All eyes on Zimbabwe Finance Minister Chinamasa today

All eyes will be on Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa today as his 2018 budget statement will give a clear indication of how serious President Emmerson Mnangagwa is about turning around Zimbabwe’s economy and opening up the country for business.

Chinamasa told the media yesterday that his budget will show that Zimbabwe is now open for business. While this appeals to the West and investors, Zimbabweans are most likely looking at two things: jobs and being able to access their cash.

Mnangagwa has already disappointed the West and some Zimbabweans by his choice of cabinet where he retained most of the old guard including some ministers that are alleged to be corrupt.

Some analysts, however, argue that with only seven months to win his own mandate, Mnangagwa had very little choice but to retain some of the old hands.

Mnangagwa is currently completing former president Robert Mugabe’s term which ends on 21 August.

What most people seem to be overlooking is that Mnangagwa has been leader of the House for years, in fact, on and off since 1988 when he was “demoted” from State Security to Justice. He knows government business.

He has also been head of intelligence officially and unofficially for years. He therefore knows his lieutenants.

Everyone knows, as Jonathan Moyo confessed before being readmitted to the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front in 2009 that “it’s cold out there”- that is outside ZANU-PF.

Some of the ministers who were given back their jobs know that they really deserved to be in jail if Mnangagwa had kept his word to get rid of all corrupt persons and make sure that swift justice is carried out. It is therefore payback time. And the only way they can pay back, according to Mnangagwa, is peak performance, peak performance, peak performance.

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