Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, John Mangudya has failed and if he is a man of integrity, he would resign as he promised to if his bond notes experiment did not succeed.
Bond notes were supposed to be the country’s saviour from cash shortages and were supposed to boost production, but they have done neither.
Instead, things have become far worse than they were last year, when Mangudya embarked on the bond note excursion, with prices spiralling and the shortages of fuel becoming the order of the day.
With no solution in sight, we can only fear for the worst, as shortages of fuel are likely to persist and God forbid, the country may soon not have enough foreign currency to import power.
We said this last year and we will repeat it: Bond notes are just cosmetic, they are tantamount to treating symptoms with scant regard given to the real ailment.
Instead of Mangudya trying to superficially solve the liquidity problems by introducing bond notes, he should have first dealt with the economic fundamentals, which are responsible for the problems the country faces.
We have a government that is fond of trinkets, luxuries and is greedy, which is responsible for the economic problems.
Government expenditure is unsustainable and unjustifiable given the circumstances and there is desperate need to address that.
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Authorities need to cut down on the wage bill and expenses, with the savings being directed to meaningful economic activity, but hell will freeze over before this government does that.
The government’s propensity for debt is quite shocking, as authorities do not hesitate to dip into public and private funds to whet their appetite for borrowing and largesse.
What is needed now is strict control of the public purse, where we only spend what we make because anything other than is tantamount to economic suicide.
These are the things that Mangudya should be telling the government, but he seems preoccupied with his bond notes strategy, which he is desperate to make work, even when all indicators point to it being a failure.
The country is in a worse off position now than it was a year ago, when Mangudya introduced the surrogate currency.
Daily maximum withdrawal limits have been reduced to a point that they are now laughable, while queues for cash continue to grow longer.
If Mangudya is an honourable man, he will accept that this has failed and walk away and hopefully someone with real solutions can take over from him.
