South African football giants Kaizer Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp has expressed anger over Zimbabwe’s use of Khama Billiat in two Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Botswana and Zambia while he carried an injury.

BY FORTUNE MBELE

Billiat failed a fitness test on Saturday and could not play for Amakhosi who lost 2-1 to Maritzburg United in the semi-final of the Telkom Knock-Out Cup at Mombela Stadium on Sunday.

Judas Mosemaesdi powered Maritzburg United (home to Zimbabweans Clive Augusto and Gabriel Nyoni) to the Telkom Knock-Out final with a brace, scoring in either half, while Kaizer Chiefs got their consolation goal in the second half through Yagan Sasman. Augusto and Nyoni did not play in that match.

The Warriors’ talisman Billiat starred for the Zimbabwe senior men’s national team, notching a brace in the 2-1 win over Zambia’s Chipolopolo at the National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka last Tuesday.

He had also featured in the goalless draw against The Zebras of Botswana on November 15 at the National Sports Stadium in Harare and Midderndop asserts Billiat was nursing a hamstring injury that could have aggravated while he was on national duty.

The German mentor is upset he could not use the attacker against Maritzburg United.

“It’s upsetting. He definitely went already with a tight hamstring into two national team games, but there is nothing we can do. He played against Botswana and was already playing with pain,” Midderndop told South African media.

Billiat failed a late fitness test on Saturday and was ruled out of the Telkom semi-final.

“He came back despite this and played in Zambia and it was not possible (to get him ready to play against Maritzburg United). We tried on Saturday afternoon with a late (fitness) test, but it was impossible to bring him in,” Middendorp said.

Kaizer Chiefs lead the pack in Absa Premier Soccer League with 28 points in 11 games, 10 points ahead of Mamelodi Sundowns and tonight they take on Stellenbosch at Cape Town Stadium and the Zimbabwean might also miss that game.

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FC PLATINUM gaffer Lizwe Sweswe has now set his sights on the Caf Champions League group stage where they are set to start their Group B flirtation with an away trip to Sudan for a date with Al Hilal.

BY TERRY MADYAUTA

Sweswe says the bruising Castle Lager Premier Soccer League race has given them a perfect warm-up as they prepare to plunge into an unfamiliar Sudanese terrain.

Egyptian giants Al Ahly and Etoile Du Sahel of Tunisia are also part of the group.

On paper, FC Platinum appear like the minnows of this group, but Sweswe is not concerned about that rating.

“The race has been nervous, but enough to give us a motivation to do better on the continent,” Sweswe said.

“We are in a tough group, but we are not reading too much into history and big names. We are just focusing on our games so that we also improve on our previous performance in this tournament.

“This trip will obviously be tough, considering that we are going to play in an unfamiliar terrain in terms of weather, but we are just hoping for a positive result.”

Their first appearance in the group stages, then under the tutelage of Norman Mapeza, was grim after they only managed a meagre two points with two goals under their belt.

However, having scored seven goals in their preliminaries against UD Songo and Big Nyasa Bullets, the former Tsholotsho mentor is confident of improvement this time around.

The platinum miners have also been boosted by the return of midfield workhorse Kelvin Madzongwe from injury, although the duo of Lameck Nhamo, Perfect Chikwende remain on the treatment bed ahead of the Al Hilal encounter.

The post FC Platinum shift focus appeared first on NewsDay Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe had a crazy weekend, a really wild one. Retired General Costantino Chiwenga, the chief architect of the November 2017 coup that toppled the now late long-time ruler, Robert Mugabe, stealthily came back from China, sending social media speculations into over-drive.

Chiwenga, the man, who swapped the camouflage for a civilian suit, spent four months at a high-security military hospital in China battling an undisclosed illness and many speculated about his demise or being shoved down the pecking order in Zanu PF power echelons.

On the other hand, the economy had been on a southward dive, driving many into abject poverty to the extent of imagining another coup. A coup many believed could be led once again by Chiwenga. He is the only man, many perceive to have the spine, to stand up to President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Scenarios were drawn and redrawn as his return was said to be imminent. Zanu PF provincial structures had started rooting for Mnangagwa to run again in 2023, against the speculation that started in 2017 that he would be a one-term President, handing the reins to Chiwenga after a cooling off period from donning the military fatigues.

Chiwenga’s return was dramatic. No prior announcement, no senior government officials to welcome him back, except Chinese embassy officials. When the 2017 coup happened, Chiwenga had just returned from China and many saw this as a second coming.

Is it that Mark Zuckerberg’s social media platforms, Facebook and WhatsApp, have changed the way people relate, debate or communicate on serious issues? The fact that people can hide behind anonymity has spurned a whole new media category for click-baiting and fake news.

Some scholars in new media technology have come up with the theory of echo chamber which is defined as: “A metaphorical description of a situation in which beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition inside a closed system”.

Scholars Seth Freeman, Sharad Goel and Justin M Rao in the journal Public Opinion Quarterly wrote: “Social networks and search engines are associated with an increase in the mean ideological distance between individuals.

“However, somewhat counter-intuitively, these same channels also are associated with an increase in an individual’s exposure to material from his or her less preferred side of the political spectrum.”

They more importantly noted: “The vast majority of online news consumption is accounted for by individuals simply visiting the home pages of their favourite, typically mainstream, news outlets, tempering the consequences — both positive and negative — of recent technological changes.”

This may ring true to many Zimbabweans. People are always glued to their favourite WhatsApp groups, Facebook pages and some online news sites. Zimbabwe has become a textbook echo chamber example. Another media scholar, Grant Blank said: “It turns out, if you look at media generally and you ask people what media do you trust, and then you rank the media in terms of trust, social media is at the very bottom of trustworthiness in terms of news.”

However, Zimbabweans have placed their faith in social media just as they did with charismatic prophets and celebrity politicians, without having grounded beliefs or ideological prisms from which they look at issues, simply because of desperation.

Over the months, I have seen many people retweet, like and share even an “Amen” on social media.

Probably it’s time the country goes back to basics and the mainstream media start rendering a better service to the paying public, verifying information and publishing facts than editorialised news. It is surprising that Zimbabwe, with so many people earning Doctor of Philosophy degrees (PhDs), the majority are still afraid to become public intellectuals, writing their views in public, because of polarisation or simply for the reason that they don’t care or are imbedded in certain political parties.

There are no public discussion forums that are simply for Zimbabweans to discuss their own issues without being prodded by donors. Of the few public discussions that are held in Harare, many degenerate into public mudslinging by the panellists.

Probably, Chiwenga’s return and the subsequent realignment of expectations by Zimbabweans after his first public statement will remind citizens of the false dawn of November 2017.

This would push the people to accept even begrudgingly that “revolutions shall not be televised” and that revolutions should be based on ideas, not simply hatred of people.

As life gets harder, Zimbabweans should remember that by staying in echo chambers they are simply trying to fit in, share a communal catharsis and at the end of the day they are worse off than yesterday.

Paidamoyo Muzulu is a journalist and writes here in his personal capacity. He can be contacted on muzulu.p@gmail.com

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REPORTS that the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) is busy signing deals behind the scenes with foreign-based stakeholders without the knowledge of key local players in the tourism industry are a serious cause for concern.

NewsDay Comment

ZimParks is the custodian of the country’s most critical resources, chiefly wildlife and the forests, plains and mountains they inhabit; and it is quite curious that the State department has the unfettered liberty to sign contracts involving the country’s national heritage behind closed doors.

While local tourism players are worried about the letter and spirit of the treaties and their implications to the survival and continued existence of mainly the hunting safari sector, many are wondering whether these arrangements are even being presented to Parliament for oversight.

Why is the nation not being fully informed about these arrangements which have a profound bearing on the State? Even more worrying are reports that government is bypassing Parliament and also fast-tracking other deals with foreigners without any due diligence.

The latest such move is government’s decision to fast-track unclear business arrangements with investors from the United Arab Emirates.

ZimParks director-general Fulton Upenyu Mangwanya seems geared to place the country’s wildlife in the hands of the greens – the animal-friendly organisations who have over the years tried and failed to get Zimbabwe to stop consumptive tourism or sport hunting. ZimParks as the regulator should know the impact of its unholy relationship with these so-called animal-friendly organisations. We have no doubt that in no time, with ZimParks advice, government will stop sport hunting industry in favour of filthy donations by the greens.

Yet Zimbabwe is endowed with a burgeoning population of elephants and other wildlife species. How can locals fail to sustainably utilise their animal resource? President Emmerson Mnangagwa during the Africa Wildlife Summit in Victoria Falls recently called for a mix of non-consumptive and consumptive tourism to allow communities to benefit. We believe that ZimParks has been infiltrated by money-mongers who have no idea what the mandate of the organisation is all about. We call for immediate action to investigate ZimParks top brass, otherwise Zimbabwe will soon burn its millions of dollars worth of ivory stockpiles, yet this money could be used for development.

We call on new Environment minister Mangaliso Ndlovu to meet all stakeholders and hear what they have to say immediately. The ZimParks directorate must not be spared if found wanting!

While it is understandable that Mnangagwa’s regime is desperate for Foreign Direct Investment to help meet its election promises, it would have been judicious for it to stitch these arrangements within the confines of the law and necessary oversight.

Hurriedly signing deals for political expediency will not augur well for a government that preaches good governance and does the opposite. It is things such as these that may seem small which, in the long run, can make or break the reputation of any government.

A government which is averse to abiding by its own rules cannot nurture trust in its subjects.

These secret arrangements outside the scrutiny of citizens through Parliament, are a serious indictment to any effort to rebuild the southern African nation’s battered economy.

These dodgy deals give credence to conspiracy theories doing the rounds that the country is being mortgaged and by the time Zimbabweans wake up there will be no country to talk about. What will be left are curved out pieces of territory owned by powerful cartels, organisations and individuals.

It is, however, hoped that Mnangagwa is astute enough not to mortgage a country which was birthed through extreme sacrifice that involved the spilling of blood. Zimbabwe can still achieve its goal of becoming a middle-income economy by 2030 without cutting corners.

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This is not an apology for Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa (ED) as President of Zimbabwe, but a careful examination of the facts. Mnangagwa, popularly known as Ngwena, has been President of Zimbabwe for two years only, but calls for his resignation are getting louder and vociferous each passing day. Domestically and internationally ED is perceived as a protégé of the late former President Robert Mugabe.

A co-ordinated and well-orchestrated campaign was unleashed against him since he took over from RGM to malign his character, undermine and destabilise his government on social media, domestic and international newspapers and on-line-publications.

The intent is to convince the gullible public and the intentional community that ED’s administration is not a ”new dispensation,” but a continuity of the Mugabe era. The scandalising and destabilising campaign led by the MDC Alliance, civil society and the so-called Spotlight Zimbabwe publication (most likely a G40 publication or Zezuru project) is vicious, relentless and brutal in its ferocity and intensity.

Some of the architects and proponents of this campaign have personal vendettas against ED and bitter for having lost the opportunity to grab the coveted Zimbabwe presidency. Unfortunately, ED’s administration has a weak or ineffective information department to counter these vicious attacks which are a threat to national security. Furthermore, the Zanu PF commissariat department lacks cadres in the mould of the indefatigable Mayor Urimbo to energise the party.

ED is accused of failing to resuscitate the Zimbabwe economy destroyed by 37 years of RGM’s disastrous economic policies and mismanagement. ED’s critics and enemies assert that he has failed to change the electoral and political landscape to allow fair competition among political actors.

In this regard, ED must do the honourable thing and resign.

The MDC-A claims that he is an ”illegitimate” President who stole Nelson Chamisa’s victory. What remains a mystery is why Chamisa contested the 2018 elections in the absence of electoral reforms.
Even more puzzling is why he took his failed presidential bid to the Constitutional Court knowing as he claims it was captured by Zanu PF? It is reasonable to speculate that some marriage of convenience had taken place between the MDC and G40 elements within Zanu PF before the elections. The G40 convinced Chamisa that with their support he was going to win the presidential election. After his loss, they further encouraged him to challenge the ED victory in court. All these machinations did not work.

Against this background, the following questions beg for a thorough interrogation:

 Has ED really failed to usher us into a land full of milk and honey?

 Is ED a Mugabe protégé?

 Why does ED have so many enemies inside and outside Zimbabwe?

To all intents and purposes, it is too early to suggest that ED has failed. An economy that has been in comatose for years can never be resuscitated overnight. The painful truth is that the national economy has virtually collapsed.

ED was never given a chance or breathing space to govern or prove himself. From the outset, he was set for failure by his enemies inside and outside Zanu PF, particularly those who are benefiting from the perennial Zimbabwe economic crisis.

The MDC soon after the November 2017 ”coup” went on a diplomatic offensive telling the Western world not to lift the sanctions. Chamisa, his deputy Tendai Biti, and some leaders of the civil society in Zimbabwe convinced the USA Foreign Relations Committee not to remove the so-called targeted sanctions claiming that ED was not sincere in his desire to create a new political and economic order. Inside Zimbabwe, prices of goods and services shot up to levels never seen before even during the Mugabe era.

Undoubtedly, the violence after the 2018 elections and the subsequent intervention of the army indicate a hidden hand to sabotage and destabilise the ED presidency. Business, commerce, civil society, remnants of the G40 and the MDC-A are working in cahoots to foment unrest and to ensure that ED fails. ED’s enemies are using the freedom of speech made possible by the new dispensation, but posit that ED is no different from Mugabe. What an illogical argument?

The MDC was in the GNU for five years and failed to implement a single electoral reform and now want ED’s administration to do that in one year. We have no examples in history of any country which recovered from economic and financial downturns within a year. The call for quick solutions and immediate tangible benefits from Zimbabweans is understandable, yet there is no gain without pain.

The laying of correct economic fundamentals is a must if Zimbabwe is to recover from the current economic quagmire and regain its former glory. What is missing from Finance minister Mthuli Ncube’s economic recovery plans are safety nets for the have-nots.

That said, the government cannot watch helplessly as business and commerce continue to behave irresponsibly, eroding the wages and salaries of workers. Yes, they are in business to make profit but not to the extent of creating instability in the country through reckless price increases.

By and large, ED is incomparable to Mugabe. Mugabe was intolerant of divergent ideas or opposition to his rule and criticism of him as a person. He was a firm believer in command economics, not free-market economics.

He isolated Zimbabwe from the family of nations and persistently and consistently vilified the West. ED, as many honest commentaries have observed, is sincere about market economics and re-engagement with the West. He does not at every opportune moment recklessly attack the West or his enemies. Unlike Mugabe, ED is determined to build a culture of tolerance and maturity in Zimbabwean politics. Although a lot of work needs to be done, ED has liberalised the political landscape. What is clear is that the MDC is failing to reciprocate by behaving as a loyal opposition as it prefers to act like a rogue opposition party.

Within Zanu PF, opposition to ED’s presidency is largely motivated by tribal considerations. The ethnic factor has dogged Zanu PF since its formation in 1963. The different ethnic groups within Zanu PF fight for supremacy, leading to internal conflicts and convulsions. Arguably, the Mugabe presidency created a Zezuru hegemony and dominance (not a Shona one, as the Ndebele mistakenly think). The Ndebele mistakenly think that the Shona are a homogenous group, but the reality is that they are not. With the fall of Mugabe, the Zezurus have lost control of the political power which guaranteed and maintained their dominance in all sectors of the Zimbabwean society. It is reasonable to argue that they are not happy that ED a Karanga is now President. They view the ED presidency as a threat to their political, economic and social interests. The ED presidency has brought to the surface the long-standing Karanga-Zezuru feuds which have been going on for years under the radar during the Mugabe era. ED must decisively deal with the ethnic factor in Zanu PF through a leadership renewal and regeneration both in government and party.

Outside Zanu PF, other groups dislike the ED presidency for different sectional reasons. Some, not all Ndebeles hate ED with a passion.

The Ndebele are bitter about ED’s role during Gukurahundi, but perhaps fail to comprehend that the architect of that dark and sad moment in our history was none other than Mugabe himself. According to the Ndebele, all Shona people connived to eliminate them. Unlike Mugabe, ED has allowed free speech concerning the Gukurahundi period and the exhuming and re-burial of victims of this “moment of madness” in the history of Zimbabwe. The whites are still angry after being dispossessed of their farms and do not trust ED. The MDC Alliance is desperate to be the governing party.

Diasporans are bitter that they are still disenfranchised.

The Western world is uncomfortable with a Zanu PF presidency because it does not give them a free hand to access the resources they need from Zimbabwe. The remnants of G40 now coalescing around Savior Kasukuwere are the most vocal enemies of ED because they lost the succession battle.

Mugabe’s former spin doctor, Jonathan Moyo will never forgive ED because he thwarted his desire to destroy Zanu PF from within and ultimately become the President. These groups cannot give a sober assessment of ED’s administration. ED has done a lot to date. He is silently working. However, there is a need for a robust information department to inform the nation of his accomplishments.

It is fair and just to judge ED after the end of his five-year term, not earlier.

 Lovemore Sibanda (PhD) is assistant professor of history/social studies college of education, teacher education and administration department at the University of North Texas, United States.

The post Has ED failed? appeared first on NewsDay Zimbabwe.

ARTISTES’ earnings have continued to be eroded by inflation since the reintroduction of the Zimbabwe dollar.

The number of live gigs keeps getting fewer with promoters battling a series of flops owing to the very volatile economic environment which is taking a toll on most artistes and concert organisers.
The economic recession directly affects the livelihood of artistes, their work and growth especially in an already underfunded environment.

Artistes have for long been urged to adopt a business approach to music to ensure multiple revenue streams and a sustainable career.

Apart from live performances, brand endorsements, touring, teaching, session earnings, composing, sound recordings, and merchandise sales, artistes get their income through royalties and licensing of their work.

Music royalties and copyrights are complex subjects and in Zimbabwe this has been a thorny issue for a very long time with conversations happening in the corridors of the music industry, but some argue that there is no industry to talk about.

A lot of artistes are wallowing in abject poverty and some die paupers despite having made great music that got widely consumed owing to a falling revenue base and the non-availability of other sources of revenue.

With the corporate world equally reeling under the prevailing economic environment, budgets for activities that involve artistes are quick to be cut. The government has not been financially supporting the sector save for a few State events.

For years, the Culture Fund of Zimbabwe was the backbone of cultural and creative funding in the country, injecting an average of a million United States dollars to at least 40 projects a year.

This support in addition to funding from development agencies and embassies gave a lifeline to most artistes and projects, but sadly most failed to evolve and create sustainable models that kept them running when the funding stopped or was reduced.

The donor dependency syndrome coupled with poor corporate governance, abuse of funds, failure to innovate and hard economic times saw most music venues, bands, events and festivals closing shop.

These and many other struggles have not deterred the fast-growing Zimbabwean music industry whose numbers continue to multiply daily. Quality also continues to improve with the emerging of new talent and holding of festivals. Despite all this, the struggles stifling the growth of the industry continue to mount.

It is much easier to become a musician in Zimbabwe now than before owing to the opening up of space, the non-existence of an artiste and repertoire (A&R) system that ensures quality at most recording companies and the advent of new technologies that have made production faster, easier, cheaper and more accessible.

The internet has opened new avenues for artistes to market and sell their content to a global audience and has given them power to control and monetise.

Platforms such as YouTube, iTunes, Deezer and Spotify are some of the many channels that are being used to distribute music and videos online as well as selling them on behalf of artistes.

Gone are the days of record bars, as the internet is the new marketplace.

Sadly in Zimbabwe, artistes still face challenges such as high data costs, difficulty to access virtual payment systems such as Visa, Master Card and Paypal since the re-introduction of the Zimbabwean dollar.

Most creatives, especially those based in the diaspora rely on middlemen to share and sell their works online.

This has resulted in artistes being duped and losing thousands of dollars monthly to middlemen who upload content on their behalf and never remit any revenue despite making rich pickings from the music and videos.

Forget street piracy, while this still remains a major problem for artistes and producers, the internet has the biggest pirates preying on unsuspecting artistes as some simply download and re-upload without the creator’s consent. At times it is done in the name of exposure and promotion.

If artistes are not educated on their online music rights they will continue to suffer at the hands of digital piracy.

Back in the day artistes who enjoyed great airplay on radio would smile every year to the bank after receiving paycheques from the royalties collection body — Zimbabwe Music Rights Association (Zimura) — which was established in 1982 to collect and manage revenue on behalf of music composers and publishers.

Now the country boasts of 17 commercial radio stations and one internet radio — an increase from the previous four State-owned. The development was well-received by artistes as it opened up space for more new voices.

Unfortunately, some artistes are owed royalties from as far back as 2014 or 2015. The situation has slowly been brewing tension between the body and its more than 3 000 members.

Music royalties are payments that go to recording artistes, songwriters, composers, publishers, and other copyright holders for the right to use their intellectual property. Songwriters, publishers, record labels and performance artistes receive royalties each time their content is used.

Locally, Zimura’s role is to protect the performing rights of authors and collect royalties on their behalf. It also renders a valued service to music users by providing them with a single central platform where applications are made by anyone wishing to perform in public or broadcast or relay music via a diffusion service.

As such, no one is allowed to conduct a public performance of music without the permission of the author. Acting to the contrary amounts to infringement of copyright.

Zimura has over the years been failing to get payment from broadcasters who are the main users of content with most citing viability challenges.

Artistes’ patience seems to be fast fading as evidenced by recent developments. Music producer and fully-subscribed member of Zimura, Lazarus Chapo, took to social media a few weeks ago protesting a 433% hike in artistes’ registration fees to $800 which he said was grossly insensitive for a body that is failing to pay royalties with some artistes including him owed from as far back as 2014.

Chapo further lashed out at the body during a live interview on Earground which had Zimura’s deputy director Henry Makombe participating.

Makombe was adamant that the body was operating above board and everything was professionally done, but cited the increase in operational costs as the reason for the registration fee hike and blamed the failure to pay artistes’ royalties in time on defaulting broadcasters.

 Plot Mhako writes in his capacity as a creative social entrepreneur, arts journalist and cultural activist.

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INDEPENDENT power producer (IPP), Alliance Africa Energy (Pvt) Limited has submitted an application for licencing to set up a solar power project with a generating capacity of 75 megawatts (MW).

BY MISHMA CHAKANYUKA

This comes at a time Zimbabwe has been facing power shortages mainly due to low rainfall received during the 2018/19 rainy season which was not sufficient to fully support generation at the Kariba Hydro-Power Station.

Zimbabwe has since liberalised its energy sector to help promote the participation of private capital in energy generation to boost power supply.

In a notice, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) announced that it had received an application from Alliance Africa and that the applicant intended to sell the power to the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC).

“Notice is hereby issued in terms of section 4(3) of the Electricity (Licencing) Regulations, 2008 published in Statutory Instrument 103 of 2008 that Zera has received an application from Alliance Africa to construct, own, operate and maintain a 75MW solar power plant at Fairholme Farm in Chegutu,” Zera said.

“The applicant intends selling the power generated to ZETDC. The project will also include the construction of approximately 2km of a 132kv transmission line from the proposed 75MW solar plant to Selous 330/132kV substation.”

Zimbabwe’s power demand averages 1 400MW per day, but the country only generates around 1 200MW, relying on imports from South Africa, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo to supplement local supplies.

According to Zera chief executive officer Eddington Mazambani, a lot of IPPs have been failing to take off owing to the perceived country risk which makes it difficult for them to secure funding for their projects.

The post Alliance Africa seeks nod to set up solar plant appeared first on NewsDay Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe dollar has depreciated by 564% to date since its introduction in February this year due to lack of market confidence and nothing to back it in terms of gold reserves and export earnings.

BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA

In February, government adopted electronic money as a local currency and called it the RTGS dollar, which operated alongside the bond note and multiple foreign currencies at a rate of US$1: ZWL$2.50.

However, this currency was later abandoned after monetary authorities reintroduced the Zimdollar in June as the sole legal tender.

But because the Zimdollar was reintroduced at a time foreign currency or market confidence were low, its value has plunged to the current rate of US$1: $16,60 of the official market.

“It seems we underestimated the depth of our challenges, ostensibly because we suppressed the economy for too long, through unsustainable subsidies, including currency subsidies — exchange rate parity (1:1) and managed foreign currency allocation system,” financial expert Persistence Gwanyanya said.

“All these are stop-gap measures, short-term fixes and half-baked solutions, which, ironically, got us nowhere, but deeper into the hole. It’s unsurprising that we missed all key macro-economic targets in 2019 as the economy adjusted to its true position following the implementation of economic reforms, which started in October last year.”

He added: “Inflation, which was projected to average 22,5% is now estimated at more than 350%, exchange rate at around US$1:$21 is way off the initial target of US$1:$3,5”.

The depreciation of the Zimdollar was confirmed in the United States Food Insecurity Department, FEWSNET’s October 2019 to May 2020 Food Security Outlook report released at the beginning of this month.

FEWSNET stated that as of late October, the local currency had depreciated by over 520% since February 2019, when the interbank market was introduced.

“The Zimdollar also depreciated by over 40% and 70% on the interbank market (official forex market) and parallel market, respectively, since mid-June when the Zimdollar was declared the sole legal currency,” part of the report said.

“This is mostly due to the continued critical foreign currency shortages, mainly of the US dollar traded at around $15,6 on the interbank market and $21 per US dollar against electronic and mobile transfers on the parallel market at the end of October.”

When the Zimdollar was reintroduced as the sole legal tender, it created shortages for hard cash in the market.

This was because the only physical representation available of the Zimdollar was the surrogate currency, the bond note, which amounted to between $500 million and $700 million.

As a result, businesses started selling their goods or services at high premiums using electronic money and discounted prices for those using cash.

“Shortages of the local currency (bond notes and coins) have resulted in the notes and coins being sold at premium rates as high as 40 to 60% against mobile and electronic money transfers on the black market,” the FEWSNET report added.

To combat these cash shortages, government has introduced the $2 bond coins as well as new $2 and $5 notes which are expected to amount to $1 billion over the next few months.

In order to restore value to the Zimdollar, experts say at least $3 billion in physical notes need to be in circulation which represents 15% of the total broad money supply of close to $20 billion.

Further, a significant amount of foreign currency was required to support the broad money supply.

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