By Henry Madiro- The Zimbabwean situation has been worsened by a clueless central bank, finance minister minister who is myopic and a government that only serves the interests of a few..
When the bond note was introduced it was meant to prop the United States dollar and provide change to easy the doing of business by transacting public. Some of us who had foresight we protested against this.
We even tried to explain the obvious but it fell on deaf ears or the Reserve Bank governor was just ignorant. He pointed out that he would retire if the bond note failed but alas he is still there compounding our problems.
The Reserve Bank since it was made the bank of last resort it looted the Nostro accounts of all banks.
This was done systematically whilst they introduced the bond slowly. The US dollars vanished from the banks and they started dishing out the bond notes to selected runners so that they buy foreign currency from the streets.
The tobacco farmers lost their earnings when the interbank was introduced. It was deliberately done in a way that the farmers lost everything and most of them are unable to go back to the fields this coming season. The new notes would be drip fed into the economy however not through banks but through runners and the black market.
It is only i’ Zimbabwe that one has to buy money from the streets. Banks can no longer dispense cash. The Civil servants and the common worker are the ones who bear the brunt of this chicannery. Indeed it is the clueless Reserve Bank that has worsened our situation in Zimbabwe.
When he was tipped of the vacancy at the treasury Mthuli Ncube became agitated and spoke like a wise man from the East. Everyone’s hope was raised that the messiah was coming to liberate us.
He is seen in a video stating that the first thing he would do was to remove the bond note which he believed was bad money that was driving bad money out of the economy. We were very hopeful indeed but little did we know that this professor was myopic and ignorant of economics.
A high school teacher would be a better economic minister.
Soon after his appointment he made reckless statements that so business and people losing confidence and prices started shooting up. The most affected was the pensioner, followed by the Civil servants and then the common man.
The myopic minister did not stop it was like giving a whistle to a mad puppeteerHe continued make trials and errors at the expense of the common man. Because he had paid the bill for the scarfman in Switzerland at Davos he remained in his post until today.
This small man is worse than a village idiot because everyone in the village knows. We are patiently waiting for his second budget but alas what can a village idiot produce that can benefit the common man. His fellow jesters in the ruling party are beginning to see the light and are starting to ask questions.
The government of Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa has proven that it is anti people. It has failed to provide its own money to the transacting public. It has become an oligarchy with its main aim to satisfy the greedy cartels. It seems the government is no longer for the people but for the few. Deliberately it is making sure that those few milk our country dry leaving us the poor citizenry in a sorry state.
I am wondering whether my father who lost his life in the struggle was fighting for us to struggle and wallow in poverty as we are doing today. May his soul rest in peace.
Zimbabwe is a rich country endowed with both natural and human resources but due to poor policies and Mal governance we have been overtaken by Rwanda a country that came out of civil strife. Our government has to self introspect and make sure it does the right things for us to enjoy the fruits of our country.
It is a shame that we have the most educated populace in Africa and the world yet our leadership can’t consult and come up with policies that lift us from this quagmire we are in.
It is my belief that Zimbabwe has the potential to come out of its doldrums if the Reserve Bank plays it right on currency issues. We can do it if we disappoint Mthuli Ncube and appoint even a high school economic teacher who is well versed with our problems.
Lastly our government has to smell the coffee and stop propping the cartels and be a government that serves the interests of the people. Let’s remind these guys that we cannot have banks that do not dispense cash and businesses that sell cash.
We are tied of having our graduates working as money changers. We want you as a government to remember the grievances of the second Chimurenga and realign yourself towards fulfilling those dreams.
You still have a chance to stand up and counted as the government that returned to the founding principles of the liberation struggle. Sure even the Rhodesian government under sanctions had money for its citizens. Maybe the cash shortages are attributed to sanctions too.
Henry Madiro is a politician social commentator and a concerned citizen. Writes in his own right on issues affecting his community.