Patrick Chinamasa

Chinamasa began his political career as the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliament Affairs and then was appointed Minister of Finance in 2013.

CAREER

Chinamasa, a leading member of the Zanu Pf Party, started off his political career as a Deputy Agriculture Minister and the Attorney General of Zimbabwe.  He also held the role of the leader of the Zimbabwean Parliament.

Following his appointment, as Attorney General several judges resigned, complaining of political pressure and interference.

On 17 December 2004, Chinamasa, who had been the Secretary for Legal Affairs of ZANU-PF, was removed from the party’s Politburo. In 2005, Patrick Chinamasa was fired by President Robert Mugabe along with Jonathan Moyo while Mnangagwa was demoted to the lesser influential role position of secretary of legal affairs. Six months later Chinamasa was retained to his post.

Scandals

According to BBC News (2006), Mr. Chinamasa was accused of trying to stop a prosecution witness, James Kaunye, from testifying in a case against the Minister of State for National Security, Didymus Mutasa, who had been accused of inciting public violence.

In that trial, proceedings had to be adjourned for a week when magistrates complained of intimidation and refused to take on the case.

He was also charged with pressuring a man to drop accusations of political violence he made against a cabinet colleague. However, a magistrate found that the prosecution had failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt as witnesses’ testimony had been unreliable. The accused was therefore cleared of the charges.

Dollarisation

In 2013, following the dismissal of Samuel Mumbengegwi, Chinamasa was appointed as acting Finance Minister. It was at this time that it was reported that Chinamasa had introduced a multi-currency system which had swiftly quelled the rampant hyperinflation of previous years.

Zimbabwe’s GDP growth between 2009 and 2011 averaged an impressive 7, 3 percent, including 9, 3 percent in 2011. By comparison, Hong Kong’s economy grew 5 percent in 2011.

Minister of Justice

When the ZANU-PF–MDC national unity government was sworn in on 13 February 2009, Chinamasa was retained as Minister of Justice.

Minister of Finance

Following Mugabe’s victory in the July 2013 presidential election, he moved Chinamasa to the post of Minister of Finance on 10 September 2013.

Economy after he was appointed Finance Minister

The 2013 GDP growth was short-lived as soon after in 2014. the inflation quickened by eight basis points from 0,33 percent in December 2013 2013 to settle at 0.41 percent in January 2014.

According to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ), the consumer basket for a family of six decreased by 0.29 percent to $559.93 in February 2014. The country faced massive de-industrialisation, with companies closing down daily due to lack of cheap credit lines and declining capacity utilization. Job losses amounted to 3 060 according to Employer’s Confederation of Zimbabwe.

In an attempt to save the economy he was reported to have travelled to Washington but was denied funding by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He also failed to get funds in Zimbabwe’s known friends-China.

In 2014, President Mugabe also hinted several times that Chinamasa may not be performing to his expectations. Speaking on the eve of his Birthday Bash, in 2014, President Mugabe disclosed that he had given Chinamasa an ultimatum to find money or be replaced. “At first he said we could not do it and I said: ‘Well, if you can’t do it, tell me [and] I will get someone to do it.’ That is why he announced that salaries will be above … the poverty datum line,” said Mugabe

At a ZANU-PF conference, in 2013, the President had also urged the Finance Minister to find money “Find money Chinamasa, you can’t say there is no money. Where is our gold, our platinum, our diamonds and all other minerals,” said Mugabe as he closed the Zanu PF conference according to iHarare (2014).

In June 2017, during the midyear fiscal review statement, Chinamasa was silent on cash shortages and high level public corruption highlighted by Auditor General Mildred Chiri in her 2016 report. Chnamasa announced the positives like the gross product growth rate of 3.7% against the 0.7% achieved last year. He attributed the projected growth to the bumper harvest. The minister said the government would soon consider rationalizing and cutting foreigh travel costs as part of measures to reduce public expenditure.

Currently (September 20170), the country is experiencing high inflation rates and extreme fuel  and cash shortages. There are also rumours food shortages to come which has caused citizens to go on panick mode and begin to buy main supplies in preparation for a possible repeat of the 2008 crisis. -Winter is coming.

Personal

Chinamasa is married to Monica Chinamasa(nee’ Mutamba) and has four children namely Tinotemba (M), Chengetai (M), Kangai (F) and Gamuchirai.