FOR each and every thing, there is a time to start and a time to end. It’s the case for Justice minister and Zvimba West MP Ziyambi Ziyambi, whose time as a Member of Parliament has come to an end.
After being floored by his opponent in the Zanu PF primary election, Ziyambi used his proximity to the centre of power to cause a re-run. But that did not save him. He even got lesser votes than he got in the first round.
Like his counterpart Justice Mayor Wadyajena (Gokwe-Nembudziya), legislators who lost out have done nothing wrong to their communities, but were victims of a dead economy.
Zimbabwe, a country of clueless leaders who only seek leadership positions to enrich themselves and their families, has one of the world’s worst-run economies. It is the most looted. We have a leadership that has no shame in what it does.
After doing nothing for the past four decades, they have the temerity to ask for another five-year term of office. But this time around, not all were lucky. Many fell with a heavy thud.
Ziyambi, Wadyajena, Enock Porusingazi and many others who fell by the wayside are victims of a non-functioning economy. Voters have nothing to show as the benefits from their representation.
In February, I went to Zumba and Kenzamba in Mashonaland West province. Driving around those areas is not an easy feat. The roads are so potholed that one needs to exercise extreme caution to negotiate through. There is nothing that resembles government commitment to developing the area.
Schools are in bad state in places like Guruve where I stay. There are no good roads in Guruve, from Mavare area to Chinhoyi as well as in areas such as Kachuta and Nyakapupu.
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Guruve North and South MPs lost to new politicians who made better promises to voters.
Guruve has one district hospital that services Guruve North and South constituencies. The hospital has one ambulance, which is used for administrative errands as well as transporting patients.
Already, those who won in the Zanu PF primaries are driving new vehicles courtesy of misplaced priorities, where politics comes ahead of everything else. This is painful.
All Zimbabweans must do justice by voting out Zanu PF, which has seen those close to power getting richer by the day while the masses are getting poorer.
All national resources have now been turned into Zanu PF property, they are being used to oil the ruling party’s campaign machinery so that it retains power.
Suppose it’s at a company, it doesn’t help sacking employees who make an effort to report for duty everyday, but are not given the materials to produce for the firm.
The chief executive officer should be fired for failing to capacitate the workers. It’s the same with the Zanu PF regime. Zimbabweans must get rid of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF party.
He is the country’s CEO, but he is failing to see to it that Zimbabwe prospers, so he must go.
There is general consensus that Zanu PF is renewing from within, but I don’t think that’s the case because those who lost are victims of expectations versus reality.
They promised a lot when they were elected, failed to make the promises a reality, and were punished for that. - Isaac Mupinyuri
Good news is we have a digital currency but allow us to trade our minerals
FROM primary to high school, we are told of the importance of minerals, but are ordinary Zimbabweans gaining anything from their country’s minerals?
The only currency that is stable is the mineral value in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe dollar is on its deathbed and that is why Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya is introducing a digital currency that is supported by gold.
We know the true value of gold and what is the true benefit of this gold to the nation.
We say Zimbabwe’s minerals and natural resources belong to the people and we continue to allow colonial and oppressive laws that do not allow the indigenous people to exploit their God-given resources.
Let us empower the people of Zimbabwe and allow them to trade in gold, diamond and any other minerals.
As one travels around Zimbabwe, you see areas that have mountains, hills and open spaces that have been dug or opened up by local and foreign geologists or miners.
It is normal to see local and international traders, some of them either buying from small-scale miners or simply delivering their minerals to Fidelity Printers and Refiners.
Statistically, the small-to-medium miners are the biggest contributors to Fidelity now.
In towns and cities like Kadoma, Chegutu and Kwekwe, most of the economic activities are funded and sponsored by proceeds of small-scale miners.
Seeing a hive of activity at some of Zimbabwe’s growth points, one would wonder where the money being spent comes from and to one’s surprise, the motto is that gold is “everywhere”.
With this in mind, why can’t our government utilise the use of gold, diamonds, and other resources as a means of barter trade and repeal the old colonial law that stopped citizens from trading in gold, diamond and other precious minerals?
What we need as a nation is simply for government and the RBZ governor to amend the mineral laws and fully empower our people by allowing us as citizens to trade in gold, diamonds, and any other mineral.
Zimbabwe is one of the richest countries on earth with respect to untapped natural resources.
Zimbabwe will be the fastest growing economy on earth in the next five years, yes five years time if this government changes the Minerals Act and removes the criminalisation of the majority who have the capacity to trade and/or buy the nation’s natural resources that are being exploited by the chosen few.
Going back to the digital currency and its hedging with Zimbabwe’s gold, some people argue that gold has no intrinsic value.
They say it is a barbaric relic with no monetary qualities.
They contend that in a modern economic environment, paper (or digital) currency is the money of choice, and that gold’s only worth is as a material for making jewellery.
At the other end of the spectrum are those who assert that gold is an asset with various intrinsic qualities that make it unique and necessary for investors to hold in their portfolios.
They believe that investors have as many reasons for investing in gold as there are gold investment vehicles.
The reasons behind RBZ’s hedging gold is because:
- Gold is perceived as a symbol of wealth, power, and majesty.
- Gold has had an exalted position throughout the ages as a highly coveted, even worshipped material.
- Gold has been used over millennia as jewellery and a means of exchange.
- Gold has an important economic role as a means of exchange should currency collapse.
- Gold is a store of value and thus an investment opportunity for individuals.
- Gold is rare and difficult to extract.
- Gold is malleable and can be formed as needed for use in, among others, electronics, dentistry, medical tools, and the defence, aerospace, and automotive industries.
- Gold is durable and noncorrosive.
- Gold has visual beauty and magnetic appeal.
With these facts, it proves that gold is the true value that this nation can benefit from. - Jacob Kudzayi Mutisi
