Southern African News Features (Harare)
17 December 2008
In a new book entitled Zimbabwe's Casino Economy, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Dr Gideon Gono, describes economic sanctions imposed against his country as a form of "terrorism".
He also thanks the US President, George W. Bush, for the offer made by the US ambassador in Zimbabwe, of a top management job (Vice President) at the World Bank, which he declined, believing it was an attempt to remove him from his influential position in Zimbabwe.
The revelations in the book include the lengthy letter he wrote in response to the offer, in which he raised questions about how he, as a subject of "targeted sanctions" which restrict travel to Europe and North America, could be expected to take up a strategic post at the World Bank offices in Washington.
Gono makes a comparative analysis of the measures he has implemented to address Zimbabwe's financial crisis, in the context of interventions currently being undertaken by countries in the North to confront the global financial crisis, dubbed the "credit crunch".
He analyses the market economy as a "casino economy" and gives an exposure (in a chapter entitled Corrupting Banking and the Stock Exchange) of how some of the banks, insurance companies and pension funds have been gambling on the stock exchange using non-existent resources, thus placing great strain on the demand for cash in the country.
"I believe that, if properly scrutinised in diplomacy, politics and ethics, it should not be very difficult to appreciate that illegal economic sanctions are not different from sanitised terrorism," Gono says.
"As instruments of foreign policy, the objectives of terror and illegal economic sanctions are the same: terror, which is generally described as a state of fear or an overwhelming sense of imminent danger.
"The individuals, institutions and companies in Zimbabwe that have been targeted for sanctions from the powerful Western countries are supposed to be terrorised by a continuing sense of imminent danger.
"The same is true of ordinary people who are being made to understand that economic sanctions would not be lifted as long as ZANU PF and President Mugabe remain in power: they are supposed to fear ZANU PF rule by definition and to see it as a very dangerous thing to have.
"As such, it seems to me clear that illegal economic sanctions have been to Zimbabwe what terrorism has been to the United States, Britain and other European countries.
"It should not therefore surprise anyone that the government of Zimbabwe has responded to the threat of illegal economic sanctions in the same way that the United States and Britain, for example, have responded to terrorism.
"Countries, big or small, respond to terror in the same way, notwithstanding the fact that the response of small countries does not have the same weight and moral justification as that of the big and powerful countries that are in a better position to use overwhelming propaganda to justify their response. .
"Put differently, the illegal economic sanctions are an example of coercive terrorist diplomacy insofar as their objective is to induce fear.
"This is partly if not mainly why I have characterised the situation I found on the ground when I assumed my appointment in December 2003 as very extraordinary and requiring extraordinary interventions. Terrorism by any other name and under any other cover is extraordinary and invites an extraordinary response."
In writing the book, Gono says that he drew "liberally and immensely from the invaluable insights put at my disposal by a wide range of national and international players in industry and commerce, mining, agriculture, tourism, banking, teachers, medical practitioners, lawyers, engineers, the academia, workers, trade unionists, politicians, students, civil society, diplomats, churches and our traditional leaders."
He thanks in particular President Robert Mugabe for the life-defining professional opportunity "he availed me to serve my country" as Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe for the past five years.
Gono has been reappointed for a second term.
The book, he says in an introduction, is not his memoirs or an autobiography but rather an analysis of the measures taken to meet "extraordinary challenges".
"Last but not least, it is my humble hope that this book which salutes those who dare and actually go on to think and act outside the box, will inspire others, especially the younger generation, to rise to the challenge of their own calling and to stand up to be counted as responsible members of society with a sense of national identity within a globalised world."
He adds that his intention in writing the book was to "enrich future policy formulation, not only in Zimbabwe, but also in the region and beyond." sardc.net
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A point of correction to The Governor of the Reserve bank of Zanu pf. When you shine among fools you think you are clever. Gono cannot fool anybody except in zanu pf. I question his definition of terrorism because he belongs to a terrorist government. By just following the activities of the zanu pf government and its supporters then you do not have to consult a dictionary. Petrol-bombing houses in Bindura, Human Rights and opposition activists disappearing, with no trace, everyday. Just to remind you Gono, the way you value your life is the same way people who are being brutalized by zanu pf also value their lives. We are equal in the eyes of The Lord. Gono, you very well knows that you don't deserve a second term of governorship had it not been for the dictator.
Do not blame anybody for Zimbabwe's problems. Zanu pf government has resoundingly failed the people of Zimbabwe. Change is inevitable, you are just delaying it.
True Zim patriot!
How can one write a book when paper is scarce in the country, Is it being published in China etc.One cannot get an ID bsceof the scarcity of paper!!!
When the tails of the REACTION begin to question the credibility of their mouthpiece, you know that it has FINALLY crumbled.
If you doubt that there is a book, why don't you call the referenced source of the report?
Boneheaded tails of the reaction, you are lunching.
I don't doubt he wrote his little book but I do doubt that there's a shred of truth within the pages.
Jallohlaw, I'm sure you look up to Gono. After all, your pretentious scribblings indicate that you think you can fool people into believing that you are clever - much like Gono.
N/A the answer is simple ,that is why it is a little book.It sits on his bookshelf next to a volume of "Wisdom of Jallolaw", which fills almost half of the back of a postage stamp.
To J-hollow, AK-47, Phiri and any other defenders of ZANU-PF/Mugabe:
1) 231 MILLION per cent inflation! 2) 80% unemployment 3) How many zeroes did the RBZ take off the currency 3 months ago? 4) Hospitals and major healthcare infrastructure - closed 5) Schools and Universities closed for lack of plumbing/funding 6) Clean drinking water unavailable to 80% of the population 7) Cholera killing thousands in Zimbabwe 8) Intimidation and closure of the free press 9) Intimidation and suppression of the free right to assemble
This is the Bill of Indictment presented against the outcomes of the policies of ZANU-PF/Muhgabe. How do you plead?
Regardless of the "causes" or any blame you would like to assign to the "Imperialist West", take notice that all 9 (nine) Indicments are FACTUAL representations of the state of affairs in Zimbabwe while under the guidance of ZANU-PF/Mugabe's governance. Again, any excuse or blame you would like to use to defend yourselves is irrelevent, as all of the Indictments are internal matters to the people of Zimbabwe!
How do you defend the actions of ZANU-PF/Mugabe? With tired marxist-liberation slogans of the fight against the Capitalist (bourgeois) West!
You CANNOT defend ZANU-PF/Mugabe with FACTS! For Zimbabwe to have reached it's current depths under the "stewardship" of ZANU-PF/Mugabe since the "liberation" is itself, a crime against humanity.
Intelligent guy like Gono ought to realize that printing worthless bank notes of 500 million Dollars is in itself an act of terrorism against the ordinary Zimbos!
Gono himself discovered after printing such rubbish that his calculator could not handle such figures!
Gono, it's better you seek advice from commoners!!
They need clean water, fertilizers and seedlings. Sanctions did not prevent you from buying expensive Mercedes Benz cars for corrupt judges; sanctions prevent you from buying seedlings for small farmers!! Who are you fooling if not rourself and your lunatic boss?
Is this book for sell or its for free distribution to youth training centres? If it is for sell I would doubt if Zimbabweans would waste their time reading such campaign material. Failures never cease to amaze me.