| By Jennifer Dube ZIMBABWE needs Jesus," the head of one of the most influential business organisations in the country, said last week. "I call upon all Zimbabweans to pray that God bails us out of the problems we are facing. "Only Godly solutions will heal this economy, otherwise if man's solutions were what we needed, we would have recovered by now." Callisto Jokonya was not addressing a born-again congregation, but speaking to Standardbusiness on what he saw as the next strategy to economic recovery after the prices and income turbulence of the last few weeks. Jokonya, the president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, said only "Godly solutions" would be potent enough to ameliorate the economic meltdown, triggered by the 2000 land reform programme and the economic and political fallout that ensued. A staunch supporter of the government's economic policy, Jokonya was asked for the CZI's assessment of the impact of the 20% mark-up regime for prices imposed by the government in the past two weeks. Last July, the government forced business to reduce prices by 50% — to where they were on 18 June. It publicly accused them of colluding with the West in plotting a "regime change", which business rejected out of hand. This was followed by a blanket freeze on all price hikes. At the onset of government's pricing campaign, CZI hailed the measure, urging all companies to guard against offending the government. Their acquiescence was widely criticised by economic and political analysts, who predicted — accurately, as it turned out — that it would lead to immense survival problems for the companies who complained of being forced to do business at a loss. In one of its policy U-turns two weeks ago, the government allowed business to increase prices by 20%. A snap survey by Standardbusiness showed no significant impact of the 20% mark-up as shop shelves remained empty while more companies, especially in the baking industry, closed shop, citing uneconomic prices. Last week, Jokonya refused to answer questions relating to the economic "fruits" of both the 20% mark-up regime and the recently unveiled budget. But he insisted the country needed to pray. "I have no answers to that. All I have to say is that everybody in business, the government sector, civil society and labour should ask God for solutions to this country," he said. Even the Tripartite Negotiating Forum was incapable of coming up with solutions to the problems, the CZI boss said. "I believe God is the only one who can save us from the challenges we are facing. Please write that. Also tell (Trevor) Ncube to write that in his Mail and Guardian newspaper because I have to encourage all Zimbabweans in this regard," he said. In a written response to questions from Standardbusiness, the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe said they were "happy" that the government had finally come to the realisation that the arbitrary prices they had set were not helpful in the restoration of business viability which should result in a supply side response for goods and services in the economy. "Employers are happy with recent developments but are sad that in a lot of cases it is coming a too little, too late. "After the losses suffered from the Price Control Regulations, most businesses have not yet recovered sufficiently to get back into full production," the statement said. They said although the price blitz was in contravention of some of the provisions of the TNF protocols signed on 1 June 2007, they believed social dialogue would finally yield answers for the country's economic woes. | 
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