“There have been other worrying signs. At the
weekend, in a column for the Sunday Mail, Mnangagwa declared that illegal
foreign currency trade had become a "security issue". Mangudya was
also quoted in the press warning private companies illegally buying forex on
the black market,” reported newZWire.
“The Reserve Bank is increasingly unable to meet the forex demands of local companies, with the forex payments backlog at over $600 million. Mining firm RioZim has taken the unusual step of threatening a lawsuit because the central bank is not meeting its pledges to provide forex. Threats from Mnangagwa and Mangudya are therefore clearly out-of-place, as they both know there wouldn't be a black market if there was enough forex to go around.”
“The Reserve Bank is increasingly unable to meet the forex demands of local companies, with the forex payments backlog at over $600 million. Mining firm RioZim has taken the unusual step of threatening a lawsuit because the central bank is not meeting its pledges to provide forex. Threats from Mnangagwa and Mangudya are therefore clearly out-of-place, as they both know there wouldn't be a black market if there was enough forex to go around.”
NewZWire is 100% correct there; of course,
there would be no black market trading in foreign currency if there was no forex
shortage.
Indeed, it is nonsense to call it a black
market. Zimbabwe is using a multi-currency system and therefore everyone is
free to trade in anyone of the many currencies. Note, this free trade includes trading
in the different currencies themselves. Until 2009 the Z$ was the only legal
currency and only authorised dealers were allowed to sell and buy all other
foreign currency.
“Mnangagwa has sold himself at home and abroad as the "steady and firm hand" that the country needs,” continued NewZWire report.
“Mnangagwa has sold himself at home and abroad as the "steady and firm hand" that the country needs,” continued NewZWire report.
Yes, he did but has already proven that he is
not to be trusted. Mnangagwa promised to end corruption and has done very little
about it. Like Mugabe before him, he has proven to be a reckless spender.
Zimbabwe’s present forex shortage resulting in the shortage of basic
commodities such as food, fuel and drugs is Mnangagwa’s own making in that ever
since coming to power he has been spending money on new cars for Chiefs and
Zanu PF officials, he squandered $1.4 million on a chartered plane for Grace
Mugabe, etc.
When Mnangagwa failed to hold free, fair and
credible election, as promised, that was the last straw that broke the camel’s back
as far as the international community and the would-be investors and lenders were
concerned.
He and his cronies can continued to crow “Zimbabwe
is open for business!” in their colourful trademark scarfs. They are just wasting
their breathe; the much hoped for flood of investors they are expecting would never
happen. Investors do not do business in a pariah state in which the next regime
change has to be yet another military coup or violent street protests.
Mnangagwa has shown himself to be just another
corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging tyrant, another Robert Mugabe in all but
name, as one UK MP, Kate Hoey, rightly pointed out.
“Without doubt the election has been cleverly
rigged but even worse is the fact that it is the military that is behind the
regime and they are now unleashing a similar fear and terror campaign on leading
opposition activists and curbing all protests by killing and arresting innocent
Zimbabweans,” wrote MP Hoey, following her trip to Zimbabwe to observe the
elections.
“The
courage and self-sacrifice of the Zimbabwean people is humbling to behold. We,
in the international community cannot accept the result of the election and the
UK government must take a lead to ensure that the Zimbabwean government is seen
for what it is a mark 2 Mugabe regime and one that deserves no support
whatsoever.”
The real tragedy here is President Mnangagwa
and his regime are dragging the nation through yet another period of tough
economic turmoil of hyperinflation, commodity shortages, etc. The economic
chaos is causing heart-breaking human suffering and hardships. Sadly, it is all
for nothing, there will be no meaningful economic recovery; not as long as
Zimbabwe remains a pariah state.
After 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu
PF rule that has brought economic ruin and human misery we must now admit this
is not working and address the elephant in room – the vote rigging Zanu PF
dictatorship.
By rigging elections, Mnangagwa et al dragged
us back into this pariah state mess of Mugabe years. They are holding the
nation hostage. They are committing high treason and they must held to account.
No one, absolutely no one, is above the law. And this time we must hold them to
account or there is no end to this nightmare.
If Mnangagwa and his junta are allowed to stay
in power to the next election in 2023; they will rig those elections too and
extend their stay in power. Zanu PF will never “reform itself out of office” as
Professor Jonathan Moyo once admitted.
Zanu PF rigged the 30 July 2018 elections, this
regime is, per se, illegitimate. The regime must step down to allow the
implementation of democratic reforms, the holding of fresh free, fir and
credible elections and thus allow the nation to finally shed off its pariah
state curse!
We must end the political insanity of Zanu PF thugs
ridding roughshod over our freedoms, rights, hopes and dreams of a life with
dignity! Mnangagwa and his thugs are mortals, not Gods, and the idea that they
can commit treason repeatedly and get away with it is an outrage that must not
be allowed to continue another day!
9 comments:
@ Spotlight
One of the military generals, who currently holds a key cabinet post and sits in JOC is said to have told Mnangagwa that: "Security forces do not want a repeat of the shootings in August, and that they will not intervene by having to be forced to shoot unarmed and angry civilians, to save him."
The general's account has been corroborated by the former minister in Mugabe's cabinet, who held a sensitive security portfolio.
"They (military chiefs) don't want to order their troops to go to war with civilians," the minister said. "Unlike the unfortunate events of November 2017 where they had no choice, the army does not want to be deployed to save this government, should people engage in a peaceful mass uprising. That is why you see the finance minister busy, he is firefighting the situation and Mnangagwa has told him to find an economic bailout package for Zimbabwe, should they fail to contain the situation."
President Mnangagwa will find telling his Minister of Finance to find the bailout package easier said than done! Zimbabwe is pariah state ruled by thugs with a panache and unquenchable thirst for three things;
1) absolute power, they have developed a state-of-art rigging machinery including cheating, intimidation and cold blooded murder
2) they love wealth and good living, they are big spenders and have creamed off all the nation's wealth and resource and sunk the nation under a mountain of debt and still they want more.
3) Like all big spenders they are totally indifferent to the suffering and deaths of the impoverished majority and they hate paying their debts!
Who, in his or her right mind would want to bankroll our big spenders. If they did they can be certain the regime will soon be back, not to repaid the bailout, to ask for more! Unlike Charles Dicken's Oliver Twist who said please, they know not such words!
Very true, JOC has been the one wielding all the real power in Zimbabwe for a long time. Whenever JOC felt that the nation was getting to a rebellious point JOC has stepped up and thrown one of its own plus a few other scapegoats to appease the public as happened last November. JOC is just telling Mnangagwa it will not hesitate to throw him and a few others just to appease the public.
What JOC members are failing to realise is that the people were easily fooled last time, there is no guarantee they will be easily fooled again this time. People are hungry for real and democratic change and no more of these falsehoods!
The people know Zanu PF rigged the recent elections and JOC played its usual big part in that. The people want Zanu PF to step aside to allow the implementation of democratic reforms followed by the holding of free and fair elections.
Throwing Mnangagwa and a few others will be good but not good enough, the JOC itself must go!
Economist and former opposition parliamentarian Eddie Cross told Al Jazeera that despite panic, the new measures could eventually lead to stability.
"There's no way we could have avoided this because we've got a high proportion of our economy that's informal, so we have to tax that sector. The new tax taxes everybody and I think it's a much more equitable tax than the tax on incomes.
"This (transaction tax) is a stabilisation measure, but we have to move to the next phase where we can fix pricing relationships and stop the hikes," he said.
In other words Mr Eddie Cross believes that even those living in abject poverty must be taxed. The truth is this will make the poor even poorer. When 79% of the population are living on US$1.00 or less a day forcing them to live on US$0.99 or less a day is inhuman particularly when the addition funds are to bankroll the extravagant lifestyles of the ruling elite.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who narrowly won a disputed election in July, has called for calm and assured the nation that although there is no swift remedy to the liquidity problems, the state has the situation under control.
"Whatever some may claim, there are no silver bullets or quick fixes. There is no need to panic, and government is guaranteeing the availability of all essential commodities, including fuel," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Zimbabwe needs a bailout loan to tide over whilst the country sorts out its economic problems and restart its economy. The international community will have extended the bridging funding was it not for President Mnangagwa and his junta giving everyone the middle finger and blatantly rig the recent elections. The would-be investors have also shied away because pariah states are notoriously unstable both politically and economically - as the present economic chaos already testify.
If we are serious about solving our economic mess then we must first solve our political problem of pariah state.
"Cabinet resolved that manufacturers and suppliers of basic commodities, medical drugs and services should revert back to prices that recognise the guaranteed convertibility of bond notes and RTGS balances to the US dollar on a 1:1 ratio," Mutsvangwa said.
What is the point of government insisting the trader and the ordinary people must use the official 1:1 exchange rate from US$ to Bond Notes when the Banks will not pay these people in US$ but Bond Notes. People cannot pay for their imports using Bond Notes and the only other source of US$ is from street dealers.
As things stand, there will be very few people who be depositing their US$ at the Bank and very few people would want to be paid in Bond Notes - certainly not at the official exchange rate. This is just chaos and the ordinary people, at the coal face, are the ones who are suffering the most!
Whatever government has borrowed to pay for the imports, it will be back to borrow some more as long as Zimbabwe continue to import more than it exports - one does not need a degree in anything to see that!
Churches have been trying to bring the two to the negotiating table, to end the political paralysis gripping the country. So the story reported by this publication on Tuesday that the proposed talks between the two have collapsed make a sad reading. Many people had hoped that the talks between the two antagonising figures would bring an end to the issue of political illegitimacy that is stalking the country and make work to turn around the country's economic fortunes a lot easier.
Mnangagwa is the leader of the country and he definitely needs the legitimacy to run the country more than anything else. Elections alone cannot guarantee him the legitimacy he needs without the endorsement of the opposition so that the country can pull in one direction.
This is just wishful thinking. Mnangagwa is illegitimate not because Chamisa refused to publicly endorse him as the winner but because anyone KNOWS the elections were rigged. By rigging the elections Mnangagwa confirmed Zimbabwe is still a pariah state and no investors, lenders, etc. would want to do business in such a country.
Chamisa has boasted that MDC Alliance has "the key to unlock the economy", that is the usual posturing and grandstanding. Mnangagwa can appoint him Prime Minister or whatever it is he wants that will change nothing. The economic meltdown will continue because everyone will see the new arrangement as nothing but a marriage of convenience and continue to regard Zimbabwe as a pariah state.
Mnangagwa can strip search Chamisa if he wished but I can tell you he will never find the key to unlock the economy because Chamisa does not have such a key!
Holding free, fair and credible elections will remove the pariah state curse. That is the key to unlock Zimbabwe's economic recovery, if you want, the only key!
NewZWire is 100% correct there; of course, there would be no black market trading in foreign currency if there was no forex shortage.
Who would buy forex from the "illegal" forex dealer at the expensive unofficial exchange rate when they could get all the forex they want from the legal traders, such as the Banks. at the cheaper official exchange rate?
I agree, anyone trading in any of the currencies which are official legal tender in Zimbabwe are do so legally, trading the forex at another rate other than the official exchange rate is no worse than giving a tip!
The very fact that the regime is now seeking to harass innocent people to cover up for its own political and economic failures goes to show just how inapt the regime is!
@ Surprise Ncube
"Can you justify how the election was rigged?"
How else can one explain why ZEC failed to release a verified voters' roll and failed to provided traceable and verifiable election results although these are all legal requirements?
I think you should read for yourself the EU Election Observer Mission's final report and you will see why there cannot be any other logical reason for what happen other than the obvious one - Zanu PF blatantly rigged the elections. You can read the Executive Summary on zsdemocrats.blogspot.co.uk and there you will find a link to the full report.
Zanu PF rigged the 30 July 2018 elections and if the regime is still in office come 2023 elections, the party will rig those elections too!
After 38 years of rigged elections the challenge for this nation is how to put an end to this curse. It is obvious that if Zanu PF is still in office to manage the 2023 elections, the regime will rig those elections too. The challenge therefore is to ensure Zanu PF is removed from office BEFORE 2023, no if no but REMOVE THE THUGS FROM OFFICE OR THE CURSE OF RIGGED ELECTIONS WILL REMAIN!
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