Pensions, Gas/ Oil in Muzarabani

 By Takura Zhangazha *

I once posted a tweet on how Muzarabani would never be the same again. With the benefit of hindsight, I was one third correct and two thirds wrong.   The one third is based on the fact that there would be and is exploration of gas in the Zambezi valley that will change not only its landscape but perceptions of what it would become.  The two thirds where I was wrong was that I assumed this is a project that would be designed to change local and global perceptions of what it can possibly mean to have a national project that is people centered. 

On the first third, the Muzarabani Invictus gas project is an intensive capital investment one.  Based on, you can guess it, globalized financial capitalism.  As a basic lesson in how these global financialised capitalism things actually really work.

Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans have always owned the potential gas deposits. Its our national resource by birthright.  Even if these anticipated deposits were then ‘discovered’ via exploration initially by experts hired by the French company Total and now to be explored by Invictus with newer advanced gas or oil drilling technologies. 

The major difference has been the fact of our national government taking a free market economic approach on mining.  A process it has referred to as the “ease of doing business”.   In this, there is a prioritization of the listing of investment companies on global stock exchanges in order to raise capital for investment in Zimbabwe.  It is blunt capitalism based on speculative market profit  intentions.  And in order to keep the actual owners of the specific commodity at bay.  Especially because of the capitalist assumption that they would never have raised the required capital to invest in their own commodity. 

In following closely media reports on the Muzarabani gas investment I have realized a number of issues.  First among them being that it is a high priority investment by not so new private players in Zimbabwe. And that the state has a vested interest in this via what it has called, in global capitalist parlance, a Sovereign Wealth Fund.  One in which it hopes upon actual discovery of gas, it can share the profit with the Australian stock exchange listed company Invictus. 

In this, it has roped in pension funds that are both public and private, as reported by local media website NewZWire, to invest in this highly speculative gas and oil venture.  The pension funds officially declared that they are optimistic that we will find the gas and their percentage shareholding in the Sovereign Wealth Fund will bring them a return on their investment.

What crossed my mind was the fact that the pension funds may have done this without consulting the owners of the money. These being Zimbabweans who toil day and night contributing monthly pensions for their inevitable retirement.

A friend familiar with business explained that this is fairly normal. Because pensions, both public and private function on the same pretext.  They take government guaranteed money and invest it where they deem fit.  With or without consultation with the actual pension holders.   So if you have a National Social Security Authority (NSSA) Zimbabwe pension you have no say on where proceeds from your pension are re-invested.  Especially if you are young. It just appears on your statutory pay slip as an abstract payment until you learn that there are many of you and it is a real determined of your future in your older, retirement years.

To be honest though, I really wrote this brief write up because of pensions and this particular speculative investment in oil and gas in Muzarabani.  Or any other investment that does not consult the people that it is meant to benefit. The working people contributors to both private and publicly owned pension funds.

One can easily argue that this is “capitalism”. But we know from global economics that this is what creates ‘oligarchs’ and to use a Rhumba term “ Big Mulemenas”. Cdes that are in no way accountable for wealth acquired from nationally owned resources. Cdes that eventually claim ownership of these same said resources as their private property yet they were acquired via what should have been people centered policy and political processes.

At the stage it now is, it is near impossible to stop the Muzarabani gas exploration project. In fact it may turn out to be an economic game changer.  The question that remains in vogue is for who? And why it has taken this global financialised private capital particular format? Even in the so called Second Republic of Zimbabwe. 

*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)