the world to see. They then went on to perform the farce of a run off accompanied by massive acts of violence and rapidly install Mugabe as "president" despite breaking every single law (their own laws!) related to the process. Surely even they can see for themselves that they are not legal?

Now we have the losing party and the ruling party (MDC) negotiating this agreement. And Zimbabwe breathed sigh of relief hoping the end was in sight.

Not a chance, ZANU-pf was merely trying to set the stage to absorb the MDC as it had done to pf-ZAPU some years earlier. They have suddenly discovered, however, that the MDC are awake and not ready to play their game. They want an actual equal share in government. And this is causing Mugabe untold headaches. Much to his surprise, they will not go quietly and are fighting him, correctly, on every point. The lack of faith being exhibited by ZANU-pf is quite clear. Ignatious Chombo is still trying to fiddle in the affairs of local government even though he is actually NOT a minister (parliament not existing currently!), the arrest and detention of MDC persons continues, in point of fact, not ONE SINGLE ELEMENT of the MoU has been acknowledged or adhered to by ZANU-pf.. or is it the JOC?

7 months after the election we are no closer to an actual settlement. And, I am wondering, where does this JOC get its power from? The people they "command"? I wonder how long that will go on given the situation regarding the economy which Gideon Gono has managed to finally bring to a screeching halt? Surely the policemen and women and soldiers of Zimbabwe themselves are feeling the pinch now and must be questioning how they got there?

Inflation continues to spiral so dramatically that it is virtually impossible to put any real figures on it. And the inflationary environment is giving way to open profiteering and racketeering, even in foreign currency.

How is it that a can of soft drink costs US$5??? and worse still, the matter I am involved in is around moving a sick person from Harare to Bulawayo by road ambulance. The price quoted by the private ambulance services in Zimbabwe is so disproportionate that it actually works out cheaper to buy an ambulance in the UK, ship it to Zimbabwe and do the transfer by road that way! In fact the cost of that is less than half of what I was quoted! (And, by the way, this is now what I am arranging!). In defending his prices, the general manager of the service involved told me that the British Medical aid BUPA routinely pays US$500 for an ambulance call within Harare!!! In the uk a private ambulance service charges £300 for a full ICU ambulance transfer in a new vehicle equipped with the the required gadgets and staffed by a paramedic, ICU nurse and Doctor over a distance of 350 km.

And what is worse, I also happen to know that ambulance staff in Zimbabwe earn, on average, less than US$5 a month! Can anyone else see the problem here? If this is how businesses are being run, which is clearly the case, how long before it becomes completely untenable?

How is it possible to justify such a profit margin? And where or who does that profit go to? Some people are really and truly using business and the prevailing situation to cash in on the misery of everyone else in the country. And making things worse.

Clearly the whole economy is out of control thanks to the machinations of ZANU-pf and the Reserve bank.

But private individuals need to sit up and take notice - these are crimes, possibly even against humanity itself. And I foresee a situation where, once things have been resolved, where those who have become ultra rich are going to have to be brought to book and their ill gotten gains taken away from them. I think there will be some very intricate and involved court cases and I, for one, will be helping employees sue their employers for back pay of a decent wage. They can clearly afford it. I think for a period of time after things settle, some serious forensic accounting is going to be called for and money and people will need to be pursued all over the world.

This kind of behaviour by business people is as bad as the torture meted out by ZANU-pf and cannot go unpunished.

Later.