By Own Correspondent- MDC Vice President and former Finance minister Tendai Biti has urged government to urgently repeal Statutory Instrument 142 arguing that the policy directive was not only illegal but disastrous.
Biti said this in parliament (Tuesday).
He said:
“… My point of privilege relates to the enactment by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) (Legal Tender Regulations) published as Statutory Instrument (SI) 142:2019.
The native fact of this SI is to officially de-dollarise and adopt in Zimbabwe as the sole legal tender, the Zimbabwean Dollar (Z$). This is such a matter of public importance in that it touches on the political economy of our country; that is the politics of our country, the economics of our country and indeed the law of our country.
On the law, I want to bring your attention to the provision of Section 44 (2) of the Reserve Bank Act of Zimbabwe which introduced the regime of multiple currencies in 2009. Section 44A (2) makes it clear that the tender in Zimbabwe of the British Pound, the Euro, the United States Dollar, the South African Rand and the Botswana Pula in any transaction shall be deemed to be legal tender.
That being so Hon. Speaker Sir, and Section 44A (2) being an Act of Parliament, the Minister of Finance cannot in a Statutory Instrument repeal an Act of Parliament.
So quite clearly Hon. Speaker Sir, Statutory Instrument 142:2019 is ultra vires the provisions of Section 44A (2) of the RBZ Act, so it is wrong on the law.
On economics, a currency is a relationship between your exports and your imports. As long as you have got a deficit in your current account, I submit that we do not have the current account; we do not have the reserves that are necessary to support our own currency.
Thirdly, more than anything else, a currency is subject to political confidence. This country suffers from kwashiorkor of political confidence.
There is absolutely no confidence in this currency. So, I submit Hon. Speaker, that SI 142:2019 is a disaster; that the attempt to de-dollarise this country is a disaster. The Minister must as a matter of urgency repeal SI 142:2019.”