Chinamasa must resign to save Zim

Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa, in Parliament on Wednesday disclosed what the majority of Zimbabweans have always known — that Zanu PF does not know what to do with the economy regardless of the introduction of the surrogate currency recently. NEWSDAY COMMENT

Source: Chinamasa must resign to save Zim – NewsDay Zimbabwe December 23, 2016

Zimbabweans have been arguing that the stand-in bond notes currency will add misery to the majority instead of alleviating the economic challenges the people are facing.

But in its campaign Zanu PF has been adamant that the new currency will help ease the cash shortage in the economy.

We are happy that finally Chinamasa has at last thrown in the towel when it comes to the bond notes — for some time the magic wand waved by his Zanu PF government in the wake of a biting cash crisis.

His admission that the bond notes are not a solution clearly demonstrates that the night is still long for the ordinary man who has no respite from the roll call of socio-economic misfortunes.

While those responsible for the economic mess for which the innocent are now paying a huge price have already flown out, or packed their bags, the ordinary people are stuck in bank queues trying to access cash to bring a little cheer to their families during the festive period.

$29,6 million worth of bond notes injected into the economy by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to ease the cash crisis have so far proved not good enough. While the powers that be can be forgiven for dashing off to the holiday, surely, in 2017 they have an obligation to do something to ensure that the people’s burden is eased.

The politicians can afford to fly out of the country for a Christmas holiday of a lifetime on taxpayers’ money while the taxpayers themselves can hardly access their little money to travel to their rural homes for the traditional Christmas and New Year holidays.

A responsible leadership, faced with a situation in which citizens, including elderly pensioners, are sleeping in bank queues, would ordinarily curb its own excesses, like cutting out holiday expenses in far away lands.

But given the government’s unflattering track record, this could be expecting the impossible. Hope is probably all what the citizens of this country have to hold on to given the unrepentant nature of the Zanu PF leadership, which believes it is the best thing that has ever happened to Zimbabwe.

We can only hope that while they are reclining with their families wherever they would be, they would use the opportunity to reflect on the troubles they have brought upon the nation and change. Chinamasa should just resign to save the country from total collapse.