FINANCE minister Mthuli Ncube will this week meet with the
country’s State security agents for a briefing on the soaring foreign currency
shortages as government tightens the noose on highly-placed forex dealers
believed to have “captured” the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and are
willy-nilly pushing up the parallel market exchange rate.
Ncube’s spokesperson William Mutumanje, popularly known as
Acie Lumumba, yesterday confirmed that his boss would meet with the securocrats
this week amid indications that the Financial Intelligence Unit, Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and the Zimbabwe Republic Police would be roped
in to play a key role in sniffing out the “economic saboteurs”.
Mutumanje told NewsDay that it has since been established
that top RBZ officials were fuelling the mess on the market and would soon be
placed under surveillance.
“The minister is receiving briefs, yes, and will meet them
(security sector) this week. The minister is committed to arresting the
situation and the security agencies have narrowed down the source of the
criminal activities. It’s clear we have dirty hands collaborating with
government officials and it’s only a matter of time now before government shuts
down the aggressive influence of the black market and clean up errant
government complicity,” he said.
He added that the level at which RBZ had been “captured” by
the suspected saboteurs required the intervention of the security sector, as
Ncube would not be able to execute the job alone.
“There are directors at RBZ, especially, who are holding
industry captive. The corruption at director level of the RBZ is pure poison
and there is no single business that doesn’t know that the directors are out of
control. RBZ has been captured and the governor will need security sector
support to clean that up,” he said.
Mutumanje said Ncube would release a statement over the
crisis later.
The government dragnet is also reportedly targeting top
politicians working in cahoots with officials at the central bank
The move comes as new taxes gazetted by government,
uncontrollable price escalations and fuel shortages had all coalesced to create
a sense of anger and despondency among citizens, who believe they are being
punished for government’s unjustified profligacy.
Since the July 30 harmonised elections, the economy has
taken a nosedive, with critics questioning President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s
ability to deal with the crisis.
Already, some retailers have either closed shop or hiked
prices of most goods, while others have resorted to a multi-tier pricing system
to stay afloat.
Mnangagwa last week claimed that the crisis was being
triggered by an intricate network of currency speculators, mostly in high
places, and tasked Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi to urgently craft tough
policies and penalties targeted at illegal foreign currency dealers.
However, the opposition and political analysts said the
move by Mnangagwa to come up with tough measures to deal with the crisis were
unlikely to pay dividends.
Economist Eddie Cross said the move would unlikely produce
intended results.
“The fundamental problem is that we have created
opportunities for money vultures and we need to correct the policy environment
and the only way to do it is to liberalise as (former Finance minister Patrick)
Chinamasa did in 2009,” Cross said, adding that at the moment, the artificial
rates would be difficult to deal with.
Political analyst Dewa Mavhinga said there was need for the
government to now walk the talk, as Zimbabweans were fast losing confidence in
the system.
“Currency manipulators are linked closely to those in
power. Most are mere runners for the political elite. Mnangagwa should just act
and not make promises that will remain unfulfilled,” he said.
Another analyst, Rejoice Ngwenya, questioned the sincerity of
the government in dealing with the crisis.
“In the first place, there are laws already to deal with
the issue. First, there is no such thing as foreign currency in Zimbabwe
because multi-currencies are legal since 2009. Secondly, the Banking Act controls
who buys and sells money, registered finance institutions, not street vendors,”
he said.
MDC’s Tapiwa Mashakada said the State was the culprit in
the crisis.
“The culprit is the State itself. Who is supplying brand
new bond notes to currency dealers on the streets of Harare? Why are these
dealers not arrested and why is government keen on keeping the bond note in
circulation? These issues cannot be addressed by legislation, but by policy,”
he said.
Another political analyst, Richard Mahomva, said the matter
needed commitment from all stakeholders to succeed.
“There is need for absolute bureaucratic commitment to
dealing with this matter other than having to compel an entire President to
intervene over what financial administrators could have handled. Did we have to
wait for this crisis to escalate, yet in this age of digital banking, we could
easily trace the source of illicit financial flows?” he asked.
However, MDC-T vice-president Obert Gutu said there was
need to clamp down on illegal parallel money market dealings.
He said Mnangagwa had to be tough to save the economy from
total collapse at the hands of unscrupulous currency manipulators, citing
Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s effective and successful stance against
corruption in the East African country.
Gutu said people must not hide behind human rights mantra.
“Do people eat human rights laws written in a statute book
somewhere? People eat food and not some fancy Western-styled model of human
rights. Mnangagwa has to get at these thieves and deal them a sucker punch.
This is not time for playing around,” he said.
“The majority of Zimbabweans are suffering as a direct
result of these selfish and corrupt currency manipulators.
These people deserve absolutely no mercy. Let them cry out
and allege that their so-called human rights are being trampled upon, but then
who cares as long as the living conditions of the majority of Zimbabweans are
going to be improved?”
Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga weighed in, saying
those seeking to profiteer from the current economic situation by arbitrarily
increasing prices of basic goods would be dealt with.
“I want to make this clear. There are those who think they
have an opportunity, they are wasting their time,” he told a family function at
his rural home in Wedza yesterday.
“We are solving that, and they will be ashamed. We do not
want people to take this nation for granted. It came after bloodshed. It is
pointless to note that my pocket is full yet others have nothing. It is
pointless that others are in poverty, while you are full. So we will build the
nation all of us so that we have a Zimbabwe that we all want.” Newsday
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