Muckraker just cannot stop thinking about the Zimbabwe Gold or the unfashionable ZiG, the new currency our owners foisted on us but cannot actually by the real gold!
Muck repeats his assertion that the biggest threat to ZiG’s survival remains the intransigence of our owners who are trying to ignore that their actions and policies pretty much tell us the poor souls all we need to know about their confidence in the new currency.
It’s not what they say in public or the number of threats and even arrest of the so-called black-market dealers that is going to convince us to use the ZiG or make it our currency of choice.
How can we have faith in a currency that has limited use in its own economy?
This is what the new man at the central bank had to say on the limited use of the new money: “We have 31 December 2030 as the date when the multi-currency arrangement comes to an end. We don’t want it to be an overnight event. We want to start building more and more demand for the Zimdollar such that maybe if we can do 70:30 by the end of this year. 70 percent being forex, 30 percent being local. Maybe 60:40 by the end 2025.
“When we get to 50:50 people will be indifferent as to which currency they are using and then when we get to 2030, we don’t even have to announce it. People will be using their ZiG and, in the process, as we travel along that path that’s when we will say maybe fuel can also be included in that commodity that can be sold in ZiG. We don’t want fuel ques. Things are working so let it be.”
Things are working, so let it be, he says. Except that which is working is not ZiG, but the greenback. So, what is the point of the new currency if things are working just fine without it?
Could it be that the people involved in the fuel business just do not want the inconvenience of going to look for the US dollars for fuel imports from the banks? Wouldn’t that qualify as a legitimate need?
What is good for the goose must be good for the gander.
So, if all legitimate needs for the USD must be processed through the banks, let the fuel companies also get their money from the banks, and we all start using the ZiG as the means of exchange in the country.
The Zimbabwe dollar (ZWL), was launched in June 2019, but had become worthless after losing over 99,99% in under five years.
ZiG will meet the same fate if our owners keep prevaricating on making it the dominant or sole currency of use in the domestic economy.
This is what the governor’s principal had to say on the same issue.
“I think in a democratic setup, in a free market set up, you can’t put the burden of prices on the Government. Prices must find their levels in a free market,” our owner said.
“Unless you want us to introduce socialism, then we determine that if you grow an orange, we give it a price. I think we are beyond that now.
If you grow oranges, you can sell them at the price you want. If another person is selling oranges, the one who is cheaper will sell more oranges.
“The market determines the price of the oranges. This is where we are going and this is what we are doing. You cannot ask us to give prices of what you produce.”
With all due respect sir, it’s not about the price of oranges! It's the principle.
Here is what is happening in the market right now.
The interbank exchange rate of the ZiG had firmed to Z$13,34 to the greenback, from Z$13,56 when it was launched.
Outside that system it is trading at Z$20:US$1 on the verdant streets while retailers are using the Z$14 to the greenback exchange rate.
The market is already heavily discounting the ZiG, and its less than a month old. By the time we get to 2030, there will not be any ZiG to save if past trends are anything to go by.
Muck could understand a transition period of, say three months, but not six years!
So, sirs, please get off your greedy troughs and actually save the ZiG, with proper policies, not politicking.
Last supper for Buhera?
So, all the big guns yesterday rolled into the dirty, dusty Murambinda as the country’s benevolent owner took his reeling Zany party people to the arid Buhera district where those in power had forgotten that the corner for the impoverished actually exists in their verdant land.
They rolled in in the top-of-the range GD6 double cabs, Toyota Fortuners, the new Ford Everests and other high-class vehicles that otherwise would not have been seen in lifetime for many rural folks of Buhera.
Buhera is one of the districts that are classified as impoverished in Zimbabwe and it just feels quite obscene that someone woke up and decided to go and dine in front of thousands of people facing imminent starvation due to the drought we are experiencing.
The memories of the last election campaigns may have influenced the poor people of Buhera because they knew that our owner wouldn’t miss a chance to give them a piece or two of chicken accompanied by the usual chips, or fries if you prefer.
Muck hopes the people at Munhumutapa sourced some vegetable seeds for the people who trudged to Murambinda B Secondary School for the celebrations, at least so they can get some gardening going afterwards.
Whose independence is it?
Muck was fortunate enough to experience the Independence Celebrations during the 1980s when the eve of the commemorations was like Christmas Eve. Then, the parents could even afford to save ahead of the celebrations. A beast or two would be slaughtered and the Independence Day was a day to celebrate. But, alas, like the Grinch who stole Christmas, the ruling few have taken away the joy that Independence used to be. There is nothing to celebrate anymore.
The day has become a reminder of how bad things have become since those heady days of the 1980s. At least the rural folks in Buhera had some chicken, in the urban areas, it was the usual daily grind of fighting to put food on the table.
Mutsvangwa’s foot in mouth, again
The Zany party’s mouthpiece, that sesquipedalian Christopher Mutsvangwa was at it again this week. He smiles when the country’s owner is around but we know there is that feeling in his gut, when he sees the leader. The man fired him a few months into his Cabinet posting. But calling your principal names is something else.
What brand of whiskey are we on these days?
Mr Strong ZiG?
What is that, some kind of sex drug?
The man needs to learn to stop talking in good time.