Zimbabwe business silent as the country’s economy continues to teeter

Out of ideas on how to tame world-record inflation that year, the government had made a decree; the prices of all goods and services were to be cut by half.

The order made no sense, but Obert Mpofu, then Industry Minister, set the dogs on businesses. Agents from the National Pricing and Incomes Commission fanned out across the country, shutting down businesses that refused to sell stock at a loss, arresting over 5,000 businesspeople, including the head of OK, the country’s largest supermarket chain.

Big business tried to offer resistance. The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), the biggest business group, said prices would only come down if production costs fell first. But Mugabe told them not “to play that game”, accused them of plotting to overthrow him, and ordered more arrests.

In no time, executives’ feeble resistance was broken. Tails firmly between legs, they soon begged for a meeting with Mugabe to make peace.

“We apologise for letting you down as there exists a glaring gap between your goals and our performance as an economy,” they grovelled in a letter they presented to him at State House.

Then they grovelled some more: “From the time of the struggle for Independence to today, you have, Your Excellency, consistently pursued very clear over-arching national goals.”

They made token requests for the price cuts to be lifted while they found a “solution”, but Mugabe dismissed them.

Despite the vast wealth of its own leaders, ZANU-PF has always sought to cast itself as a party for the poor, defending their interests against greedy big business. Businesses were accused of siding with the opposition, and any criticism from them was seen as treason. And so business has learnt to tread carefully.

There have been attempts to bridge the gap.

In 2010, a section of ZANU-PF tried to reach out to business. At a breakfast meeting at Celebration Centre in Borrowdale, far from ZANU-PF’s favourite rural ground, the who’s who of Zimbabwean business traded laughter with senior ZANU-PF officials over tea and croissants.

For an audience with then vice-president Joice Mujuru, listed on the programme as “guest listener”, each executive paid hundreds of dollars for an event dubbed “Business Talks to ZANU-PF”.

Mujuru and other senior ZANU-PF members sat still as business executives took turns to politely moan about the economy, each of them taking care not to lay any direct blame on the party for the mess.

Sensing the tension, organiser Ray Kaukonde, a wealthy businessman who at the time was a higher-up in ZANU-PF, stood up. “Speak freely. Don’t try to please us here,” Kaukonde said.

It didn’t work, and the meeting limped along to a predictably dull end, with nothing to show.

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