The Bridge: Pathway To New Zimbabwe

By Caleb Dengu

This is the first book to give a synopsis of what actually went wrong to such a promising country like Zimbabwe and also has concrete suggestions on how to arrest the decline and change the economic trajectory. It has identified policy and leadership failures along the 40-year history of the country. It has analyzed the key economic drivers and identified the key reforms required in each sector. The definition and effects of smart sanctions as a relatively new economic weapon of mass destruction was interrogated.

The book questions the cultural and value systems in order to define what the values of a Zimbabwean are. It challenges the effectiveness of how the society is organized with regard to delivering a better standard of living. It calls for defense and security sector reforms and the formation of National Security Council that is a totally independent statutory body that will be the guardian of Zimbabwe’s constitution. The book is concluded by an open letter to the President, which outlines sentiments which are usually not shared with him by his intelligence team. This book is a must read for prospective investors, development economists, prospective politicians, diplomats and development financial institutions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Caleb Dengu
• Release date: Sep 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005036010

Book preview

The Bridge

Caleb Dengu

Copyright © 2020 Caleb Dengu

Published by Caleb Dengu Publishing at Smashwords

First edition 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Published by Caleb Dengu using Reach Publishers’ services,

Edited by Colleen Figg for Reach Publishers

Cover designed by Reach Publishers

P O Box 1384, Wandsbeck, South Africa, 3631

Website: www.reachpublishers.org

E-mail: [e-mail]

Author’s Email: [e-mail]

The Pathway to a New Zimbabwe

Whatever went wrong?

As Zimbabwe is our future

let’s fix it!

Zimbabwe at forty years after independence is still trapped in state of paralysis.

How to draw from the human spirit and to never give up on Zimbabwe.

Building strong institutions to overcome polarisation in Zimbabwe.

About the Author

Caleb Dengu

Caleb Dengu was born in 1959 in Hwedza District, in the Mashonaland East Province of Zimbabwe. His inspirational parents, Ethridge Maguru Dengu and Annie Pamhidzayi Dengu, had bought a 100-hectare farm in 1953 in Zviyambe, in the African Purchase Areas in which the country’s blacks could purchase agricultural land. It was here that Caleb was born and enjoyed his early life alongside nine siblings.

Caleb started his formal education at a local primary school, St. Pius Makarara, before proceeding to a Catholic boarding school, Mt. St. Mary’s Mission, Hwedza, for the last two years of primary school. He then went to an Anglican boarding school, St. Faith’s Secondary School in Rusape. However, he was to leave school at the age of 16, on the 7th April 1975, to go and join the Zimbabwe liberation struggle in Mozambique, together with six friends. In the period up to 1979 he had a few skirmishes with the Rhodesian authorities. Following independence in 1980, Caleb joined the government as an Officer in the Ministry of Finance and later moved to the Office of the President and Cabinet and, subsequently, the Central Mechanical Equipment Department as Chief Accountant.

From 1981 to 1985, Caleb trained as a Chartered Secretary with the British Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA), qualifying as an Associate of the Institute in 1986, and then as a Fellow 1988. He went on to obtain an MBA from the University of Zimbabwe in 1993 before proceeding to Scotland to study for the Advanced Financial Management Programme at Strathclyde Graduate Business School, in Glasgow. More recently, in 2017, he successfully completed the Senior Executive Program Africa at Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

After some nine years with the Government of Zimbabwe, Caleb moved to the Urban Development Corporation where he became Director of Audit and Financial Services. He then went international in 1995, firstly joining the Nairobi-based TD Bank (formerly PTA Bank), a regional development bank, as Senior Finance Officer. In 1997, Caleb joined the Common Fund for Commodities, a United Nations Agency based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, as Senior Project Manager responsible for soft commodities globally. Caleb is a well-established development banker who has specialised in structured project and trade finance solutions and risk management systems. He has financed and managed projects in more than 60 countries. He also contributed to a range of publications on soft commodities like coffee and cocoa studies.

Caleb returned to Zimbabwe in 2011 to set up CDF Trust and Consulting BV, an Investment Advisory and Private Equity Platform. The company has advised on major mining, infrastructure and energy projects worth millions of dollars. He is Vice Chairman of RioZim Limited, a major mining company listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. An accomplished deal maker with international development and business experience, he sits on several corporate boards.

Caleb is married to his lovely wife, Shingai. They have three adult sons, Pondai, Fungai and Runyararo and two lovely daughters-in-law, Chiedza and Sinead as well as two grandchildren, Zuva and Oscar.

Acknowledgements

Editorial Team

Mr. Fungayi Mhonyera

Mr. Tommy Sithole

Mrs. Shingai Dengu

This book was influenced by

the work done by

Kouzes & Posner in their book

The Leadership Challenge 4th Edition

and work done by

Joseph E. Stiglitz

Winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize f

or Economics in his book

People, Power and Profit 2019

and work done by

Joseph L. Bower, Herman B. Leonard, Lynn S. Paine

in their 2011 book

Capitalism at Risk – Rethinking the Role of Business

and work done by

Martine Durand, Jean-Paul Fitoussi,

and Joseph E. Stiglitz

in the book

Measuring What Counts 2019

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my grandchildren, Zuva Caroline Dengu and Oscar Gordon Dengu, and to all children in Zimbabwe, who, I hope, will benefit from a resurgent Zimbabwe. The recommendations in this book will, hopefully, serve as a strong foundation on which a progressive and democratic Zimbabwe could be built. I would like my grandchildren to be great citizens and advocates of high moral and ethical leadership as we desperately need strong institutions and a vibrant economy. I hope and pray that they will seek public office and assist in forming good values and help redefine what is it to be a proud Zimbabwean.

Table of Contents

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Preface

Introduction

1. The Historical Context

2. Analysis of the Key Economic Drivers

3. Political, National Security and Social Services

4. Social, Economic and

Environmental Sustainability

5. National Leadership

6. Conclusion

Notes and References

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Preface

What went wrong? Zimbabwe is our future

– Let’s fix it!

Zimbabwe, meaning The House of Stone, derives its name from the iconic stone structures near Masvingo City that served as the capital city of the 14th to 19th-century Munhumutapa Empire, one of the great civilisations of Africa.

Present-day Zimbabwe is a potentially rich country with abundant natural resources and an ample base of human capital, thanks especially to the enormous expansion of access to education after 1980. At independence itself in 1980, the country inherited a well-established infrastructure that included a fully functional rail, road, and air-service network as well as excellent schools and hospitals, albeit limited in number. It enjoys very comfortable, even attractive, weather all year round. It is home to some of the greatest wildlife in the world, including the Big Five (lion, elephant, black rhino, buffalo and leopard). It hosts the spectacular Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, also known as Mosi-wa-Tunya, which means The Smoke that Thunders. Also, on the mighty Zambezi River is Lake Kariba, the largest man-made lake in the world, popular with international tourists and famous, indeed, for tiger fishing and a major source of renewable energy, supplying most of the electricity consumed in the country and in Zambia.

Given all that, however, the world seeks to understand why Zimbabwe is, in 2020, a poor developing country despite being well-endowed and well positioned to be a leading economic powerhouse in Africa. The simple and straight answer is that there was serious leadership failure on the part of the Zimbabwe Government. Former President Robert Mugabe tried to apply 20th-century solutions to 21st-century problems. It was like defending an incoming Intercontinental Ballistic Missile with an AK-47 rifle. A commander who makes such a decision will cause heavy casualties to innocent troops.

The first major economic challenge was deindustrialisation of Zimbabwe– The Fall of apartheid in South Africa

While Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa celebrated the demise of the apartheid regime and the ushering in of a new rainbow nation in 1994, it also marked the first wave of deindustrialisation in Zimbabwe. A number of global and multinational businesses had set their base in Zimbabwe to avoid sanctions that were imposed on apartheid South Africa.

With the advent of South African independence, it made business sense for global businesses to move their Southern African headquarters to South Africa. It is a bigger market which is supported by an advanced infrastructure and a sophisticated financial sector. Zimbabwe lost big companies like Johnson and Johnson, Lever Brothers, Old Mutual, Anglo-American, and Colgate Palmolive to name a few. They moved both their manufacturing plants and their regional headquarters. The poorly resourced and managed parastatals were forced to move into the markets left by the relocating businesses. The management of these parastatals did not have business experience. Their skills set was not suitable for commercial operations hence the first decline of the Zimbabwean economy post 1994.

In the second phase, Zimbabwe went through a very painful experience following the imposition of smart sanctions in the year 2000 by the UK, the European Union and later the United States of America (USA) following the disputed manner in which land reform was implemented by the Robert Mugabe’s government. There was also capital flight following land reforms. Economic sanctions further fractured the fragile economy. The countries that imposed sanctions did so without an appreciation of the real effects these smart sanctions would have on the target country. Smart sanctions, alternatively known as targeted sanctions, were a new tool in the sanction arsenal, untested which means that the full effects were not known. It was like administering a poison without an antidote. Smart sanctions are not necessarily the direct cause of the mismanagement and corruption in the country but have caused the brain drain and migration of competent and highly skilled professional staff. The situation has created a skills and management vacuum. The whole ecosystem has collapsed. The chaff has risen to top management positions because people who should have never been close to the corridors of power were promoted by the vacuum to replace executives that had migrated to South Africa, the UK, Australia, Dubai, the USA and other countries.

The Second Major Economic Challenges 2000 – 2008

Following the land reform programme from the year 2000, the economy slowly but surely collapsed because of lack of confidence in the economy and lack of trust by the main economic actors. The white population, which was mainly made up of former British subjects, who were the cornerstone of the agricultural sector, migrated after losing their farms to the land reform programme. The transfer of land from white farmers to the black majority had negative effects on the foreign investor perception. Both foreign and domestic investors could not trust that government