Gono plays Pope and Cop

WHAT a difference a week makes!
My week started on Sunday, April 29 when I read an article published by the Sunday Mail with the title: “Gono pushes for amnesty” and during the week, another article was published by the Herald on 4 May 2007 entitled: “Forex remittance defaulters warned.”
How can the RBZ be pushing for amnesty while at the same time threatening others of punishment for the same offences? It is important that we unpack the amnesty call and attempt to focus on the role of the RBZ in creating confusion and undermining the rule of law in Zimbabwe.
It is evident that the RBZ has now become a critical player in furthering the exploits of the political actors who see no evil in their policies and, therefore, wish to remain in power indefinitely. Why call for amnesty when the criminalisation of the intended beneficiaries of such amnesty was meant to ameliorate the problems of the country? Does it mean that Gono’s policies were misguided? Who should be culpable for the senseless policies?
The Sunday Mail reported that Gono was pushing for an amnesty for some economic fugitives who fled the country in the past few years arguing that this would see the country dedicating its resources to worthwhile economic endeavors. He was reported to have said that the amnesty would earn the Government a lot of goodwill and encourage the "economic fugitives" to deal with their own conscience.
With respect to the justification for the change of policy, he had this to say: "In South Africa, they had amnesty that related to externalisation of foreign exchange which brought in significant sums back into the country. This related to exchange control violations but did not relate to criminal activities. It’s along the same lines that have motivated me to call on us to formally examine that approach because of the knowledge that many Zimbabweans are living in fear because they have skeletons in their cupboards and are just waiting for the law to catch up with them. The call must not be read as a sign of weakness on the part of the central bank but is one in the same spirit of healing, in the spirit of the Social Contract and it’s in the spirit of trying to rebuild our country.
He made the allegations that there are companies and individuals that are under-invoicing exports and over-invoicing imports and violating Exchange Control Regulations. On this issue, he made special mention of the tourism industry as follows:
"In the area of tourism as well as hunting, we are aware of organisations which for one reason or another have kept this country’s proceeds outside and the proposed amnesty is meant to encourage them to deal with their conscience, clean their decks and exorcise the demons that are in their bottom drawers in a manner that will benefit the country.
"The proposal of an amnesty of that kind would obviously need to be predicated on a time frame and conditionalities including the fact that those who had actually been tried and found guilty, but are running away from justice would obviously not be covered by such amnesty."
He then proposed a reconciliation framework involving a number of stakeholders as social partners as a way forward in resolving the Zimbabwean crisis. He said as follows:
"This is also in the spirit of healing and forging a genuine smart partnership which has win-win features and an advancement of the principle of reconciliation as was founded by none other than His Excellency, President Mugabe.
"Such an approach would allow the country to dedicate current scarce resources to present and future transgressions than to be wasting those resources on past and often elusive misdemeanors and playing the cat and mouse game.
"Kune vanhu vakawanda vane hama dzavo whether in business or in their private capacity vasiri kurara mudzimba for fear that one day the law will catch up with them? So such a move will earn the Government tremendous goodwill from a wide spectrum of economic players. In the spirit of the ongoing negotiations for a Social Contract, the idea of an amnesty should be seriously considered."
Gono’s sentiments were given legitimacy by Zimbabwe’s CEO, President Mugabe, when he said: "We are all witness to the futility of trying to turn around our economy in an environment of pointless conflict."
It is evident that President Mugabe genuinely believes that the Zimbabwean crisis is externally driven and there is nothing he would have done differently over the past 27 years to make Zimbabwe a winning country. He is of the view that were it not for the machinations of imperialists and their agents with the support of unpatriotic businessmen, Zimbabwe would be a functional democracy.
There is very little that can be done to change President Mugabe’s world view. This view is not only held by President Mugabe but is evidently held by Gono as well. When he was appointed as Governor of the RBZ, he was quick to target what he termed as “unscrupulous businessmen” as the root cause of the crisis. He then proceeded to cause the amendment of the exchange control regulations and transforming any alleged violations into serious economic crimes. The victims are many and identifiable.
It must be acknowledged, however, that the approach of criminalising rational economic behavior did not start with Gono. The early victims were Enos Nkala, Shadreck Shava, Dzingai Mutumbuka, Maurice Nyagumbo and company who were accused of buying cars at controlled prices and then selling the same cars at market prices.
Their alleged crimes are no different from the construction of the externalisation charges for which Gono is now proposing a policy reversal without taking any responsibility for championing such misguided policies. President Mugabe believes in controls, be it of political or economic behavior. Under his world view, the prices of commodities must be determined by the government in as much as the exchange rate.
The Willowgate scandal of the late eighties where Ministers lost their jobs for recognising that a market system offers a rational basis of allocating scarce resources demonstrated the attitude of President Mugabe to a market system and its consequences. In 2007, we find that the government of Zimbabwe has not changed its outlook on the market system. Mugabe now has a Governor who shares the same outlook and zeal to blame third parties for policies that have universally failed to deliver efficiency to any known economic system. It is amazing that President Mugabe and his colleagues continue to live in the fantasy world that believes that resources can be efficiently allocated by an administrative system.
Gono now wants Zimbabweans to accept a situation where selected individuals can benefit from buying foreign exchange at Z$15,000 to US$1 and then sell the same US$1 at Zim$25,000 or more. Gono has made his point that devaluation is out of the question but has introduced an Economic Stabilization Fund under which all foreign currency holders can sell to the RBZ their foreign currency at Z$15,000 to US$1. If there was any amnesty to be granted then Gono would be an ideal candidate for living in a fantasy world. Why would Gono attempt to deny an obvious devaluation? Whose interests is he protecting? Who benefits from the current distortions? Would President Mugabe, to the extent he knows that the RBZ is trading foreign currency at black market rate, want to continue to remain as President of Zimbabwe beyond 2008?
Anyone who does not subscribe to the misguided policies of Gono and his principals has been labeled a saboteur worthy of punishment by the law enforcement officers. While Gono was preaching the reconciliation, message he was also putting in place a whistle blower scheme targeting diamond traders.
Even illegal diamond traders are more intelligent than what Gono would expect the average Zimbabwean citizen to be. In Gono’s world, a person with, for example, US$1 would be expected to exchange his money for Z$15,000 while pretending that the official rate is Z$250 when the market can accommodate Z$25,000. Assuming Gono is a rational person and has not lived in a make believe world like the ‘State House’ for the past 27 years, why would he expect exporters to exchange their export proceeds at Z$15,000 while acknowledging that the country is a victim of hyperinflation?
For many who have wondered why diplomats including those representing Mugabe’s worst enemies have not been critical of Gono, it may not be far fetched to speculate that these diplomats may be themselves beneficiaries of the market exchange rate from none other than Your Governor. Can you imagine a foreign diplomat who, for example, receives a salary of US$20,000 per month? He faced the prospect of converting his salary at Z$250 until last week, translating into Z$5 million, compared to Z$500 million that he stood to realise from the parallel market. I am not sure that many diplomats would not find the RBZ to be an economically useful ally in the circumstances.
In an opaque system administered by Gono, there is no doubt that many beneficiaries of the illegal trades would prefer to keep quiet while selected targets are daily castigated for conduct that the RBZ should also be guilty of. What would be interesting is for Gono to make public the affairs of Fiscorp, the special purpose vehicle, set up to warehouse the quasi-fiscal operations before preaching about amnesty.
As Zimbabwe approaches the D-Day to choose a new government, it is important that key issues are openly debated and people are informed about the conduct of their agents who are in the public sector. The impression created so far is that anyone who works in government is an angel and citizens are guilty as charged. What if the policies of the government are misguided and criminal, who should give amnesty to whom? What are the choices for citizens when the world view of its first citizen is inconsistent with the values that promote progress and development? Are the poor protected by policies that are immoral and based on deception?
In criminal law, amnesty is a sovereign act of oblivion or forgetfulness (from Greek amnestia, "forgetfulness") granted by a government, especially to a group of persons who are guilty of (usually political) crimes in the past. It is often conditional upon the group's return to obedience and duty within a prescribed period. It is the action of a government by which all persons or certain groups of persons who have committed a criminal offence—usually of a political nature that threatens the sovereignty of the government (such as sedition or treason) are granted immunity from prosecution.
Amnesty allows the government of a nation or state to "forget" criminal acts, usually before prosecution has occurred. Amnesty has traditionally been used as a political tool of compromise and reunion following a war. An act of amnesty is generally granted to a group of people who have committed crimes against the state. Gono would like Zimbabweans to believe that selling foreign currency at a market rate should be treated no differently from any treasonable offence. If the truth were to be told, how many Zimbabweans would not be guilty of the same offence to make a mockery of Gono’s games?
Before the end of the week, another article was published on May 4, 2007, in the Herald entitled: “Forex remittance defaulters warned”. It was reported that the RBZ will come down hard on exporters that continue to deprive the economy of precious foreign currency through under-invoicing and non-remittance of foreign currency receipts. Without giving figures, the central bank said this week Zimbabwe was losing millions of dollars in hard cash to "fraudsters" within the export sector.
RBZ said while export figures for the first quarter were on the rise — up 23 percent to US$420 million — the number of outstanding receipts was too big to ignore. The RBZ went on to state as follows:
"Currently, the country is owed millions of dollars by these delinquent exporters, some of whom have literally gone into hiding. The central bank is fully aware of these delinquents, and has forwarded a comprehensive list to law enforcement agencies to track down those commodity brokers who have gone into hiding to avoid the completion of export formalities.
"Reserve Bank also notes with concern that some exporters continue to under-invoice their exports resulting in the country not realising the true and fair value of its exports.
"Exporters are further warned against such retrogressive behaviour and measures have been put in place to detect such malpractices."
While in many countries, the market is allowed to determine the exchange rate, in Gono’s world exports belong to the nation and the export is merely an agent of the state. Under this construction, the exports are effectively a nationalised commodity and while the government is not exposed to production costs it nevertheless has a say in terms of the output regardless of whether viability of such producers is an issue.
What is unfortunate is that there appears to be no informed discussions on policy matters particularly in respect to what direction Zimbabwe should take to lift itself from the current quagmire. I sincerely believe that good policies induce good behaviour and progress only comes from progressive policies.
What is tragic is the chameleon type behaviour of people like Gono who exhibit many colours and the confusion they inflict on unsuspecting citizens who deserve a better deal. On the one hand he preaches amnesty while on the other fails to acknowledge the bankruptcy of his policies and programs. He plays the Pope while at the same time plays the Cop without any respect of the objective conditions on the ground and his construct actions in undermining the rule of law in Zimbabwe as well as the violation of human and property rights.