A REPORT carried by this newspaper on Tuesday that Zimbabweans had to sell household property to buy food during the festive season makes for sad reading.
The actions by self-serving politicians are reducing people who would otherwise be successful and self-sustaining to beggars because they don’t want to address the causes of Zimbabwe’s crisis.
The reason behind the reluctance is apparent.
They know that the longer Zimbabwe remains in economic and financial chaos, the more they benefit individually.
A volatile currency has seen the emergence of a thriving black market, which is handling millions as it caters for less connected persons, while the elite access cheap foreign currency on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) auction market.
This money is manipulated to generate more riches for those in the circles of power.
In 2020, RBZ published a list of black market dealers with a view to punish them.
Within a month, the zeal fizzled out, and known parallel market dealers were left to roam the streets as they please, with the authorities left to police WhatsApp groups for the small fish.
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The truth is the big black market dealers that have grounded the economy are employed and controlled by the politically-connected.
Like in gold, where millions are siphoned yearly, these looters are untouchable.
Their backers are powerful and ruthless.
But consequences of the chaos they have caused are clear.
Banks have run out of cash — Zimbabwe is one of the few countries experiencing cash shortages at banks.
The domestic currency has been battered from all fronts and it is shedding value at a terrifying pace.
It has depreciated by 15% this month alone, after falling by 70% during the first nine months of 2022.
Formal businesses have run out of foreign currency, and inflation, while declining, is still extremely high at 255%.
The highest such rate in Africa, and one of the highest in the world, comparing to the likes of Argentina and Sri Lanka.
As a result, firms are struggling, and are continually shedding jobs to make ends meet.
With job cuts an inevitability for formal employers, the jobless and those in the informal sector are contending with skyrocketing prices.
This is why they resorted to selling assets to buy food this festive season.
Parents cannot watch their children suffer, or fail to enjoy the festivities with others.
It is government’s fault that they ended up disposing of their assets, instead of grappling with the humiliation of failing to provide.
What this means is very clear.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government must go back to the drawing board.
Citizens need more action and less talk, especially now as we head towards the crucial plebiscite in 2023.
