IN the art of war, once one decides to go on the offence and they believe they have the wherewithal to defeat their enemy, their attack has to be resolute, sustained and unwavering.
When Reserve Bank (RBZ) governor, John Mushayavanhu assumed the RBZ hot seat, one of the first things he did was to immediately declare war on the currency black market vowing: “What I can tell you is that the days of illegal money changers are numbered,” a declaration of war whose only evidence so far is the 65 illegal money changers arrested recently in Harare.
Meanwhile, the real black market lords and barons have dug deep into their underground bunkers where they have regrouped and are busy strategising their return to the battlefield because this industry is a worldwide phenomenon which monetary authorities fight on a daily basis.
We would, therefore, like to advise Mushayavanhu that the war he has declared on this industry has to be resolute, determined and unflinching.
In this light, we are, however, sincerely worried that the man is taking forever to unleash his key arsenal to fight the parallel market, which is the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency.
Weeks of waiting for the currency may soon turn to months, giving his enemy or enemies, to be precise, the chance to regroup and refuel. And proof that they are doing so is the current ZiG virtual money transactions conducted via mobile money accounts and bank cards which are slowly starting to weaken the new currency.
A currently circulating joke: “Tinotenga maZiG akabvaruka (We buy torn ZiGs)” could soon prove true and seal the currency’s fate if the RBZ keeps taking its sweet time to act on the new currency.
We understand that the ZiG notes and coins have been printed and are ready for the market, but we genuinely wonder why they are still locked up somewhere in the RBZ vaults?
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Past experience has taught us that the black market has been the first to access new notes from the RBZ, which is now making us suspect that maybe the central bank is not confident enough that the ZiG will be safe on our streets.
This pussyfooting around by the RBZ could, however, prove a baneful blunder because once the market devises its own coping mechanisms it will become so comfortable that it will jeopardise ZiG’s chances of being fully accepted.
As we speak, the southern half of the country is now comfortably transacting in United States dollars and South African rand, having been doing so long before the Zimdollar met its fate. The northern half of the country is mainly trading in the US dollar and resorting to various means and ways to work around challenges of transactions involving smaller denominations.
We honestly fear that by the time the ZiG notes and coins are availed they will struggle to gain traction because the nation is currently moving on without it.
Another serious concern we have is that Zimbabwe is now largely an informal economy, which, ironically, is sustained by the black market.
We are, therefore, keenly waiting to see how Mushayavanhu and his team will navigate this minefield which could prove to be a Trojan horse for our monetary authorities.
The long and short of our predicament is that our monetary authorities cannot afford to keep being coy by shilly-shallying about allowing us to trade in the new ZiG currency.
