In my life journey, my three years stay in Jamaica was probably the most traumatic and most revealing as to how the imperialists work.
I am, therefore, surprised that Mthuli Ncube and his handlers are either ignorant of that part of history or they think that they are special and will be given a special dispensation by the imperialists.
Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley (1972-1980) was a Pan-Africanist who realised that Jamaica’s bauxite resources were finite and would soon be exhausted if the US companies were allowed to loot them at will. Jamaica’s dollar was valued at US$2.
When Manley tripled US company royalties from US$50 million to US$250 million all hell broke loose.
I will give you only two examples, out of 93 actions the imperialists took against Manley’s regime.
Overnight they killed the Jamaican dollar, reversing it from J2 to US$1. Today’s US dollar is valued at J1,743. Somebody at the World Bank and at the London International Exchange decided to punish Manley.
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The second action taken by the British was to disassociate the Jamaican Post Office from the British Post Office. That action looks like a small action, but it had devastating effects.
The British money order used by travelers and insurance companies was no longer available.
Brother Ncube (and his associates) believe that if they “speak nicely” and “wear striped English suits” from Harrods in London and attend Davos meetings and dine and wine with imperialists, they will be favoured.
The egregious sin of the Zimbabwe government was the dispossession of the white farmers.
The second sin was the murderous pogroms in Matabeleland.
The third sin was the assistance of the Kabila forces against a US lackey in the Congo, 1997.
The fourth was Z$50 000 payout to the liberation fighters.
These actions, on the part of the Zimbabwe government, give the US a high moral ground. Like the Roman empire, the US will not be satisfied until there is a total overthrow of the Zanu PF government.
“There was no corner of the world where some interest was not alleged to be in danger or under attack. If the interests were not Roman, they were of those of Rome’s allies, and if not of Rome’s allies, then allies would be invented. When (all else failed) then it was the national honour that was insulted. The fight was always invested with an aura of legality.” (Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter)
Digging own grave
There are some mistakes,which are fatal and cannot be redeemed. Not all white farmers had evil intentions towards blacks; a blanket removal of all white farmers was evil.
But for Ncube to set aside US$3.85 billion will not win hegemonic support. You sluggard, understand that the imperialists are set at the total removal of the regime.
Secondly, where are the priorities among 20 000 Ndebele families, which lost loved ones during Gukurahundi?
Either Ncube sets aside compensation for both groups simultaneously, or he is missing the point that black lives don’t matter. The 20 000 Ndebele murdered are less valued than 4 000 white farmers.
Zimbabwe is not broken. It has 10 times the resources Jamaica has. An informant told me that as many as 27 trucks loaded with lithium drive away in broad day light from Bikita minerals for an unknown border. The trucks carrying valuable minerals intercepted at Forbes Border post belonged to the Gold Mafia. A tourist guide in Dubai will take a visitor to Dubai Hills where he will point out several mansions belonging to Zimbabwean mafia families.
Bona Mugabe’s divorce papers have since verified that indeed such massive amounts of wealth exist outside the purview of the ordinary.
We do not object to the brothers amassing wealth by whatever means. We object to useless wealth which could have been invested back home, an example which all imperialists follow to the letter.
In addition to the Gold Mafia expose, there was another English documentary which named the richest 10 people in Zimbabwe, one of them being Grace Mugabe (also mentioned by Eddie Cross in his podcast) for allegedly squirreling US$5.3 billion abroad.
It is ridiculous for Mthuli Ncube to walk about the streets, acting out and cutting up, berating small traders who are up against a declining Zee dollar. Taking down a US dollar sign in one shop reveals a confused state of mind.
The law of nature is that if there are two currencies, the stronger one will drive out the weaker. Ncube said this himself. The government has been digging its own grave for several years by allowing the US dollar to operate side by side with the Zee dollar.
The Vakomana who sell nicely wrapped Zee dollars in the street in exchange for US dollars will tell you that they are waiting for their daily allocation. The Vakomana are runners on behalf of the Reserve Bank.
It is difficult to build trust. Yet any currency depends on faith and trust.
In any case, it is ridiculous for a government to ask its citizens to pay taxes in a foreign currency which it does not manufacture.
Need for fundamental rethinking.
If one reads Federation of Rhodesia papers, 1953, there was a resolution to protect cotton growers as well as forbidding “Mabero” (except for missionary work). Ncube has reversed that.
The same applies to various products, including Border Timbers, iron and steel and maize production.
Steve Hanke, an American economist, has recommended that Ncube goes back to school. I totally agree. Apparently, Ncube and his acolytes are unaware of a book, The Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins.
We should also begin by paying everybody in Zee dollars, beginning with Ncube himself. These brothers are living in a make-believe world. Just imagine Margaret Thatcher being paid in US dollars. It is a disgrace. No amount of tinkering will fix the problem.
- Ken Mufuka is a Zimbabwean patriot. He writes from the US. He can be reached at mufukaken2gmail.com*