TODAY marks the last day of 2024, a dramatic year that has left the country unsure about its path getting into the new year.
The biggest of them all was the ditching of the RTGS currency, which was replaced by the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) in April, touted as the panacea to the currency crisis and inflation.
It has proved to be anything but.
Less than five months after its introduction, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) announced a massive devaluation of the ZiG.
The official devaluation on September 27 came a few weeks after the government started pushing for de-dollarisation.
In an attempt to inspire confidence in the transacting public immediately after its release, central bank governor John Mushayavanhu said the the ZiG would be a success that would “silence all the doubting Thomases.”
“Why can we not accept this new currency that we have? As Zimbabweans, we need to work together to make this currency stable and work,” he said at the time.
“We have suffered from hyperinflation and we sat down as RBZ and the Ministry of Finance, the parent ministry and we came up with this structured currency which is backed by gold and other precious metals.
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“Going forward, the exchange rate is going to be market determined. I did tell you that the starting rate for ZiG was 13,56, but yesterday the market determined and ZiG strengthened to 13,53. That is the way we want it.
“The central bank also has enough resources to intervene if we think that the exchange rate is going out of hand.”
Immediately after that came jingles to curry favour in the use of the ZiG.
Mr Governor, please come back to your senses and remember that any currency does not need jingles or sermons, prayers, etc.
What is needed are structural reforms.
Then there is the ED2030 campaign, where Zanu PF activists claiming loyalty to President Emmerson Mnangagwa are pushing to extend his term to 2030.
Constitutionally, his term should end in 2028 and any attempts by the government or the ruling party to amend the Constitution to extend Mnangagwa’s term are of no use to him as he cannot be a beneficiary of the same, according to the supreme law of the land.
Apparently, there is a dangerously devilish thought in every one of us, whereby we want to assume power and wish we could stay on forever.
We hope the same dangerous thought will not, any time soon, start tingling in the President’s head, judging by the fact that he has stated — three times and in front of the world — that when his term comes to an end, he wants to retire.
If that thought does dance around in your head, we implore you, Mr President, to come back to your senses and honour your promise.
We cannot talk about the excitable characters pushing for Mnangagwa’s prolonged stay in power, save to say they are clamouring for attention and want to extend their ride on the gravy train.
Otherwise they are just a bunch of time wasters.
Then there is Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion minister Mthuli Ncube, whose penchant for always hiking or coming up with new taxes every other year is exasperating.
If we are not careful, soon Mr FinMin, you will start taxing everyone in this beautiful nation of the oxygen they breathe, if at all the taxes haven’t been bundled together with some of those out-of-third-world taxes you suggested during your 2025 National Budget presentation.
