Dear Mr President,
Mr President, how are you in these strange times of Covid-19 and zero international travel? I just decided to write you a letter with a few questions.
I will not go back to elections and the coup, and how you were endorsed to lead Zanu PF without any election. I will let sleeping dogs lie and accept the status quo. You are the President of Zimbabwe. I have a few questions though, and ideas that I have decided to share with you.
Mr President, you signed a lot of investment deals in 2018. How many have started bearing fruit? Can you please name at least one “megs deal” that has become operational, even if it is the digging up of a foundation or the setting up of structures and offices? If these deals have not started, is there any reason? If these were official deals, can we ask the companies that signed up what has happened? Can we have a list and find out why they lied to you and us?
Mr President, I have a few questions on corruption. Firstly, the people that were arrested in 2017 and 2018 on multiple counts of corruption why haven’t they been tried? Why is it easy to quickly arrest a lawyer for a fraudulent affidavit and get him to court than to try and arrest people accused of stealing millions? We may accept that the other minister who stole from NSSA is sick, I am not a doctor, but what about asset forfeiture Mr President?
Mr President, Zimra is good at telling us the value of our laptops and cars at the borders and points of entry. Can we ask them to assist with a lifestyle audit for your ministers and head of parastatals for the past 10 years? Here are the few things they can do. They could get a valuation of houses for every government or council official and compare that with their declared earnings and if they are not in sync, charge them capital gains tax, additional income tax, donations tax and even charge them for tax evasion. Those that cannot explain their income you can let the long arm of the law take its course.
The lifestyle audit could also look at the cars that people drive, the schools that people send their children to, the expensive bags and watches that people own and if they cannot explain their income Mr President, let Zimra collect its taxes so that the fiscus has money. I am sure plenty of accountants and lawyers are willing to sign up to assist in this simple exercise. We can start with the government and go down to the citizenry.
Mr President, the black market has been a problem for a while. What are you doing about illegal currency trading on the streets? If you arrest these people holding wads of new cash where do they say the source of their brand-new notes is? Is the Reserve Bank capable of holding currency and distributing it fairly if it ends outside banks and being sold like a commodity? Shouldn’t we accept that there is systematic failure at the Reserve Bank and relieve those that are incapable of performing simple tasks like distributing notes and recording who they have been sent to properly?
Is it true, Mr President, that people in power are benefitting from the black market by simply going to buy forex notes at 1:25 and offloading it on the black market at 1:60? What are you doing to stop people trading in money increasing money supply and fuelling inflation? Isn’t it a better solution to have a free-floating exchange? Mr President, other countries trade at lower rates than 40 and are perfectly well just for example the dollar buys 740 Malawian Kwacha, 106 Kenyan Shillings, 389 Nigerian Naira, 957 Rwandan Frans, 2,323 Tanzanian Shillings, 69 Mozambican Meticals and 1,825 Congolese Francs.
These examples Mr President show that we should not fuel the black market by maintaining a fixed exchange rate. All these countries are completely functional without managing the currency. Our problem is that the selling of money on the black market is creating structural difficulties and hampering productivity and trade. Let the open market decide. If you solve this problem, Mr President you may find fuel ques and inflation gone just a thought if you are willing to help us your excellency.
Mr President, why haven’t we found solution to our big problem, drought? How many farmers have been weaned from dependency through Command Agriculture? Is it a feasible solution? Of the over three billion in inputs, what could have been used in creating sustainable capital infrastructure? Do you think its sustainable to keep giving seeds and fertilisers without investing in sustainable solutions?
Mr President, the Israelis that supply you with those powerful anti-riot solutions also have wonderful irrigation and water harvesting techniques. The provision of water would greatly improve our agricultural productivity. Why don’t we focus on that instead of constant recurring expenditure? Some areas just need cheap dams and boreholes for households to become food self-sufficient.
Mr President, at least six citizens died on August 1, 2018. A lot more died in January 2019. Who has been arrested for those murders? Have we found out who abducted the doctor and if not abducted, as your officials claimed, why hasn’t anyone been charged? Is the police capable of investigating these cases? If it’s a third force that is widely claimed, why hasn’t anyone been caught? Why is the so-called third force allowed to operate willy-nilly?
Mr President, numerous human rights abuses are happening under your watch, what is your remedy? Do you believe in justice for all? Does Zimbabwe belong to all those who live in it or is it for those who wear scarves only? Mr President, we need the rule of law to be in place, we need justice for all, we need an impartial police force and military. The liberation struggle was just for that, not to keep a certain party in power.
Mr President, you are almost halfway through your term, you are driving the titanic towards the iceberg but you can still alter your course. Look at the things you spoke of when you came into power, look at your campaign promises, were they lies, Mr President? Are you unable to change the direction of Zimbabwe? Was President Mugabe right to say you don’t have capacity? Was Simon Khaya Moyo right that you lack probity? I still believe if you find the will, you are very capable. Please give us the Zimbabwe we want.
Yours in hope,
Farooq Ronnie Shumba
