By Diana Machingauta| A few weeks ago, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe introduced a new currency called the ZiG which it claimed was going to be more stable than the previous currency which had gone through over 2000% inflation, the highest in the world. The new RBZ governor, the president and numerous other mouthpieces of the Zanu PF regime continue to parrot the line this ZiG currency was going to be stable because it is backed by Zimbabwe’s gold reserves.

But how much gold reserves are there and can we even trust this lot when it comes to gold? Do they really expect us to forget that not long ago a documentary on Al Jazeera showed that gold is being looted from the country with impunity? Zimbabweans are being expected to be reassured that the new currency is backed by the most precarious asset in the country. The mind boggles.

I think we are at a point where the regime actually doesn’t care about what we think. Most of what they say or do is egregious. They don’t care because they are in cruise control. They have pretty much eliminated the opposition. They are not hiding who they are. Convicted fraudsters who moonlight as runners for the regime are no longer lurking in the shadows – they are now being paraded next to the president, on trips across the country and to eminent African leaders.

There is no doubt, that Zimbabwe is now a full blown kleptocracy.