Kiya kiya re-dollarisation will never end the economic meltdown not whilst Zimbabwe remains a pariah state N Garikai

When President Mnangagwa announced the scrapping of the US$ and other foreign currency as legal tender in Zimbabwe it was done as a patriotic act. The announcement was accompanied by the usual pomp ceremony, song and dance. This was few moons ago.

On Monday, 27 June 2022, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube announced the US$ was back as legal tender.

"The market lacks confidence that the multi-currency system is here to stay for the foreseeable future. To eliminate speculation and arbitrage based on this issue, the government has decided to embed the multi-currency system and the continued use of the US dollar into law for a period of five years," explained the Minister.

The announcement came as no surprise at all as the nation has been trading in the US$ for some time already given the volatility of the local currency fuelled by inflation which has nearly doubled in the last four weeks alone to 200%.

This is crisis management, “kiya kiya” as one would call it in Shona, at its chaotic worst. If it was sound economic policy to abandon the multi-currency system a few months ago, why the U-turn? What has changed?

The truth is Zimbabwe is a pariah state governed by corrupt, incompetent and lawless thugs who have been rigging elections to stay in power. It is notoriously difficult to do business in pariah state and hence the country’s economic meltdown that has lasted these last two decades and counting.

The lack of confidence in the Zimbabwe local currency, Z$, hence the soaring inflation is a symptom of the lack of confidence in the country’s economic and political system. The economy is in total meltdown and political paralysis as both the ruling party and the coterie of opposition parties have corrupt and incompetent leaders who hunger for power and wealth is insatiable.

“These people (Zanu PF regime) are taking us to depths of unfathomable economic malaise never seen in the history of our country,” remarked Tendai Biti, VP of CCC and former Minister of Finance in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. He was commenting on Minister Ncube’s statement on dollarisation.

True enough, Zanu PF dragged the nation to new depths of economic depravity as the country’s inflation soared peaking at nauseating 500 billion percent in 2008. There is fear inflation is going to rise above the present 200% as the regime’s usual vote buying schemes go into overdrive in view of the coming 2023 elections.

Tendai Biti epitomises what is wrong with Zimbabwe’s our opposition politicians – they have a knack for reminding us all how miserable we all are under Zanu PF tyrannical rule and yet have failed to carry out the important task of dismantling the Zanu PF dictatorship and, with it, end the pariah state.

Tendai Biti was the MDC-T chief negotiator in the team headed by SADC who produced the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA)that set up and tasked the 2008 to 2013 GNU to implement the raft of democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship. As MDC-T chief’s negotiator Tendai Biti, of all people, must have known about the reforms, their importance and, most important of all, how they were to be implemented.  

It is most disheartening that MDC leaders have failed to implement even one democratic reform in 22 years on the political centre stage, 5 of which in the GNU. Worse still, it is MDC/CCC leaders who are giving Zanu PF legitimacy by insisting on participating in the flawed elections against repeated advice not to.

Zanu PF’s kiya kiya re-dollarisation will not end the economic meltdown not without ending curse of rigged elections first. Sadly, neither Zanu PF nor CCC have the common sense much less the political will and vision to implement the requisite democratic reforms and guarantee the country’s first ever free, fair and credible elections.