AS schools open today, Zimbabwe’s tough economic times are again being laid bare.
Almost every home in the country has a school-going child and it is proving a tough call for most families to keep their children in school, given that the bulk of breadwinners are being paid in the Zimbabwe dollar which barely still has life after its premature rebirth in February 2019.
The Zimdollar has been having it rough on the market, especially the parallel, which unfortunately calls the shots in the southern African nation where leaders insist on implementing economic measures that hardly inspire confidence in the local currency.
Both public and private schools are demanding that the larger portion of schools fees be paid in United States dollars which many parents are not earning. Some schools have outrightly rejected Zimdollar transactions because the unit is no longer sustainable.
The distraught parents are being forced to source the US dollars on the parallel market where rates have shot through the roof.
To source the foreign currency on the official market is a tall order because the money is just not there, yet nearly 100% of transactions in the country are now being conducted in US dollars.
Keep Reading
- A celebration of being together
- School of sport: For everything there is a season
- Moot team extends begging bowl
- School of sport: MAN UNITED IN GLORY
As much as everyone would like to support government efforts to bring sanity to the country’s financial market, we feel monetary authorities are either getting it wrong somewhere or someone is holding a gun on their heads to force them to implement policies and measures that do not make economic sense.
Government, through monetary authorities, is steadfastly refusing to redollarise the Zimbabwean economy as if officials do not know the wonders brought by such a move between 2009 and 2013.
It boggles the mind why government is insisting on trying to prop up a dead horse called Zimdollar. Redollarising the economy would help bring a lot of relief to many struggling Zimbabweans who are now failing to feed themselves and provide such basics as education to their children.
While we all love the idea of us using our own money for the sovereignty reasons, it, however, does not make sense to insist on this when we are failing to breathe life into our Zimdollar.
We are even promoting the use of gold as a medium of exchange at the expense of our beloved currency. It is about time our government spared a thought for the suffering people of Zimbabwe as far as the Zimdollar is concerned.