Indigenisation Trap

Whichever way events pan out in the next few years, the idea of indigenisation in Zimbabwe is not going away. Like a genie out of a bottle, a national lottery has been promised by wizened political manipulators. Zimbabwe has forgotten how hundreds of years ago it achieved prosperity by hard work;  and hard work alone. To build Great Zimbabwe, the nation pulled together and people broke their backs to build national wealth.

Building takes hard work and ingenuity, they are no short cuts to success. If the lottery mentality persists, millions will play and only one will win. People are seduced by easy riches- but jackpots don't last.

Indigenising the mines has turned into a nightmare. They will be no capital investment, given indigenisation fears. Furthermore, mine profitability will not deliver dividends-owning majority equity is no guarantee of a return. Then good old fashion corruption has already reared its Gorgon head.

Manufacturing is a trickier beast to muster. Zimbabwe's manufacturing base has been in accelerated decline, since 1975. This decline reached cataclysmic levels with the Land Resettlement campaigns. Manufacture needs productive capital. Productive capital has been the country's Achilless' heel since the end of World War 2. Indigenisation will reduce nonexistent capital stock, maybe labour intensive production methods will replace nonexistent capital. The country cannot do without technology, productive capital  and credit, even if labour is in infinite supply. Indigenisation will rid off future inflows of productive capital, technology and credit. Incoming Eastern capital will remain exploitative and extractive.

If the goal is economic development, the majority needs work-employment and industrial production. As Western economies have learnt, service industry driven growth is a Ponzi myth; it is unsustainable and hence Global Recession. Wanting access to your own national mineral resources is a sovereign right. They are smart methods of gaining direct control. Tragically, a round about complicated  indigenisation offers too many opportunities for grand theft and corruption.