Category Archives: Socio-economic Collapse

Blessing Kasiyamhuru 23 May 2017 2:57PM 0 comments

HARARE - As the 2018 general election fast approaches, Zimbabwe Partnership for Prosperity (ZIPP) challenges the youths in Zimbabwe to rise up and vote in numbers as this crucial vote will help shape their future.

The first step is for them to register to vote and show up to vote on Election Day.

While young voters in the past have been comfortable in apathy neglecting the importance of voting, they should realise that their voice is an important one because democracy doesnt work without citizen participation. Their vote does matter, so much so because history has shown that a collective youth vote could actually sway an election.

Voting gives the youths the power to make important choices as they decide what they like, dont like, and their voices are heard. If they fail to vote they are yielding the ultimate power to adults to make decisions about the leaders and laws that will shape and lead society for decades.

It is always essential that young Zimbabweans take advantage of their right to vote, creating a future that aligns with their fundamental beliefs and setting a precedent for future generations.

Regrettably, ZIPP has noticed that in the past the youth in Zimbabwe have not used their huge numbers at the ballot box to shape political and socio-economic decisions. Interestingly, the youths are known to complain about issues that affect them yet squander opportunities to influence the election of people who share their aspirations.

The majority of the youths today are walloping in poverty as the country witnesses high unemployment levels believed to be hovering over 90 percent which if unchecked, will be a disaster in waiting for the government. They also still face a host of other challenges, including limited access to entrepreneurship opportunities and credit for setting up businesses.

It is not a secret that high unemployment levels in Zimbabwe are quite undesirable especially after President Robert Mugabes 2013 election promise to deliver more than two million jobs by 2018 that has not come to pass.

While every year Zimbabwe produces an estimated 300 000 graduates from its 16 universities plus others coming out of polytechnic colleges, nursing schools, teacher colleges and apprenticeships, the countrys floundering economy that is starved of investment and job creation can scarcely absorb a fraction of them.

This paints a grim picture of many young people with no source of income and no future to look forward to.

It is against this background that ZIPP urges all the unemployed youths to take time out and exercise their only hope for a better future, which is to vote for a government that will address their employment needs.

Young voters who want to inspire change need to show their support for the candidates whom they feel best represent their needs because no one else is going to vote in the interest of young people except young people.

In particular, the youths not only should they practice their right to vote but the right to be voted for into office themselves. Zipp, therefore, offers this opportunity as a youthful party to all youths that aspire to be leaders and policy makers of the future government of Zimbabwe in 2018.

Voting and being voted for or supporting the candidates that includes youths of their choice is effective youth participation in politics.

ZIPP urges government, Zimbabwe Election Commission, NGOs, political parties, churches and learning institutions to create enough awareness among the youth as to why they should vote.

It is only in Zimbabwe that we have an organisation like Zimbabwe Coalition of Unemployed Graduates formed by jobless but highly qualified youths. The coalition has since presented a petition to the Parliament of Zimbabwe highlighting their dissatisfaction with the state of the economy.

We also challenge Zimbabwe Coalition of Unemployed Graduates to mobilise its wide membership to register and vote.

Zanu PF government is struggling to deal with a worsening unemployment crisis as companies collapse, hence our call for youths to use the only weapon still in their possession the vote.

Local companies have resorted to retrenchment for business sustainability and survival while others have been forced to restructure and downsize as a direct response to low capacity utilisation and product demand.

Over time, the increase in retrenchments has seen unemployment figures rising.

For the few companies still operating, foreign currency to buy new equipment has been a challenge and as a result companies are forced to use obsolete machinery susceptible to frequent breakdowns.

As a government in waiting ZIPP has the advantage of a pool of known professional human resource base; graduates that are jobless - be they teachers, nurses, engineers that we shall absorb into employment through facilitating an environment conducive for creating the necessary jobs.

*Kasiyamhuru is President ZIPP.

See the article here:

Youths' vote can sway 2018 election - DailyNews

The problem of poverty in Nigeria is not abating. At best it is getting worse and at worst it has gone beyond our capacity to manage. And this has nothing to do with the laudable policy of microfinance and its very successful implementation. Nigeria is at critical cross roads of its socio-economic development. The continued organised misgovernance and manipulation of religion and politics by vested interests have ensured that we get into a bind that is hard to break. Today, the poor in many parts of the country are no longer afraid of poverty because something worse than poverty has arrived. They fear for their lives. As things stand, the nation is in such a bad shape that in or out of recession, it makes no difference to the lives of most of the ordinary people. In Nigeria hard facts are risky to share but the man dies..

There is incontrovertible evidence that most of the 36 states have practically become unable to meet the needs of their people. They exist only because it is politically profitable to some of our political class to continue to maintain this failed structure and leadership style. Not only are the majority of the states insolvent and unable to meet their financial obligations, they are flatly unable to provide safety and security to their people. And this is one of the parts of the Nigerian problem that everyone would like to avoid but the man dies

Worse still, the institutions endowed with the capacity to secure them have been privatized. The police and, sometimes, the army whose primary duty is to protect the people, have been parcelled out to politicians and the privileged few on guard duty and as orderlies for all manner of people. Few are left for the real calling. As a result, the streets have been occupied by dangerous gangs who make sure that, in some rural areas, farmers no longer farm and traders no longer come to markets. The economic activity of the poor, which is the basis of microfinancing has been victimised and brought to a standstill. In such areas, one begins to wonder how the effectiveness of our microfinance programme can be assessed, as social collapse and insecurity continue to rubbish microfinancing.

A recent Channels Television presentation on the power supply challenges faced by artisans in Nassarawa state was as elixir for this piece. Although it was a rehash of the tale of woes we get from all over the country on the failure of governments to solve the basic problem, which everyone knows is behind the mass poverty in Nigeriadebilitating epilepsy of power supply. In that story, a spray painter and many other artisans, who seek to legitimately earn a living, spend all they make to provide power through generators. This is the same story everywhere and instead of declaring a national emergency on electricity we are busy splitting hair on what an Acting President could sign and not sign.; and following the same spending pattern that brought us to this shameful state a battle of supremacy between the executive and the legislature, a bloated civil service of many ghost workers the source of whose entry to the service has never been found, translucent security votes and inflated contracts and more.

Following the Nassarawa story I decided to dig deeper on the economic activity of the poor in that area of Nigeria. The results are terrifying. As we sit in Abuja to postulate our shares of the 2017 budget, life has come to a standstill in many parts of the middle belt. At a point one wonders whether some of these states, including Nassarawa and Taraba, are not worse hit by Boko Haram than the North East. I dont know how many of us are aware that life in many parts of that area, especially outside their state capitals, is a nightmare. How many of us know that there are days reserved for armed robbers to rob the people in some places and that there are days when people in some villages literally dress up and wait to be robbed by armed robbers? The robbers come on certain market days as a matter of appointment, to rob the people in some villages outside Lafia in Nassarawa state. I was told that the robbers come on market days to rob those who sold cattle. It was alleged that the police is aware and feeling inadequate to confront the robbers, often close by 6pm and return to their bases, leaving the people to their own devices.

This further strengthens the argument that Nigeria as presently constituted cannot serve the needs of a modern state. The borders are wide open and trailer loads of strangers, most of whom do not speak any Nigerian language poured into Taraba when Sambisa Forest was attacked, according to the Governors Chief of Staff. The strange visitors entry was turned to a political discourse and nothing happened.

This story of the artisans in Nassarawa is not a unique. It is the story of every part of the country. The absence of electricity, among other tools of economic empowerment, has made it impossible for Nigerians to depend on themselves. They have been deprived of the opportunity to exercise their talents and therefore, poverty has become the destiny of many children yet unborn. Poverty reduces the quality of the human person. The poor often sound incoherent and appear somewhat unintelligent because they have little learning and no time to think outside the box of hunger and destitution. They are forced to focus on the immediate stomach infrastructure challenges to the exclusion of any futuristic engagement. Some governments around the world, including North Korea, have at one point or the other used mass emiseration to elicit loyalty from their people.

Microfinancing cannot succeed in an environment where people have suspended their will and enterprise and resorted to opportunism and dependence on prebendalism. The essence of microfinancing is to tackle poverty by empowering the poor who are economically active. This is what prompted the federal government to launch the National Microfinance Policy, which has gone a long way to tackle the endemic poverty across the country.

Today, microfinance banks, numbering about 1000 have been established and working all over the country. However, while considerable progress has been made in canalizing financial resources to the poor and boosting their economic activities, it does appear that much has not been achieved. As more microfinance institutions get into the fray, more people seem to get into the poverty net. There are more educated beggars today than in 2005. Many are beginning to think that the microfinance sector is failing in reducing poverty. This may be a wrong impression but it is justifiable based on facts outside the control of the microfinance sector.

It is hard to talk about microfinancing without talking about poverty, its raison deter. Nor can we discuss poverty in Nigeria without mentioning the rapidly shrinking ability of the state to protect the citizens. How does a microfinance institution deal with the poor in a state where people sleep in churches and mosques most nights? How do people survive in a state where hotel management evacuates guests because an attack was expected? This is what is going on in the villages of Nassarawa state and perhaps, other surrounding states. I hope Boko Haram has not left and changed tactics while we continue to bombardSambisa. Could it be that the robbers are not mere armed robbers? Could it be that Boko Haram has stopped holding territories but makes do with ensuring that the place is destabilised? As I said there are certain topics we do not like to discuss but microfinance fails wherever the state fails.

Emeka Osuji

Follow this link:

Microfinance and the challenge of failing states - BusinessDay (satire) (press release) (registration) (blog)

The South American country has been wracked bysporadic violence overthe pastcouple ofyears ever sincethe death offormer President Hugo Chavez, which emboldened the pro-Western opposition toseek the overthrow ofhis increasingly unpopular successor, Nicolas Maduro. Venezuelas incumbent leader has been blamed forthe systemic economic failings that have occurred duringhis tenure, though tobe fair, not everything thats unfolded is his fault. Chavez financed his populist agenda ofsocio-economic reform and generous state subsidies throughheavy government spending, which suddenly became unmanageable in2014 withthe beginning ofthe oil price slump and was further exacerbated bythe US economic warfare.

Nowadays, what had once been the most promising country inall ofLatin America is sadly the sick man ofthe hemisphere, withchronic shortages ofbasic goods reportedly commonplace inmany ofVenezuelas largest cities and crime skyrocketing beyondits already-high "ordinary levels. This dire state ofaffairs has only served toencourage more and more people tocome outinto the streets inopposition tothe government, including previous supporters ofthe countrys Chavismo brand ofsocialism. The opposition rode a wave ofanti-government discontent inDecember 2015 and now controls almost two-thirds ofthe parliament, though theyve still struggled toimplement their soft regime change agenda due tostrident resistance fromthe ruling party and its zealous supporters. The friction betweenthese two camps occasionally spills overinto street violence, the latest ofwhich was triggered bythe Supreme Court temporarily taking control ofsome legislative processes earlier this year.

Despite the judiciary backtracking onits controversial actions, the anti-government unrest has only grown inthe weeks since, and some ofthe protesters are now hurling bottles offeces atthe police and even shooting atthem withsniper rifles. What may have begun asa series ofunderstandable demonstrations againstworsening socio-economic conditions, brought aboutby systemic mismanagement and American interference has inarguably turned intoa Color Revolution which is horrifyingly transforming intoan Unconventional War ofurban terrorism that threatens toturn Caracas intoKiev and lead tothe total collapse ofChavismo.

For this segment Andrew is joined by George Conyne, Professor ofHistory atthe University ofKent and Nino Pagliccia, Venezuelan author of "Cuba Solidarity inCanada Five Decades ofPeople-to-People Foreign Relations" and a retired researcher fromthe University ofBritish Columbia.

We'd love toget your feedback atradio@sputniknews.com

Have you heard the news? Sign upto our Telegram channel and we'll keep you upto speed!

Continued here:

Venezuela: The Collapse of Chavismo? - Sputnik International

File: Eskom CEO Brian Molefe resigned on Friday. Photo: Gallo / Alon Skuy

Many writers have remarked on the qualities possessed by Brian Molefe, that he had gained experience in the Treasury and other institutions or organisations that would have fitted him for a range of high ranking jobs, nationally and internationally. He chose instead to put his skills at the service of the Guptas and in fact prostrate himself at their feet and that of Jacob Zuma and do whatever they required, much of this being of doubtful legality.

In saying that Molefe has various qualities this is not to accept all the evaluations of what Molefe achieved for there are questions around whether or not his time at ESKOM was a success, as documented in Carol Patons 2016 analysis.

What is important to recognise is that the readiness of Brian Molefe to play fast and loose with legality is not at all exceptional in these times, for there are very many people who have traded their integrity in exchange for financial gain or some or other position acquired through serving powerful individuals. In some ways more shocking, there are many who were once very brave who have exchanged their sense of personal pride and dignity in order to hold one or other position. They have been prepared to defend Jacob Zuma over a range of issues where he was clearly misusing his office and taxpayers funds some deploying great ingenuity to make a case, for what would later be found to be demonstrably false and in conflict with the constitution.

In the political context in which we presently exist speaking of integrity is not simply whether or not someone speaks the truth or can be trusted with funds, whether he or she will steal or falsify the books of a branch or region of an organisation in order to siphon off funds for private use. That is an element of what we identify as a lack of integrity. But what is specific to this period and by no means peculiar to South Africa is that the route to this dishonesty and acts that constitute a breach of trust happen within a context that embodies a patron-client relationship.

For patronage to emerge there must be individuals who hope to acquire the power (and need supporters) or do command the power to allocate positions or resources to others in exchange for their loyalty or support. That means that such potentially or already powerful individuals must be located or plan to be placed in a position to access resources. These may be resources of an organisation or Foundations or Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), the state, a State owned enterprise (SOE), a private company etc etc.

This is not a new phenomenon. It was also the case in exile when some individuals could secure better training or schooling or university opportunities than others, by virtue of their proximity to certain leaders. There were a range of other situations where some individuals or networks were placed in a way that enabled them to derive benefits that others did not receive or even do so at the expense of such individuals. The scale of these benefits was obviously of a much lower level than today though it was perhaps- a form of tutelage for what we now see.

It was also the case, inside the country during the 1980s when some individuals accessed funds locally or from overseas and through these funds were able to secure the loyalty of other individuals. These individuals were often encouraged to form organisations with a particular orientation and those who possessed funds were able to determine whether or not organisations rose or fell, whether they had funding for hiring venues or paying transportation or could supply the food needed for delegates at one or other meeting or to print T shirts and influenced various other factors that determined whether or not an organisation survived on a sustainable basis.

The Thabo Mbeki presidency was characterised by patronage, though it generally did not converge with criminality or illegality to anything like the extent that is found today. It played itself out in appointments as well as the way some people were in the know of what the president wanted and others were not, those within the circle of influence being better prepared for or being part of decisions that were made.

At the time of the dismissal of Zuma as Deputy State President in 2005, leading to an upsurge of support for Zuma (culminating in his election victory at the ANCs 2007 Polokwane conference), some individuals who had linked their future with Thabo Mbeki decided either to continue with that relationship and in most cases these people lost or resigned from positions of power. Alternatively, there were many who saw the writing on the wall for Mbeki and decided to throw their lot in with the rising Jacob Zuma. Many of these individuals had appeared to be very close to Mbeki but they recognised that they could no longer benefit from that relationship and chose their own more or less lucrative survival.

Some others, like the leadership of the SACP and COSATU also disagreed with features of the Mbeki period, notably the Growth Economic and Redistribution macroeconomic policy (GEAR), referred to as the 1996 class project and claimed to support the rise of Zuma on an ideological basis, as a way of remedying this conservative macroeconomic policy.

In contrast to Mbeki, SACP and COSATU leaders depicted Zuma as a person who was sympathetic to the poor and less secretive than they depicted Mbeki as being.

Many of these individuals knew very well that the basis on which they were advancing the candidacy of Zuma was false; that Zuma had withdrawn from the SACP in 1990, when -unlike in the period of exile- being in the leadership of the Communist Party was no longer prestigious or advantageous. There was no consistent pro-working class or people-centred orientation attaching to Zuma. In fact, until shortly before his dismissal by Mbeki their political and socio-economic orientations had been more or less similar. One of Zumas biographers Jeremy Gordin refers to Zuma and Mbeki being so close in their thinking that they were more or less joined at the hip; they operated as a team and had for a long time. (Zuma: a biography, 2008, p 56).

The SACP knew this better than most. What they did was use their then considerable ideological and moral powers to project Zuma as being what they knew he was not; so eager were they to get rid of Mbeki. This is what is known as fraudulent misrepresentation in the law of contract, that you sell a product on the basis of qualities that you know it does not possess.

It may also have been that some of the SACP and COSATU leaders understood the inauguration of a Zuma period as bringing benefits for themselves and indeed SACP and COSATU leaders have become ministers and deputy ministers in this period.

In visiting Zuma on us, these leaders endorsed or were complicit in Zumas hyper patriarchal and aggressive conduct in his rape trial and the militarism associated with his rule the singing of Umshini Wam, a song of war as his trademark song, endorsing his ethnic chauvinism (100% Zulu) and numerous other features that ran counter to the very basis for forming the ANC (that is, eschewing tribalism) and in the case of the SACP, gender policies that had become an important part of its identity under Chris Hani.

The SACP leadership now calls for the resignation of Zuma and says it was wrong in supporting him in 2007. But it is not clear that it has articulated all the reasons why it was wrong not simply that he has turned out to be corrupt. Unless there is full awareness of the violent, hyperpatriarchal and dishonest character of this period we do not learn all the lessons.

Rebuilding the ethical qualities of South African public life will take time. It is both an intellectual question, deciding what is and is not ethical and a psychological one, deciding whether or not one will act out what we understand to be correct. We have to recognise and choose whether or not to act ethically. Let us hope that likeminded people can drive a process whereby ethical conduct is revived as a desirable and necessary basis for conducting our social and political life. It may be that if the proposed national dialogues take off and involve people from all sections of our society, in a meaningful way, that they can play a role.

This column first appeared in Creamer Media's polity.org.za.

Raymond Suttner is a scholar and political analyst. Currently he is a Part-time Professor attached to Rhodes University and an Emeritus Professor at UNISA. He served lengthy periods in prison and house arrest for underground and public anti-apartheid activities. His prison memoir Inside Apartheids prison will be reissued with a new introduction covering his more recent life outside the ANC and will be published by Jacana Media late in May. He blogs at raymondsuttner.com and his twitter handle is @raymondsuttner.

15 May 2017

Eskom CEO Brian Molefe received a warm welcome from the staff on his first day of duty on Monday.

15 May 2017

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown has been summoned to Luthuli House to explain Brian Molefe's return to Eskom.

14 May 2017

The governing party says the return of the Eskom CEO is reckless and makes a joke of the ANC.

See the original post:

Collapse of ethics in public life: how do we rebuild? - eNCA (satire)

Many writers have remarked on the qualities possessed by Brian Molefe, that he had gained experience in the Treasury and other institutions or organisations that would have fitted him for a range of high-ranking jobs, nationally and internationally. He chose instead to put his skills at the service of the Guptas and in fact prostrated himself at their feet and that of Jacob Zuma and to do whatever they required, much of this being of doubtful legality.

In saying that Molefe has various qualities, this is not to accept all the evaluations of what Molefe achieved for there are questions around whether or not his time at Eskom was a success, as documented in Carol Patons 2016 analysis.

What is important to recognise is that the readiness of Brian Molefe to play fast and loose with legality is not at all exceptional in these times, for there are very many people who have traded their integrity in exchange for financial gain or some or other position acquired through serving powerful individuals. In some ways more shocking, there are many who were once very brave who have exchanged their sense of personal pride and dignity in order to hold one or other position. They have been prepared to defend Jacob Zuma over a range of issues where he was clearly misusing his office and taxpayers funds some deploying great ingenuity to make a case for what would later be found to be demonstrably false and in conflict with the Constitution.

In the political context in which we presently exist, speaking of integrity is not simply whether or not someone speaks the truth or can be trusted with funds, whether he or she will steal or falsify the books of a branch or region of an organisation in order to siphon off funds for private use. That is an element of what we identify as a lack of integrity. But what is specific to this period and by no means peculiar to South Africa is that the route to this dishonesty and acts that constitute a breach of trust happen within a context that embodies a patron-client relationship.

For patronage to emerge there must be individuals who hope to acquire the power (and need supporters) or do command the power to allocate positions or resources to others in exchange for their loyalty or support. That means that such potentially or already powerful individuals must be located or plan to be placed in a position to access resources. These may be resources of an organisation or foundations or non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the state, a State-owned Enterprise (SOE), a private company etc etc.

This is not a new phenomenon. It was also the case in exile when some individuals could secure better training or schooling or university opportunities than others, by virtue of their proximity to certain leaders. There were a range of other situations where some individuals or networks were placed in a way that enabled them to derive benefits that others did not receive or even do so at the expense of such individuals. The scale of these benefits was obviously of a much lower level than today, though it was perhaps a form of tutelage for what we now see.

It was also the case, inside the country during the 1980s when some individuals accessed funds locally or from overseas and through these funds were able to secure the loyalty of other individuals. These individuals were often encouraged to form organisations with a particular orientation and those who possessed funds were able to determine whether or not organisations rose or fell, whether they had funding for hiring venues or paying transportation or could supply the food needed for delegates at one or other meeting or to print T-shirts and influenced various other factors that determined whether or not an organisation survived on a sustainable basis.

The Thabo Mbeki presidency was characterised by patronage, though it generally did not converge with criminality or illegality to anything like the extent that is found today. It played itself out in appointments as well as the way some people were in the know of what the president wanted and others were not, those within the circle of influence being better prepared for or being part of decisions that were made.

At the time of the dismissal of Zuma as Deputy President in 2005, leading to an upsurge of support for Zuma (culminating in his election victory at the ANCs 2007 Polokwane conference), some individuals who had linked their future with Thabo Mbeki decided either to continue with that relationship and in most cases these people lost or resigned from positions of power. Alternatively, there were many who saw the writing on the wall for Mbeki and decided to throw their lot in with the rising Jacob Zuma. Many of these individuals had appeared to be very close to Mbeki but they recognised that they could no longer benefit from that relationship and chose their own more or less lucrative survival.

Some others, like the leadership of the SACP and Cosatu, also disagreed with features of the Mbeki period, notably the Growth Economic and Redistribution macroeconomic policy (GEAR), referred to as the 1996 class project and claimed to support the rise of Zuma on an ideological basis, as a way of remedying this conservative macroeconomic policy.

In contrast to Mbeki, SACP and Cosatu leaders depicted Zuma as a person who was sympathetic to the poor and less secretive than they depicted Mbeki as being.

Many of these individuals knew very well that the basis on which they were advancing the candidacy of Zuma was false; that Zuma had withdrawn from the SACP in 1990, when unlike in the period of exile being in the leadership of the Communist Party was no longer prestigious or advantageous. There was no consistent pro-working class or people-centred orientation attaching to Zuma. In fact, until shortly before his dismissal by Mbeki their political and socio-economic orientations had been more or less similar. One of Zumas biographers, Jeremy Gordin, refers to Zuma and Mbeki being so close in their thinking that they were more or less joined at the hip; they operated as a team and had for a long time. (Zuma: a biography, 2008, p 56).

The SACP knew this better than most. What they did was use their then considerable ideological and moral powers to project Zuma as being what they knew he was not; so eager were they to get rid of Mbeki. This is what is known as fraudulent misrepresentation in the law of contract, that you sell a product on the basis of qualities that you know it does not possess.

It may also have been that some of the SACP and Cosatu leaders understood the inauguration of a Zuma period as bringing benefits for themselves and indeed SACP and Cosatu leaders have become ministers and deputy ministers in this period.

In visiting Zuma on us, these leaders endorsed or were complicit in Zumas hyperpatriarchal and aggressive conduct in his rape trial and the militarism associated with his rule the singing of Umshini Wam, a song of war, as his trademark song, endorsing his ethnic chauvinism (100% Zulu) and numerous other features that ran counter to the very basis for forming the ANC (that is, eschewing tribalism) and in the case of the SACP, gender policies that had become an important part of its identity under Chris Hani.

The SACP leadership now calls for the resignation of Zuma and says it was wrong in supporting him in 2007. But it is not clear that it has articulated all the reasons why it was wrong not simply that he has turned out to be corrupt. Unless there is full awareness of the violent, hyperpatriarchal and dishonest character of this period we do not learn all the lessons.

Rebuilding the ethical qualities of South African public life will take time. It is both an intellectual question deciding what is and is not ethical and a psychological one, deciding whether or not one will act out what we understand to be correct. We have to recognise and choose whether or not to act ethically. Let us hope that like-minded people can drive a process whereby ethical conduct is revived as a desirable and necessary basis for conducting our social and political life. It may be that if the proposed national dialogues take off and involve people from all sections of our society, in a meaningful way, that they can play a role. DM

Photo of Raymond Suttner by Ivor Markman

Raymond Suttner is a scholar and political analyst. Currently he is a part-time Professor attached to Rhodes University and an Emeritus Professor at Unisa. He served lengthy periods in prison and house arrest for underground and public anti-apartheid activities. His prison memoir Inside Apartheids prison will be reissued with a new introduction covering his more recent life outside the ANC and will be published by Jacana Media late in May. He blogs at raymondsuttner.com and his twitter handle is @raymondsuttner

More:

Op-Ed: Collapse of ethics in public life how do we rebuild? - Daily Maverick

A chara, Under the proposed income-contingent student loan scheme, graduates would take on a debt roughly equal to the size of a 10 per cent deposit on the national average price of a house in Ireland. Graduates would spend years paying off this student-loan debt, instead of saving for their first home. In this brave new world, the only people who would be able to afford to buy their own home would be those who are fortunate enough to be able to rely on the Bank of Mum and Dad yet another socially regressive aspect of the proposed new scheme. Yours, etc,

LENNON NRAIGH

Bray,

Co Wicklow.

A chara, Your editorial Third-level funding: dodging difficult decisions (May 9th) argues that the argument that such a [student loans] system would deter students from poorer backgrounds attending third level does not stand up.

On the contrary, there is plenty of evidence to support that argument. Research into the area of student debt, and debt aversion more generally, has found that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are much more likely to be excluded from education if required to take out loans to do so. Evidence of these debt burden effects is evident in the research of Prof Claire Callender (2006), Callender (again) and Dr Jonathan Jackson (2008), and debt policy expert Mark Huelsmans report The Debt Divide (2015).

Irelands higher education sector desperately needs to address the issue of diminishing resources and ballooning student numbers, but we should reject any approach that excludes students from poorer and minority backgrounds. That includes the proposed student loan scheme. Is mise,

LUKE FIELD,

School of Politics

and International Relations,

University College Dublin,

Belfield,

Dublin 4.

Sir, The debate on the merits or otherwise of income-contingent student loans sidesteps the larger question of where the responsibility for funding the education system actually lies.

Requiring students to pay individually for their tuition disregards the fact that education is a socio-economic investment in the future, from which all of society ultimately benefits.

After the economic collapse of 2008, we managed to find 60 billion at fairly short notice to rescue the banks. Any kind of loan system merely turns students into cannon fodder for these same loan sharks, speculators and financial gamblers.

Since 2008, the world has collectively contributed about $17 trillion to save the global banking system. This is enough money to completely eradicate world hunger for 600 years.

When money is needed, it can be found. How much more equitable and functional our society would be, if we could treat relatively low-cost services like education, healthcare, housing and transport with the same kind of urgency. Yours, etc,

MAEVE HALPIN,

Ranelagh,

Dublin 6.

See the article here:

Third-level education and loans system - Irish Times

GOVERNMENT has virtually admitted that the countrys economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZimAsset), has all but failed and is now dead in the water. This has prompted the introduction of stop-gap economic programmes to salvage a semblance of success from the discredited blueprint ahead of next years crucial general elections.

By Elias Mambo/Tatenda Chitagu

This comes at a time conflict is brewing in cabinet over ZimAsset and the command economy programme which some government officials are touting in the wake of what they claim to be a success story command agriculture. ZimAsset is anchored on free market economy enterprise whereas the command economy is a socialist relic in which the state as the main driver of production and distribution.

Some ministers say if the command economy is to be implemented full swing, it will undermine and displace ZimAsset without cabinet approval.

ZimAsset, which was derived from the Zanu PF 2013 elections manifesto, is mainly associated with the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) and minsters such as Jonathan Moyo, who is a known critic of Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Mnangagwa is the driving force behind the command economy programme, bringing a factional dimension to the conflict, although policy differences are also a major source of the problem.

However, there is consensus in government that the targets set under ZimAsset are now out of reach given the dismal performance of the economy since Zanu PF controversially won the 2013 elections.

The ambitious programme, which is supposed to guide the governments economic development thrust until December 2018, requires funding of US$27 billion and, among other deliverables, aims to create 2,2 million jobs by 2018.

Under the programme, government projected 7,7% average annual GDP growth between 2013 and 2018, with peak growth targets of as much as 9,9% in 2018.

However, limited funding capacity, policy inconsistencies, an underperforming public sector and poor corporate governance, among other reasons, have hampered the programme, forcing the government to come up with crash economic programmes. In an interview this week on the sidelines of a United Nations media workshop on development reporting in Nyanga, the director of implementation, monitoring and evaluation in the OPC, Anderson Chiraya, said government had reviewed downwards all the priorities of the ZimAsset clusters due to a lack of funding.

Having evaluated that most of the things require funding and that we are only left with a year to 2018, government reviewed all the priorities downwards, Chiraya said. The blueprint has been reviewed for 2017 to 2018 and priorities have been scaled down so that we can achieve what we can manage between now and 2018.

Government has had serious fiscal challenges and the bulk of the money to implement ZimAsset was supposed to come from development partners and this did not take place.

Chiraya also said challenges which constrained ZimAsset implementation include, among many others, included depressed economic performance and the liquidity crunch, lack of initiatives that could lower the wage bill and lack of effective policies for plugging revenue leakages and promoting accountability as persistently highlighted by the auditor-general.

The results-based economic turnaround agenda, which was centred on the Zanu PF election manifesto, is built around four strategic clusters that were meant to enable Zimbabwe to achieve economic growth and reposition the country as one of the strongest economies in the region and Africa.

The four strategic clusters are: food security and nutrition, social services and poverty eradication, infrastructure and utilities, and value addition and beneficiation.

The climbdown comes at a time most Zimbabweans are reeling under the worsening economic meltdown characterised by a severe cash crisis and uncertainty over the bond notes which evoke sad memories of the traumatic Zimbabwe dollar era.

In its largely unrealistic 2013 election manifesto, Zanu PF promised to create 2,2 million jobs, but instead the country was hit by massive company closures and retrenchments. In addition, Zanu PF pledged to unlock economic value of US$1,8 trillion while pledging that the economy would grow by an average 6,6%, but this has proved to be pie in the sky.

The current economic meltdown is reflected by the high unemployment rate, which stands at a staggering 95%, according to the International Labour Organisation.

So far this year, at least 236 companies have shut shop, resulting in the loss of hundreds of jobs, according to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. ZimInd

Read more:

Cabinet battle looms as Robert Mugabe regime faces collapse ... - The Zimbabwe Mail

AppsforPCdaily

Macron presides over quickening collapse of French politics AppsforPCdaily Marion holds more hardline positions on socio-economic issues than Marine which were silenced in the lead-up to the presidential election. "This will create a huge disappointment...." Political expert Joel Gombin said of her decision: "This raises a ... and more »

Read more:

Macron presides over quickening collapse of French politics - AppsforPCdaily

Highlights

Prices of food and fuel commodities continued to decline slightly in April 2017 due to slightly improved availability, but remained to be much higher than the pre-crisis levels.

The cost of the minimum food basket marginally dropped in April compared to March 2017, but 24% higher than in precrisis period.

Availability of food and fuel commodities generally remained unchanged or slightly improved in April 2017 due to better imports through the sea ports and continued informal cross border overland in-flows.

According to Alert for Price Spikes (ALPS) methodology, in April 2017, the situation for wheat flour improved from stress to alert status, while vegetable oil remained on alert status, and sugar persisted to be at crisis level. However, the ALPS indicator for red beans deteriorated from alert to stress situation. The ALPS indicator for the cost of the minimum food basket remained at alert status.

Macroeconomic Situation

The prolonged conflict in Yemen has had devastating consequences on the entire socio-economic situation of the country and leading to the collapse of basic public services including the health system. As the conflict continues and the suffering of millions of Yemenis persists, over two thirds of the population are in urgent need of some kind of humanitarian or protection support.

A High level Pledging Conference for Yemen held in Geneva on 25 April raised about $1.1 billion. While the conference has been hailed as a success in that it placed Yemen at the center of attention for the international community, the total amount of the pledges made during the conference only represent half of the requirement of the 2017 YHRP and include monies already received against the YHRP. The conference stressed the need to avert further disaster in Yemen by making the pledges effective immediately given the risk of famine faced by almost seven million Yemenis.

Given the fact that most of the health facilities are not fully functioning and coupled with the severe lack of essential medicines, the current reported wide spread outbreak of cholera in the country is feared to further complicate the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Lack of foreign currencies and worsening depreciation of Yemen Riyal (YER) against US Dollar (USD) is also aggravating the situation. Although the official exchange rate remained at YER250/USD, the rates in parallel markets in April 2017 reached to as high as 360YER/USD in many places of the country including the capital.

Go here to read the rest:

Yemen Market Watch Report, Issue No. 12, April 2017 - ReliefWeb

Stealth U.S. Dollar Collapse Possible as King Dollars Influence Wanes

The U.S. dollar collapse has been on many peoples radar for, well, forever. Its remarkable resilience is a testament to the strong relative fundamentals the American political and socio-economic system enjoys versus the rest of the world. Thats why King Dollar is still the worlds reserve currency today. But what if this narrative is changing? What if degrading fundamentalsincluding competition from upstart currenciesthreaten to tip the balancetowards persistent dollar selling?Will the U.S. dollar collapse? It can, if the snowball turns into an avalanche.

Most people are familiar with Americasnew-normal slow growth paradigm. What many dont knowand still cling tois that the great economic machine known as America isnt coming back. Not in the way we remember it, at least. Its essentially a numbers game now, and problems like huge debt levels and workplace automation are only going to increase. Without the return of economic growth, the dollar is destined for continued debasement through the printing press.The only other option is a U.S.dollar devaluation by way of default, or high inflation. Both will kill the dollar through different means.

Adding further pressure to the deficit, President Donald Trump has signaled a very dovish tone towards deficit spending. In Trumps Budget Blueprint released on March 15, 2017, he advocates $1.0 trillion in infrastructure spending and does not include reformsfor the real elephants in the room: Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. (Source: America First, The White House, March 15, 2017.)

Given that Trump has already pledged that Social Security wont be touched and favors increases in things like veterans care, federal government spending is only going up, not down. Theres no inclination that controlling entitlement spending is on anyones radar; certainly not from the administration still looking for their first win in Congress. Theres even an ambitious attempt to raise Defense spending by $54.0 billion per year, which is already 10-times higher than the annual budget of Americas next nearest rival. Under these conditions, the federal deficits will only balloon faster than the 150% debt-to-GDP ratio projected by the Congressional Budget Office by 2050.

This shouldnt come as a shock to anyone paying attention. After all, they didnt call Trump the Debt King for nothing. Over-indebtednessalmost sunk the Trump empire on a couple of occasions; and actually did in the case of individual assets like Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts in 2004. Should his policies of much lower corporate tax rates (35% down to 15%) combined with increased federal outlay spending come to fruition, its practicallyimpossible for tax receipts to bridge the gap.

That is, unless you believe annual economic growth can sustainat four percentindefinitely, which it cannot. The averagebusiness expansion growth rate has been contracting since the mid 1970s. Not coincidentally, this occurred during Americas industrial manufacturing peak. GDP growth cycles that used to peak ateight percent, then six percent, then four percent,are now barely able to crack two percentgrowth in a good quarter. Americas workforce is aging and losing productivity, and now something even more ominous is lurking in the background.

Automation is about to enter stage right,and its threatening to engulf the workplace. Between 1990 and 2017, industrial robots unleashed in the workplace (around 670,000 in total) eliminated 6.2 jobs for every 1 job they created. But the real kicker: wages declined between 0.25% and0.50% for every 1000 robots that entered a company workforce.(Source: Six jobs are eliminated for every robot introduced into the workforce, a new study says, Recode, March 28, 2017.)

Now, imagine the wage deflation assured to take placewhen dozens of large multi-national companies start laying off workers. Some of these companies employ 250,000 people or more worldwide. If only 10% of these workers getreplaced by automation over the next few years, wages could fall 2.5%-5.0% or more for the remaining in-house workers. How is this not monumentally deflationary in nature? Deflation is kryptonite to high deficits.

Evenworse, there are indications that job losses will be much higher than 10%. A recent study predicted that 38% of jobs will be automated by the early 2030s. This includes high-paying financial service positions, which carry a 61% riskrate. All told, fourout of 10 U.S. jobscould be eliminated, which will add pressureto the 30-year lowlabor participation rate currently plaguing the economy. (Source: Watch out America, robots are coming for your jobs: Report finds 38% of US jobs will be automated by 2030,Mail Online, March 2, 2017.)

Again, why am I talking so much about automation in a U.S. dollar collapse article? Because without real organic economic growth, brought about by higher wages and tax receipts, deficit spending can only ramp higher. This will only lead to higher debt servicing costs asinterest rates gradually normalize and the debt servicing principal steadily increases.

Thus, from a supply-side perspective, the die has already been cast. Theupcoming dollar collapse is a mathematical certainty; all thats remaining is a demand-side catalyst.We believe one might have arrived.

The U.S.dollar collapse scenario hasnt happened yet, but more signs keep pointing inthat direction. The scenario will truly occur when all the collapse pieces are in place, which hasnt happened yet. One important piece will be shifting worldwide interest and necessity away from the dollar. Some rival currenciesmost notably of the digital varietyare starting to pose a serious challenge.

Bitcoins rise to preeminence has been astonishing. Its currently trading at all-time highs of $1,460 (as of this writing), having risen 1400-fold in just five years. Thats what real growth looks like.

Major industrialized nations like Japan and Russia are just starting to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender. Such a move would signal a huge step towards eventually recognizing them as legitimate Central Bank assets. Also, because cryptocurrencies are not centrally managed, Americas rivals would have a huge incentive to accumulate cryptocurrencies as reserves instead of recycling U.S. dollars. From a foreign perspective, breakingup the dollars reserve currency status would serve to knock out Americas ability to finance its war machine; something Russia and China both crave.

In fact, it seems Russia and China are not waiting around for blockchains rise to take matters into their own hands. The Russian CentralBank opened a Beijing-based bank in March 2017, signaling its intent to forge alliances with China, with the ultimate intent of establishing a gold-backed system of bilateral trade. This would bypass the need to use the U.S. dollar altogether, as an Eastern gold standard gradually forms. Once the G20 industrialized nations stop requiring U.S. in trade, one of the main drivers of demand dries up. (Source: Moscow and Beijing join forces to bypass US dollar in world money market, South China Morning Post, March 18, 2017.)

Various other nations are working bilaterally as well to circumvent the dollars dominance in foreign trade. Iran, Argentina, and Libya during theMuammar Gaddafi years (some believe his desire to bypass the dollar by trading with gold ultimately led to his demise). This trend is unstoppable as more nations attempt to break free from the dollar shackles. On the road to ruin, the U.S.dollar collapse timeline requires the underpinnings of support be severed. Critical mass will be achieve when enough countries choose to ditch the dollar and trade with another currency.

Aside from all of these negative events, perhaps the U.S. dollars time has simply come. Nothing lasts forever. The world changes, and the balance of power ebbs and flows through the decades. America is no longer the economic superpower it once was. Its a graying, uber-mature, hollowed-out economy with financial debt and social security obligation it can never pay back. The weakening dynamicsplaying out in America areno different than those of the Roman Empire, who gradually diluted the amount of minted silver in their coins to five percent of their original value. Why? Topay for such things as defense against the barbarians and pork projects for their over indulged monarchy. Surely, this sounds familiar.

As a testament to the nothing lasts forever meme,numerous different countries have both held and relinquished the world reserve currency mantle over the centuries. The average period of reserve currency dominance is around 90 years (since 1450), and the U.S. is right up against this timeline now. We simply may be approaching the time where the U.S. economy istoo mature and its indebtedness too great for the worlds currency power structure to shift somewhere else.

When will the dollar collapse?U.S. dollar collapse predictions are notoriously tough to pin down. My best guess is that it will be a gradual process, rather than an event. Its the fraying at the edges which will gradually eat away at dollar supremacy. The catalyst to really kick-start a crisis might be a credit downgrade or an unforeseen catastrophe. But if history is any guide, the dollars reserve currency status is lying on quicksand, and once it sinks,the dollars value will careen lower. Again, think gradual timelines, picking up pace as the crisis wears on.

Its the inevitable result when a mature economy gets complacent, coupled with huge liabilities it can no longer avoid. The die has been cast.

Read more:

Ominous Signs of the Coming U.S. Dollar Collapse Abound - Lombardi Letter