Source: ‘Chinamasa must be arrested’ – DailyNews Live
Blessings Mashaya 30 September 2017
HARARE – Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa is under pressure to deal with
the current economic crisis, as legislators from both the Zanu PF and
opposition MDC called for his arrest, accusing him of promoting the
foreign currency parallel market.
Speaking in the National Assembly after Chinamasa’s ministerial statement,
MDC MP for Warren Park Elias Mudzuri said the chief treasurer must be
arrested.
“…you minister and your team should be the first people to get arrested;
you are arresting the wrong people. Minister, we want you to be arrested
for the offence that you are misleading us that the dollar and the bond
note are the same,” Mudzuri said.
This comes after the Cabinet approved a new foreign exchange law which
will see unlicensed forex dealers jailed for 10 years.
On the other hand, Zanu PF MP Esau Mupfumi accused Chinamasa’s ministry of
promoting corruption.
“The issue of corruption and misuse of money stems from his (Chinamasa)
ministry, permeating downwards. Banks are given $1 million, and they are
not supervised to see that they distribute the money to the people,
because the money is coming from the RBZ (Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe) to the
bank and straight on to the streets. That is why we see that there is
money on the black market,”Mupfumi said.
The shortage of foreign currency has led to commodity prices in Zimbabwe
to shoot up in the past week as manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers
took advantage of a lull in the monitoring of price controls, blamed on a
shortage of cash, to raise their prices to what they said were viable
levels.
The country has also been convulsed by critical fuel shortages, with most
filling stations rejecting EcoCash and swipe cards and demanding cash.
This has left many motorists stranded as they cannot access the cash
demanded by fuel retailers.
MDC MP for Kuwadzana Nelson Chamisa said the government must withdraw the
use of bond notes.
“The problem started from the onset of bond notes. Why don’t you remove
the bond note so that it is no longer in use? We would want to have a
currency that is acceptable to everyone. Remove the bond notes. Are you
looking into that so that we use the multi-currency basket?
“Can you not have integrity and lifestyle audit for senior government
officials in terms of ethics? You urge people to bank their money and that
they should suffer when your own money is outside the country. Can you
not have this integrity and lifestyle audit? That is important in
building the banking sector confidence or confidence in the country.”
Zanu PF Chegutu West MP Dexter Nduna said the forex shortages were being
caused by RBZ which is buying gold at less than the world price.
“Why is it not buying at the world price because this might be a cause for
illicit outflows and it might be your Achilles heel in terms of revenue
leakages in the gold sector? Is RBZ only acting as a middleman in terms of
gold buying and selling?
Another Zanu PF MP for Hurungwe East Sarah Mahoka said there should be
equality in the treatment of people and the law should apply equally to
everyone.
“Earlier on, you promised us that the US dollar and the bond note are the
same. Why do the banks not use my bond notes and transfer them to my
child so that my child can go to school without any problems. This is
because you told us that they are the same. I sell my tobacco in US
dollars, I already have US dollars. Why am I failing to access US
dollars? This means the banks are promoting the black market. Can you
please look into that issue?”
Chinamasa denied that his ministry and RBZ is supplying cash to money
changers.
“Relating to the pictures and videos of wads of bond notes which have been
circulating on social media, investigations are being carried out to
establish the sources of the new bond notes on the streets. My ministry
and the RBZ do not participate in buying currency from the streets.”
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) secretary for Finance Vince Musewe said
Chinamasa is not capable of solving the current crises.
“The current conundrum is a cocktail of selfish economic actors both in
government and private sector. We do not have national responsibility but
each according to his or her greed. The informalisation of the economy
makes matters worse in that you cannot regulate effectively. The root
cause is of course fiscal policy more concerned with politics than
economic principles.”
MDC secretary for Finance Tapiwa Mashakada said: “You can have laws like
we did with the Pricing and Competition Commission during those years.
Clampdown, yes we can but the market will determine the fundamentals and
levels of the US dollar. So, what the market has told you is that the US
dollar is not 1:1 with the bond. That is the message that the market has
demonstrated. This is why if I want to pay my foreign payments, the bank
will ask me to supply them with foreign currency. It is a statement that
this parity is fallacious. It does not exist. I hope we can begin to
address the proper value and exchange rate of the US dollar rather than
pretend that it is still 1:1 with the bond.”
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