A local think tank has said Zimbabwe’s mounting socio-economic and political problems are typified by the patronage system of governance, in the ruling party.
The Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI) said patronage ridden institutions such as the revolutionary ZANU PF party are adverse to democracy and hinder socioeconomic development.
In a publication titled Zimbabwe Political Economy Review: Neopatrimonialism, Clientelism and Patronage: The Zimbabwe Problem, ZDI made wide ranging claims of the negative effects of patronage.
It said the prevailing state of affairs has created a complex shift in the political economy as manifested by socio economic regression evidenced by dwindling capacity utilization, high levels of unemployment.
“The current political and socioeconomic challenges that Zimbabwe is grappling with and the failure to find sustainable solutions is imbedded in the political system engulfed in neo patrimonialism, clientelism and patronage administered by the ruling elite against a desired legal rational and democratic constitutional order as captured in the country’s Supreme law.
“[This has a created] the context of a seismic shift in the political economy characterised by a burgeoning informal sector; socioeconomic regression manifest in dwindling capacity utilisation, increasing levels of poverty and high unemployment levels
“Effects of clientelism, neopatrimonialism and patronage can be seen as threats to the foundations of democracy, causing government capture by interest groups, damaging institutional performance by reducing its legitimacy and capacity to reform, fomenting cynicism and public deception about the functioning of the State, and undermining the idea of public good,” said ZDI.
This deeply embedded patronage system in ZANU PF has led to the intensification of the commercialisation of politics and the politicisation of commerce, said ZDI.
It also said the current succession matrix coupled with a ravaging drought that has been since declared a national disaster by the government has also worsened the situation, which all point to a patronage system.
“The attendant leadership question that Zimbabwe is facing, epitomized by the succession battles in Zanu PF, the economic regression in the shifting political economy, failure by the state to implement the provisions in the constitution and implementing democratic reforms and the will to power that subjugates and relegates the will to reform and transform, are all symptoms of a clientelistic, neopatrimonial and patronage system,” said ZDI.
In its analysis of the current socio-economic order the ZDI says the President is the patron with minister operating as clients, with other groups such as land barons, Ambassadors, Permanent Secretaries and other appointed officials.
Through this system the leadership has managed to subjugate the rational legal order through the use of quasi military groups like youths and the war veterans and parceling out of land as rewards, claims the think tank.
“The patron in the current matrix is the President of Zimbabwe. The clients are ministers, people linked to Zanu PF such as groups running cooperatives, illegal gold panners, land barons, those benefiting from president Mugabe’s appointments not based on merit, such as Ambassadors, permanent secretaries and other government officials.
“Other clients are also found in vigilante groups such as the war veterans and war collaborators and the youth militia aligned to ZANU PF. The judiciary, local government, the petty bourgeoisie, the military and parastatals are also stuffed with such elements to a large extent.
“The rewards of this system have been access to land and vending spaces in urban areas which are then parceled to party supporters. The patron has disproportionate power and thus enjoys wide latitude about how to distribute the assets under his control,” said ZDI.
ZDI calls for the breaking of the patronage system in order for the government to be address the current Zimbabwean question, which is that of livelihoods, there is need to ensure state institutions are reformed and transformation oriented.
A local political activist, who requested anonymity, said the ill advised land reform was the epitome of the patronage system that destroyed the agriculture sector.
He said the dearth of agriculture was also the demise of the economic value chain resulting in low capacity utilization, humanitarian abuse, unemployment and massive closure of companies.
“I am not familiar with the ZDI but if they claim that our socio economic problems are due to the patronage system I totally agree with them because ZANU PF has superintended over this mess for decades.
“The country is now being run like a private company and in some corridors there are whispers that this is now Zimbabwe Private Limited, a company for those linked to the elites who reward them for their loyalty,” he said.
He however warned of impending rise of political violence as protagonists in the succession battle go all out to secure their portions from their benefactor.
“There is a high likelihood that this succession fight will take a nasty turn as people in the revolutionary grapple for their inheritance from their benefactor before it is too late. So all these in-fights in ZANU PF might turn on their head and get uglier because every player wants to secure their position,” he said.
Photo credit: Zimbabwe News
