Former Finance Minister and opposition politician Tendai Biti is reported to be unimpressed by the United Kingdom’s decision to loan private companies in Zimbabwe $100 million. Biti views the move as an endorsement of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration and said it would have been better to wait until after the election. Biti is quoted by the British newspaper, The Financial Times as saying,
This attempt to put lipstick on a crocodile is most unfortunate. The elections are only a few months away. Let’s see the quality of this election first.
The UK has repeatedly said that it is not backing President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
More: New Zimbabwe
Tendayi Biti, the enemy of civilisation, wants people to continue suffering, no heart for the people, thanks UK for bailing Zimbabwe out with the loan and thanks for ignoring the selfish feelings of Mr Biti. This gesture is apolitical. God bless the queen!
MDC was happy for Zim to have sanctions and majority of us suffering and not being able to go study where we intended. But Mugabe was never affected with sanctions, Morgan and Biti were never affected as they amassed a lot of fortunes during that time.
For them to complain about the help Zim is getting now means they still want us to suffer so that they get into power. WHY MDC WHY, its us the povo who feel the pain. You in Borrowdale dont suffer as much as us in Mbare and Highfield, Luveve, Nketa.
You can go to USA anytime you want but the sanction you asked for prevents us to do the same.
chero ukafara kuti UK yapa zimbabwe mari uchangofa uchishupika
Inodyiwa nangwena nemagandanga ari pedyo naye iwe haulumi
Inga $15 billion yakaenda makatarisa wani
Biti wagona vaudze vafana vanofarira munhuwi wenyama iri kubikwa panext door
Haaaa fokoro
Why repeat the same mistake anything that benefits people cannot be bad.There was no need to ask America to keep sanctions in place it sends wrong message it means you do not care about people who is advising you guys Britain will not be dictated to by politicians leave this one alone any benefits does not stop you from campaigning wiynching to keep people suffering even for a day is the wrong way to do things
he Opposition’s Opposition of $100 million loan facility to Zimbabwe.
Today I have witnessed very angry and aggressive exchanges of online verbal blows concerning the issue of the £100 million loan facility by CDC to Zimbabwe. I do sympathize with people of Zimbabwe who always find themselves in the middle of all this is irrespective of whether or not they will have a benefit or stake in the loan facility. In the same token I also sympathies with Mr. Biti who have to deal with serious insults some of which borders between freedom of expression and offences against persons. Mr. Biti’s views as are he put, “an attempt to put lipstick on a crocodile” whilst the online viewers seems to be going for his blood, it is important to understand that this a time for election campaign and Biti is an opposition party leader who would use any available opportunity to reach out to this audience and supporters by commenting on recent issues which can impact the elections. I am sure he correctly understands that the loan facility is being targeted to companies not political parties.
First of all it is important to understand that this is a loan facility which is being targeted at Zimbabwe’s private sector companies and is being facilitated by a company called CDC. CDC’s mission is to support the building of businesses throughout Africa and South Asia and to create jobs and make a lasting difference to people’s lives in some of the world’s poorest places.
According to the Times Newspaper the five-year facility will see CDC and Standard Chartered share the default risk on up to US$100 million of new loans originated by Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe. To the generality of Zimbabweans, a loan facility to any Zimbabwean company would generally serve as a positive signal that things are moving in the right direction and that the much-needed jobs are more likely to be available. However, it is also important to understand that even in the middle of sanctions and all the hardships, Zimbabwe was still receiving huge amounts of money or aid from the International Community some or most of which ended up in the hands of the few and some being siphoned out of the country. As regards to this particular loan, CDC claims that it is providing access to finance in a responsible way and enabling people, businesses and communities in Africa to progress and prosper. Important to understand is that this is a loan facility being managed by a reputable bank which has capacity to carry out risk assessments and identify good projects which requires financing and at the same time having capacity to manage it. For example in 2015, it provided around $14 billion in such loans to African nations. These infrastructure loans have been quite effective at producing observable results—building Africa’s first electrified cross-border railway in Ethiopia, hospitals in Zambia, mines in Namibia, and more.
As you can understand, Mr. Biti is well aware of the good intentions of the lender but it should also be mentioned that such loans have not been made available for a long time because of the sour relationships between Zimbabwe and the UK and CDC being a UK based company appear to have not done so because govermment was opposed or would oppose it. It is stated that the idea to advance such loan became feasible after the demise of Mugabe and that the loan was based on the new dispensation which according to Mr. Biti means that there is a casual link or nexus between the loan and how Zimbabwe is now being perceived by the UK after the coup. Whilst coming from a legal background, Biti is literate in issues of International finance and his comments or concerns comes at a time when there is desperate need of cash in Zimbabwe as parties are pitching against each other in the July elections. Biti can easily discuss and comment as he pleases but maybe better on a platform of people who are literate in terms management and the working such loans but it appears that the povo in Zimababwe is upset and it is at the wrong time and then should he do?. I am concerned about the political wisdom of issuing statements without making risk assessments in terms of public reaction and perception and the opposition seem to fall in the same pit unrealistically too often. Like Trump, they do not seem to make use of their spokesperson, a tradition which normally allows parties to put out well-reasoned statements. In my view what Biti meant was the fear that even if the loan is a facility being extended by CDC for good causes but the timing and perception of the general populace or the electrolate in Zimbabwe would be that the loan is an endorsement of ED as better candidate in the forthcoming elections.
This is my general view