News 24

April 30 2015

Harare – Zimbabwe and Zambia are “Siamese twins” and their citizens have always worked together well, Zambian President Edgar Lungu said.

Speaking as he officially opened the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) in Bulawayo, Lungu said: “Zimbabwe occupies a special space in my heart of hearts and it was the first country I visited after assuming office in January this year.”

“I will not mention the nocturnal visits I was making before I was elected,” Lungu, 58, joked.

The Zambian president last held talks with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in February just after he won presidential elections to replace Michael Sata who died last year.

Earlier this week. Lungu said that he was “learning a lot” from host Mugabe after he paid him a visit at State House in Harare.

Mugabe, 91, was at the fair for the opening ceremony, a day after he officiated at a SADC summit on industrialisation in Harare which Lungu also attended.

Mugabe’s wife Grace’s Alpha and Omega Dairy in Mazowe won the prize for best Zimbabwean exhibit in the food category, state ZBC television showed.

Former education minister David Coltart tweeted about the fair: “So the flypast at ZITF 2015 was done by 4 rather ancient helicopters…. #whathashappenedtoallourjets?”

Radio VOP

April 29 2015

Zimbabwe’s information minister said on Tuesday that President Jacob Zuma’s comments on xenophobia during a Freedom Day speech could be interpreted as “an unfortunate justification” of the recent attacks that left at least seven dead.

Jonathan Moyo said in tweets that it was “sad” that Zuma made no outright condemnation of the violence. He accused the South African leader of “Afrophobia”.
“If SA wants an argument on how its economy was built & by whom it will get it!” wrote the minister, who is one of only a handful of top officials in President Robert Mugabe’s government who is active on social media.

Zimbabwe has repatriated around 900 of its citizens from Durban in the wake of the attacks, which have left many Zimbabweans back home feeling angry and betrayed. Returnees have spoken of sleeping out in the bush to escape mobs intent on attacking non-South Africans and of seeing neighbours – and in at least one case a relative – butchered.

One Zimbabwean man told the private Newsday on Monday that he hid in a fridge in Verulam, north of Durban, two weeks ago as a mob ransacked his home and stole his savings.

Zuma is expected to address the xenophobia issue at Wednesday’s extraordinary SADC summit in Harare, even though the violence is not officially on the agenda of the meeting.

Moyo took issue with Zuma’s call on Monday for improvements in trade and regional integration so that “brothers and sisters will eventually no longer need to leave their countries in search of a better life”.

The Zimbabwean minister tweeted: “It comes across as an unfortunate justification of the gruesome xenophobic attacks even if unintentionally so!”

Critics of Mugabe say his controversial policies led to a surge in often-illegal migration to South Africa after 2000.

Former education minister David Coltart says that 20 000 teachers left Zimbabwe between 2007-2008 alone, when hyperinflation and food shortages were at their peak. But others point out that Zimbabweans have been travelling to South Africa in search of work for decades, going as far back as the 1920s.

Popular media entrepreneur Nigel Mugamu asked Moyo in a tweet on Tuesday if he was worried his comments “could create a diplomatic storm”.

But Moyo replied: “Freedom Day speech is public & some of us represent constituencies that have been profoundly affected by xenophobic attacks in SA.”

The Harare Times

April 29 2015

MDC-T senior official Job Sikhala says he has been asked by numerous members of his party to approach former MDC senior member David Coltart asking him to come and work with the MDC-T considering his selflessness and resilience to fight for democracy.

He described Coltart as a selfless leader who must be respected for what he is.

“I have been asked by quite a number of our cadres of our party why we are not persuading David Coltart to come back and work with others for the common good of our country,” Sikhala posted. “Some of those who are keen to work with David Coltart know Coltart’s solid history for fighting for a free and democratic Zimbabwe. They know David as a young lawyer fighting and defending Joshua Nkomo when his party was under a genocidal attack from Mugabe’s regime.”

Sikhala posted that Coltart was the first with the Legal Resource Foundation together with Mike Auret and the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace to unravel the Matabeleland genocide through a thorough research that produced Breaking the Silence, an episode of a genocide that was committed in Matabeleland.

” People know that David is a selfless leader who loves Zimbabwe so much,” he said. “He was one of the best Ministers in the inclusive government. He rejected the aura and love for the luxuries of a Mercedes Benz during his tenure as a Minister in our country. He is a man of sober temperament. Zimbabweans love him. He is a straight forward character.”

Sikhala said “when you colleagues inquire from me why we are failing to persuade him to work together with him.

“My answer is simple. He knows we love him. He knows it is an honour to work with him. He knows his responsibility that Zimbabweans needs us together now than any other time. He is no fool. He knows what the people wants!!!!!” he said.

Source: Byo24News

The Southern Times

April 28 2015

Harare- FOR 18 rounds on Thursday at the Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, Zimbabwe’s latest golf prodigy had the honour of overshadowing 2015 Masters champion, Jordan Spieth, even though he was playing in his first tournament on the US PGA Tour.

And, those who watched Spieth destroy the field of the world’s best golfers at Augusta National, on his way to winning his first Major golf title, will tell you that is a very special thing, and Scott Vincent will cherish that for a very long time.

If ever there were doubts that Vincent is the next big thing in golf, not only in Zimbabwe but on the entire African continent, then his superb performance in his first battle against the seasoned professionals at the RBC Heritage Classic, will provide all the answers.

And, on day one last Thursday, he even did well enough to push Spieth, the world number two ranked golfer, into the shade.

Vincent fired a one-under par 70 in the first round and ended four strokes better than Spieth who started his campaign at Hilton Head Island with a three-over par 74 before the American showed his class, in the second round, to shoot a 62.

That Vincent even made the cut, after following up his 70 with another identical 70 on Friday, was in itself a huge success for the young Zimbabwean golfer.

In the end he finished tied 64th after a level par 71 on Saturday and a two over-par 73 on Sunday but the mere fact that he played only one round, over par, in his first dance with the best players in the world, was a phenomenal achievement.

On a great week for Vincent, he even enjoyed the company of United States golfer, Kevin Streelman, who won the Masters Par 3 contest at Augusta before finishing tied 12th in the first Major of the year, for a nine-hole practice round at Hilton Head Island.

And it was not just about practice but Vincent got some vital lessons, from the established professional, of how to survive in the tough world of the PGA Tour.

“That’s what everyone’s been telling me,” Vincent said. “Don’t set expectations too high and just soak every bit of what there is to soak in on the PGA Tour.”

Vincent shot to international prominence when he overhauled a six-shot lead last year to win the Players Amateur, rallying from behind to shoot a final-round 68, with his 11-under-par 277 enough to win him the tournament by a shot.

By his admission, since those heady days when he bathed in the international spotlight, he has struggled to keep his game at the level that he wants.

“I felt like if I wasn’t winning, I wasn’t playing well,” Vincent said.

“And just putting a lot of pressure on myself instead of just going out and playing how I played at the Players. I was out there just swinging away, playing it hole by hole and not getting too far ahead of myself.”

Vincent started his first round with a bogey four on the first hole, birdied the second, a par five, bogeyed the third, a par four, and then birdied the fourth, a par three.

He shot a level par on holes five, six, seven, eight and nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen and sixteen, before a birdie on the 17th and a par on the 18th, brought a close to a memorable first day hunting with the big boys.

“Congratulations to Scott Vincent on an absolutely superb opening round in his first PGA tournament the RBC Heritage,” former Zimbabwe Sports Minister, David Coltart, wrote on his Facebook page.

“Scott had a first round 70, 1 under par lying level with his compatriot Brendon de Jonge in 22nd place in the 124 man field.

“To put this in context Jordan Spieth, last week’s Masters Champion is lying in 93rd place, with a 3 over par 74. Wonderful to have two excellent golfers flying the Zimbabwean flag so high.

Scott is such an exciting prospect for Zimbabwe. A young man with a very intelligent approach to the game.

“I have no doubt that he is going to be one of our best golfers ever, and another great ambassador for Zimbabwe.”

Vincent got his second round underway with a par on the first hole before he eagled the second, a par five, and then followed it up with another par on the third while a bogey, birdie, bogey closed his first nine.

Zimbabwe is a country that has produced a number of fine golfers, none better than Nick Price, who won three Major titles in the ‘90s and was once ranked the number one golfer in the world before being inducted in the Golf Hall of Fame.

Vincent might just be the latest in that long line of superb Zimbabwean golfers who have taken on the world and his caddie at Hilton Head Island was another young golfer, whom many believe will explode in the few years to come, Brett Krog.

The good thing about Vincent is that he is not getting carried away, by how he played in South Carolina, which shows that he has the right character needed to succeed in this game.

“I’m just here to learn,” he said.

“Hopefully, I’ll be back in a few years’ time.”

IOL News

By Peta Thornycroft

“We can’t go home. There is nothing at home,” says Tendai, 27, who prefers to be known as David in South Africa.

His is the same lament of many Zimbabweans living in South Africa – less than 1 000 took up the government’s offer of a free trip home this week after anti “foreigner” violence erupted.

“I was worried when I heard about what happened in Durban,” who works for a Mozambican tree feller.

“But there was no problem here, where I am.”

He now squats in Tembisa, east of Joburg, with a group of his countrymen.

This is a “comfortable” arrangement as they all speak Shona and help each other. “My brother is here. He came before me but he is struggling for work.

“My sister is in Harare, and she is looking for work with her husband. They are both thinking of coming to Joburg this year. I didn’t want to leave my mother as she is now alone. But I had to go.

“I will try to go home at Christmas. But I am okay here.” He sends home money every three months via runners from Park Station.

David Coltart, one of Zimbabwe’s most prominent human rights activists was “appalled” at the outbreak of xenophobic violence in South Africa.

But he said the Zimbabwean government’s criticism of South Africa last week was “breathtaking hypocrisy”.

He remembered, as a young lawyer, his first clients in 1983 were members of then opposition Zapu party lead by Joshua Nkomo, who were being detained.

“Thousands” were killed by a new brigade loyal to then prime minister Robert Mugabe, and many fled to South Africa.

He said most Zimbabweans had… “been accommodated, indeed welcomed, by both the government and people”.

Independent Foreign Service

Financial Gazette

23 Apr 2015

PATRICK Chinamasa, the Finance Minister, is in an ultimate catch 22 as he struggles to squeeze money out of nothing with apparently no ample legroom to manoeuvre to deliver for the broke country as the nation’s chief budget master.

This comes at a time when some civil servants are calling for his ouster.

With his options having boiled down to either not paying bonuses or retrenching civil servants, Chinamasa’s climb down on suspending bonuses for two years, might see him with no choice but to drastically do the latter.

The Finance Minister’s lofty task to pull resources out of a magical hat came to a head last week when President Robert Mugabe vetoed what he had deemed as an option to create fiscal space by announcing that there would be no bonuses for civil servants for 2015 and 2016.

As if eating humble pie when he had to apologise for making the no bonus decision is not enough, Chinamasa also faces the wrath of some teachers who are agitating for his ouster following what they are calling failure to increase the national pie.

Some economists are also on his back accusing him of not being sensitive to sectors that drive growth in the economy.

That his options are next to nil, in a country that has been in free fall long before he became the country’s exchequer in 2013, is not enough to halt the odds against him.

“Chinamasa must resign,” said president of the Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, Obert Masaraure. “He has failed to increase the pie but instead he is just focusing on the little bit of money that is there. He must do more. It is obvious that he is overwhelmed with handling the nation’s purse strings.” Masaraure also told the Financial Gazette that his union was currently in the process of mobilising other teachers’ unions in order to roll out some actions to express their disquiet with their financial woes. Notwithstanding that the President has overturned Chinamasa’s announcement to not pay bonuses till 2017, Masaraure said his union was taking that with a pinch of salt and so would continue with their plans to express their frustration over the country’s inability to provide for them reliably. “We are not taking the President’s words. Until we see a Cabinet circular on us getting our bonuses we are not taking that.“So we will continue with our plans to do a peaceful march and other actions. Chinamasa has failed to harness the potential of diamonds’ proceeds and also there are industries which could open which Chinamasa is not taking advantage of to expand the national pie,” Masaraure said.

While other teachers’ unions could not be reached to get their comments on the same, economist John Robertson also expressed disappointment in what he called Chinamasa’s lack of support to key sectors.
“The Minister should be much more supportive to activities that make money for the country. We need business activity — the country is not making money at all,” Robertson said, adding, “He (Chinamasa) has to fix the problem and encourage investment.”

Political analyst, Nhamo Mhiripiri, weighed in on the matter saying, “Something definitely has to be done to cut down on the expenditure.”

Local pressures are not the only ones he has to fend off. The Bretton Woods lending institutions expect him to cut the country’s wage bill as a sign of commitment to free fiscal space in order to service outstanding debt to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, before the two can consider re-engagement.

Although there had been some reluctance to retrench civil servants amid some planned resistance to that measure from various quarters, former education minister, David Coltart told the Financial Gazette that Chinamasa would have to cut down either travel expenses, perks or civil service.

“Chinamasa is in a fix. He is in the ultimate catch 22. He does not have much legroom. The President has cut off one of his solutions and he might have to cut down on the staff, which is equally unpopular. The same as not paying bonuses,” Coltart said. “This puts Chinamasa in a very difficult position.”

Coltart said in view of government contradiction on the issue of bonuses and the need for way forward in cutting expenditure, Chinamasa needed to have some robust debate with his government colleagues.
“He needs to have vigorous debate in government; He has to fight for his corner. And they are going to have to make one of other very difficult choices,” Coltart said.
Government has been left badly exposed after backtracking on its decision to do away with the annual bonuses.

The boob left many wondering how the current administration sets about executing its duties as it talks right and yet walks left.

The scrapping of bonuses had set the stage for a showdown between civil servants and their employer.

Unions had warned last week of a deterioration in service delivery standards, moonlighting and low morale among the workers — which would have undermined government’s efforts to turn around the sector which is just able to keep its nose above water.

The bending over backwards by government on its decision on bonuses effectively means that the plans that civil servant unions had set in motion to challenge the scrapping of the 13th cheque also fall away.
Aggrieved civil servants’ unions were said to have consulted regarding filing a lawsuit against the current administration for unilaterally suspending bonus payments until 2017 without consultation.
This is in addition to other routes that unions had been considering such as go-slow and a major strike action, if government had resisted overtures to come to the negotiating table to explain its unilateral actions.

With schools set to open in two weeks’ time for the second term, civil servants appeared to hold a vantage point in as far as bringing pressure to bear on the government as a crippling strike action would have brought the education sector onto its knees.

Sifiso Ndlovu, the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) chief executive, said they already had begun consulting their members extensively on what steps to take, before President Mugabe’s intervention.
“Unions were getting legal and economic intelligence on what to do, which was to establish if government was legally justified under the Constitution to do what it had done. The first stop was going to be the negotiating table, but if they were not coming forward to that then alternative routes would have been sought and these (routes) are legal and economic,” said Ndlovu.
“But the matter has been resolved now and that is a relief in terms of guaranteeing the rights of workers. Information Minister Jonathan Moyo downplayed the row over bonuses this week and said the issue was finished.

“The bottom line is that bonuses for civil servants have been reinstated as directed by the President and they will be paid accordingly. There’s nothing to debate about that. Full stop. End of the story,” said Moyo. — Additional Reporting by Ray Ndlovu
newsdesk@fingaz.co.zw

Daily News

22 APRIL 2015

Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa is caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place, with the unenviable burden of having to defend President Robert Mugabe’s political irrationality while dismissing the economic wisdom of his earlier decision to suspend civil servants’ bonuses.

The 91-year-old publicly rebuked Chinamasa at Independence Day celebrations on Saturday, emphatically denying that the State had scrapped bonus payments to civil servants in the next two years.

This came a mere week after Chinamasa, accompanied by his Information counterpart Jonathan Moyo, had announced at a media briefing in Harare that Mugabe’s broke government would not pay bonuses to civil servants this year and next year — a move that was to be reviewed in 2017, ahead of the country’s national elections slated for 2018. Curiously this fiscal matter was announced from the Information ministry not the Treasury boardroom.

The announcement was also made without the ministers of Labour or chairman of the Public Service Commission. In preparation for the trip to Washington DC for the 2015 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, the Finance minister made a bold announcement which indicated a serious intention to cut down on recurrent expenditure.

But speaking at the National Sports Stadium, the nonagenarian flatly denied that his government had made such a decision, leaving Chinamasa and Moyo with egg on their faces.

Mugabe did not say where the money will come from, but nevertheless promised that civil servants will still get their bonuses. This also comes as the same government struggled to pay the previous year’s bonuses.

Mugabe claimed bonuses for civil servants were a right that was curiously not linked to individual or general economic performance. Alex Magaisa, a former advisor to former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, said it shows populism was getting in the way of economic wisdom.

“In fact, the irony of all this is that while he (Chinamasa) is now saying his decision was a mistake, the reality is that in explaining the so-called mistake, he is in fact giving solid reasons to justify it,” Magaisa said.

Chinamasa admitted in lickspittle State media that he had made “procedural mistakes” when he announced the decision to scrape bonuses.

The Finance minister said he had been forced to make the announcement in response to the economic problems Zimbabwe was facing and the ever-shrinking national purse.

“In the process we have tripped and made some mistakes and I am happy that His Excellency in his speech at the independence celebrations has corrected our mistakes and in a manner has lifted us back to our feet,” Chinamasa said.

Magaisa said the long and short of it was that government does not have money and its sources of revenue are shrinking with the ever-contracting economy.

“Where does the government get the money when it struggled to pay last year’s bonuses?” Magaisa asked.

“Companies that operate on a commercial basis cannot afford to pay bonuses so government must be realistic about bonus payments.

“But of course government cannot afford to take away bonuses from the soldiers and other sensitive sectors of the civil service. They want to bribe workers into thinking they still care. They want to prevent the build-up of a reservoir of disgruntlement among its workers. But economically it makes no sense for a father to insist on eating meat when he is not bringing home any meat.”

Magaisa said Chinamasa had gone to Washington DC with a promise to the IMF and World Bank to reduce government expenditure “but his boss made a fool out of him and embarrassed him while he was there.”

“A proper professional would throw in the towel and defend his honour,” Magaisa said, referring to Zimbabwe’s former Industry minister Nkosana Moyo appointed in July 2000 who resigned in May 2001 after publicly speaking out against attacks on businesses and factories by war veterans.

After Moyo resigned, he took up a position at the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.

The former banker with Standard Chartered was not a member of the ruling Zanu PF party, but was brought into the government as a technocrat to lend its economic policies some credibility with the International Monetary Fund.

Mugabe had urged Moyo not to resign but attacked him as lacking spine when he spurned him.

Magaisa said: “But these guys will never dream of doing that.”

David Coltart, a former Education minister in the GNU, said Chinamasa has been forced to eat humble pie by Mugabe.

“If Chinamasa acted without authority on such a major issue, he acted grossly irresponsibly. As we have seen his announcement was met with alarm and despondency within the civil service — this was no small issue. In most governments a minister would lose his job for behaving in this manner, but one can guarantee Chinamasa will keep his.”

Coltart said it seems implausible that Chinamasa acted arbitrarily.

“He is an intelligent man and in my experience always followed Cabinet protocol,” said Coltart who served with Chinamasa in government between 2009 and 2013.

“In other words, he is not a person who has a track record of acting unilaterally. Furthermore, Chinamasa’s decision was announced several days ago and economists were rolled out by the government controlled press to compliment him for the decision — saying that whilst it was a tough call it was the right one. It is hard to imagine that the tightly controlled Zanu PF propaganda machine would have acted in this way if there wasn’t a broad consensus that this policy be implemented.”

The former Education minister said one is left with the inescapable conclusion that Chinamasa is just the fall guy.

“Whatever the case, President Mugabe’s directive leaves Chinamasa between a rock and a very hard place,” he said.

In his statement published in lickspittle State media yesterday, Chinamasa speaks about a ballooning debt within the civil service including Premier Service Medical Aid contributions not being paid and government’s failure to meet debt repayment undertakings, which he was hoping to address by not paying the bonus.

“Zanu PF has run Zimbabwe like a tuck shop; money has been taken out of the till and never banked; sound decisions have been reversed for short term expediency; there has been a failure to implement long term economic plans,” Coltart said.

He said that was why the IMF and World Bank suspended support for the Zanu PF government in the 1990s — long before “sanctions” were ever imposed.

“Its failure then to comply with agreed policies that exasperated the international financial community,” he said.

“President Mugabe’s announcement this weekend, whilst Chinamasa was in Washington doing his best to woo the same community, will elicit a profound sense of deja vu in the IMF and World Bank.

“I have absolutely no doubt that Chinamasa timed his statement on bonuses to coincide with his visit — to show the IMF that the Zimbabwe government is serious about tackling government spending and debt. President Mugabe’s statement will have driven a coach and horses through Chinamasa’s attempt to get further international support for the government.”

Chinamasa returned from the IMF’s spring meeting this past weekend not only with egg on his face, but with empty pockets too, Coltart added.

A financial analyst with a local bank said: “There is total chaos in government. These guys are clueless including Chinamasa himself. If he believed so much in what he was doing, he should have resigned.”

New Zimbabwe.Com

April 22 2015

ZANU PF is to blame for the millions of Zimbabweans who have skipped the country’s borders in search of better lives elsewhere due to the ruling party’s violent and chaotic rule, a former cabinet minister said.

An estimated 3 million Zimbabweans are said to be living and working abroad, mainly in South Africa, although government has constantly disputed the figure.

Commenting on the ongoing xenophobic attacks in South Africa which have resulted in some 400 Zimbabweans being repatriated, former education minister David Coltart said Zanu PF must create a conducive environment for its citizens to return home.

At least seven people have been killed in three weeks of unrest in South Africa, the worst ethnic violence since 2008 when 62 people died, mainly in Johannesburg’s teeming townships.

“Whilst those who have perpetrated these horrors must urgently be brought to justice, we need to understand the root cause of the problem,” wrote Coltart on his official Facebook page.

“As far as Zimbabweans are concerned, the fact of the matter is that most Zimbabweans would never have gone to South Africa in the first place were it not for Zanu PF’s violent and chaotic rule.

“It follows that the only long term solution, as far as Zimbabweans living in South Africa are concerned, is for the Zimbabwe Government to get its act together to create an environment within Zimbabwe conducive for Zimbabweans to return home.

“That means that sensible economic policies, investment friendly economic policies, must be implemented; not the hostile, self-serving, policies which have chased away Zimbabwean entrepreneurs and foreign investors.”

Coltart posited that the low figures of those who opted for voluntary repatriation was partly due to fear of arbitrary arrests upon returning home.

“Many Zimbabweans living in South Africa FEAR coming home – they fear arbitrary arrest and being disappeared.

“That is why they would rather remain in South Africa, because for all the xenophobic attacks they still feel safer there than in Zimbabwe,” said Coltart.

Zimbabweans sought asylum in neighbouring countries citing harassment from Zanu PF although analysts said most are economic refugees.

Southern Eye

22 April 2015

President Robert Mugabe’s public rebuke of Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa (pictured) over payment of civil servants bonuses will complicate the minister’s job as he tries to woo the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to rescue Zimbabwe’s economy, a former minister said.

Mugabe at the weekend dressed Chinamasa down saying the minister’s announcement last week that the government had suspended payment of civil servants’ bonuses until 2017 had been done without his blessings.

Chinamasa had said the decision was taken in light of dwindling government revenues and Treasury’s failure to meet financial obligations.

Former Education minister David Coltart said it was unlikely that Chinamasa had made the decision unilaterally, but he was now being sacrificed because the move to stop payment of bonuses had proved unpopular.

Chinamasa was flanked by Information minister Jonathan Moyo when he made the announcement and State media made follow-up reports claiming the decision had been well received.

“It seems implausible that Chinamasa acted arbitrarily – he is an intelligent man and in my experience always followed Cabinet protocol,” Coltart who was a minister between 2008 and 2013, said.

“In other words he is not a person who has a track record of acting unilaterally.

Furthermore Chinamasa’s decision was announced several days ago and economists were rolled out by the government-controlled press to compliment him for the decision – saying while a tough call, it was the right one.

“It is hard to imagine that the tightly-controlled Zanu PF propaganda machine would have acted in this way if there wasn’t through broad consensus that this policy be implemented.

“One is left with the inescapable conclusion that Chinamasa is just the fall guy.”

Mugabe made the announcement while Chinamasa was away in the United States attending IMF meetings.

Coltart, an MDC secretary for legal affairs, said the president’s approach to the problem could undo all the work the minister had done to woo IMF and the World Bank.

“I have absolutely no doubt that Chinamasa timed his statement on bonuses to coincide with his visit – to show the IMF that the Zimbabwe government was serious about tackling government spending and debt,” he said.

“Mugabe’s statement will have driven a coach and horses through Chinamasa’s attempt to get further international support for the government.

“Chinamasa will return from the IMF’s spring meeting this past weekend in Washington not only with egg on face, but with empty pockets too.”

The minister, since his appointment to the Finance portfolio in 2013, has been working hard to re-engage international lenders such as the IMF and the World Bank.

In return, the institutions have been pushing for reforms in Zimbabwe including the reduction of the civil service wage bill.