Political expedience was on full show in Harare last week at the meeting between presidents Jacob Zuma and Robert Mugabe. As the two men patted each other on the back and talked about reforming the UN and progress in Africa, many of their increasingly impoverished citizens were wishing them out of office.
Behind the scenes, there may have been some frank talk about important and relevant bilateral issues, but on the face of it, it was an exercise in denial — a day off for both men from the harsh political and economic realities in their countries that have resulted from their poor choices and personally driven political agendas.
Mugabe appeared to enjoy the fact his counterpart was visiting him at a time of mounting challenges in SA.
"Comrade president, we need each other even more as we face renewed assaults on our independence and sovereignty," Mugabe said.
Despite surely being aware that he was speaking in a country brought to its knees by its aged leader and his associated sycophants, Zuma stated: "Zimbabwe has been instrumental towards realising the dream of a prosperous African continent that is self-sufficient and able to assume its rightful place in the global arena."
Zimbabwe has become an import-dependent country on the back of years of poor governance and economic mismanagement. It now imports 70% of its needs, about half from SA. Yet it is still in talks to tackle import restrictions on more than 100 items from SA unilaterally imposed by Zimbabwe this year in an attempt to save foreign currency and spur local manufacturing.
Mugabe’s policies have emasculated the industrial sector in Zimbabwe, but this has not stopped him taking the moral high ground in trying to push SA to attend to the huge trade imbalance between the countries by persuading its companies to invest in, and not just trade with, Zimbabwe.
Mugabe’s attempts to tone down his indigenisation laws, which require foreign-owned companies to hand over 51% of their companies to locals, have fallen on deaf ears.
The trust between the president’s men and business — foreign and local — has
long been broken.
The introduction of a surrogate currency in Zimbabwe, bond notes, is the latest desperate measure by the Zimbabwe government to stem a problem of its own making.
This is another nail in the coffin for foreign investment. Zanu-PF has not hesitated to raid local foreign currency accounts and it is likely that the bond notes are part of a bigger plan to start directing what little hard currency
there is into its own coffers, while leaving the populace with useless paper.
A Joint Trade and Investment Committee to oversee the economic co-operation between the countries was announced.
Time will tell whether there is the political will to make this more than a political white elephant. Many of the 38 memorandums of understanding and agreements signed since 1995 have not been ratified.
The list includes the 2009 agreement to establish a one-stop border post at Beitbridge, a serious trade bottleneck to trade with the region. The destiny of the two countries is inextricably linked. But the timing could not be worse. Having discussions led by two heads of state under pressure at home with ever-dwindling popularity and credibility is hardly an auspicious start to an important bilateral process. The removal of both these heads of state may start to unlock real progress within and between the two nations.
• Games is CEO of business advisory Africa @ Work
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