Zimbabwe has announced that it will now have targeted subsidies for locals.

It will have mealie meal coupons for what it decides are vulnerable people across all provinces.

Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said this:

A targeted coupon scheme for the vulnerable is in the offing with the compilation of a database at an advanced stage

Who is in that database is not clear as the policy was just announced without the public being educated via mass distribution systems as far as we know of where one can register for the coupons. On top of that, nothing is said of one gets onto this database which prompted the biggest opposition party MDC to say the targeted people for subsidies wouldbe members of Zanu-pf.

The politics aside, the coupons themselves create another path for corruption. The subsidies themselves had essentially made a commodity like mealie meal a currency of its own, with those accessing it reselling the product for more.

The same way fuel coupons in the 2000s and now became a form of payment a coupon could become something that can be exploited as well. The corrupt will simply get a book of coupons and sell them off for say $50. With fuel officially at $70 as the government chases the black market price for some reason, a person will find a $20 save as significant. And if coupon maize is more guaranteed than the one in the shop because it is vulnerable people who are targeted it will make it gold dust.

With Zimbabwe obsessing about how it is a mono-currency, finding other ways for people to trade seems like a walk in a different directions.

This move also balkanises the population by parceling it out distinctly by those who can access certain products other than others. Whereas in other countries social services that support the most vulnerable have clear statutes, procedures and are backed by laws, this feels a little made up in a fit of panic.

The appetite for the dangerous in this economy is a bit strange.