Asked about the delays in paying the salaries of civil servants, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa told the Reuters news agency at the weekend that ''sanctions crippled our capacity to own our international obligations [debt payment]".With all due respect to Chinamasa, who no doubt has a difficult job - after all, 90% of Zimbabweans are unemployed and the government wage bill eats up 82% of its revenue - the tired old excuse is reminiscent of National Party politicians blaming the problems of apartheid-era South Africa in the early 1990s on sanctions.The real reason for Zimbabwe's economy being on its knees, Mr Chinamasa, is that your government has systematically eroded property rights and has sucked the life out of business with its Draconian laws that make no economic sense.It has still not compensated the bulk of commercial farmers whose land was forcibly expropriated; it arbitrarily seizes businesses on a whim; it runs diamond mines like personal fiefdoms and it imposes impossibly stringent conditions on foreign-owned businesses that are expected to put 51% of their companies in the hands of locals.Oh, and it rigs elections, has an appalling human rights record, and the autonomy of its "independent institutions" has been heavily eroded.This is why multinational organisations are reluctant to do business with Zimbabwe.Tragic as the consequences are for ordinary Zimbabweans, its government's track record is the perfect template for how not to govern.Now might be a good time for South African political leaders such as Julius Malema, who professes an admiration for Robert Mugabe's policies, to have a rethink...