Zimbabwe’s black market economy;Mugabe to blame

Zimbabwe is a country with an inflation rate of over 2 million and the food inflation is incalculable as supermarket shelves are permanently empty.
- The Zimbabwe dollar has been on a free fall since 1997 when Mugabe decide to give the so-called war veterans £50 000 –00 each, without consulting the finance minister and the economists in the country.-  Banks were stretched to dish out the money, there was free spending, with some war veterans buying vegetables for livestock.

- From the date Friday 13 November 1997 the economy fell in the hands of the black market and reserve bank governors have not been able to get hold of it or come with any viable solution to it.

- Over the past 10 years we have seen fire-fighting measures being employed, half baked economic policies, of which one after the other they have all failed.

- Israel and Palestine have been at war since biblical times but do not have an inflation rate as bad as Zimbabwe’s, neither is there currency as worthless as Zimbabwe’s.

- It does not need an economist to identify the problems of this once great and vibrant economy. It is clear to all and sundry except those in power take away Robert Mugabe with his fiscal and monetary policies and you will bring back the economy on its feet.
Mugabe knows he is the root problem but because of what he has done, either maiming killings, rapes committed in the name of Zanu PF as his military, militias and thugs suppressed the opposition.

Take for example £1 equivalent to 150 trillion Zimbabwe dollars on the black market Did you ever dream that one day you would wake up and utter the word trillion. Well Mugabe is a miracle performer, he has brought all denominations to the point that we now have to look for an inventor to produce calculators special to the Zimbabwe situation. How cool is that BOB. You must be proud of yourself in a sick way.

The question on every Zimbabweans lips is who fuels this inflation and enables the black market to thrive. How is it possible that the reserve bank can issue a new currency today and within six hours of its issue the black market is already flooded with the new bill and you can even have suitcases full of the currency in neighbouring countries.

Such clandestine operations can only be done by those who are privy to the information and operations of the reserve bank. So the question is if the reserve bank is that leaky, can Gideon Gono be trusted in the position. Can Zanu PF be trusted as it is the Zanu PF government which has fuelled inflation and fed the black market. Can the Zanu PF government be trusted, when some of its rank and file are involved in this black market exchange.

Zimbabwe needs strong, practical, viable fiscal & monetary policies. Zimbabwe needs a radical, brutal overhaul to the economic situation, if it is to return to normalcy. The only way to succeed in doing this is by removing Mugabe, Gono, Zanu PF and their associates from the picture.

This article was written by Masumba Kadzviti and published in the Zimbabwejournalists.com

Masimba Kadzviti is in MDC activist based in the UK.