As a result the intelligentsia in Zimbabwe mostly chose to stand aloof and hold the political establishment in disdainful regard. Where they got involved or decided to pass comment it was mostly in the form of condescending critique and very often virulent negative criticism, not constructive engagement.
Many intellectuals, among them Jonathan Moyo, Kempton Makamure, Welshman Ncube, John Makumbe, Heneri Dzinotyiwei to mention a few made careers out of attacking the political establishment. They did not seek to offer advice.
On the other hand those in the political establishment felt they had made too big sacrifices for the country to be treated like mops by the intelligentsia. To put it in words claimed to have been spoken by Comrade Chinotimba, they had died for the country. The result was a huge gulf of mistrust between those holding the steering wheel and the intellectual engines. The engine was always angrily revving but the clutch was broken and steering wheel was locked in one position.
For years the think-tank gap was filled in by donors and NGOs. It was these groups who floated and financed development programmes. They gave the political establishment of raw combatants advice and direction and in the early years the arrangement was quite successful. Names like DANIDA, Christian Care, CIDA, DFID became household names in Zimbabwe. These organisations filled in the gap of think tanks, coming up with development projects.
Most, if not all, of these NGOs were from Western countries. When the political establishment fell out with Western politicians they were inevitably pressured, by their politicians back home, not to work with the Zimbabwe government.
The Zimbabwe government panicked. They stumbled from one panic stricken measure to another without any clear and coherent plan. Price controls were at first favoured. When these didn't work direct restrictions in the movement and trade of commodities were rushed in. When cash ran out it was simply printed. When this resulted in massive devaluation foreign currency was simply commandeered from private entities.
In the process massive damage to the country's financial, commercial and economic systems was wreaked. Local savings were obliterated by the massive devaluation caused by the printing of cash. Entities who owned foreign currency resorted to keeping it outside Zimbabwe, out of the clutches of a clearly mismanaging government.
The result was an economy in free fall. The Zimbabwe government blamed the West, but in doing so they did not understand where the real problem was. They focused on sanctions which were mostly targeted at individuals. However in my view, the real damage to Zimbabwe came from the withdrawal of 'think-tank' support which Zimbabwean politicians had grown to take for granted.
Zimbabweans politicians were unable to manage the resources which they had. In my view, those resources were more than sufficient to keep Zimbabwe afloat. Piqued by the withdrawal of Western support, the government came up with a Look East policy.
What that amounted to was simply directing nearly all of the Zimbabwe government's buying power towards China, at the expense of local industry. No meaningful 'think-tank' support has been forthcoming from the east. The Chinese have never been associated with development projects the same way Western agencies were. In fact in the minds of ordinary people, they are associated with reckless exploitation of resources, and harsh employment practices.
The bottom line is for Zimbabwe to develop, local intellectuals and politicians will have to respect each other and share ideas. Politicians will have to take the input of intellectuals seriously, even if it is in the form of criticism. Intellectuals will have to learn that persistent attack merely generates resistance with little chance of achieving the desired outcome.
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