Opinion / Letters
Zimbabwe Cash Crisis fear of a lost Generation
09 May 2016 at 20:16hrs | Views
The Editor,
Today I write in awe of the cash crisis facing my beloved country of Zimbabwe. For the benefit of the reader who might not be in Zimbabwe or has not yet heard the news: Zimbabweans woke up to the news that the country was facing persistent cash shortages and
a. New measures had put in place to limit the amount of withdrawals,
b. The country was planning to print their own version of the US$ on bond paper
c. There will be policy discussions to come up with laws to arrest people responsible for cash shortages
As the news spread across the country like a hurricane, news started circulating on social media that a lucky Zimbabwean today is a holder of a multi-US billion dollar account in Hong Kong, yes multi US billion dollar account yet the country is busy crafting useless bond money supported by a meager US$200 million dollars borrowed from an international bank.
And we once again find themselves forming long queues at the banks. Without asking a single basic question of how this could be, we are spending hours and days trying to access $200 per day of our hard earned cash.
As I stand in the queue, I hear people talk about their struggles; sometimes an announcement come after just two hours of standing in the queue that the bank has run out of money. This make me upset but I don't know what else to do. I have many question that I have no answers to. I ask myself: what is real wrong with us? Why can't we demand accountability from our leaders? Why should we be the ones always to be on the receiving end of bad governance and bad decisions? When will this come to an end? Who will help us get out of this siege mentality we have been suffering from for so long? Was this the situation our Comrades faced before they decided to take up arms?
Many questions but no answers. I ask myself: what will happen if another country like Zambia just wakes up in the morning and banks say they have no cash? Has any other country faced a similar problem as we are currently facing in the past and how did the people react?
So with no money but curious, I go to the internet café and type "Cash Crisis" and wallaaaa! Greece, Indonesia, Uruguay, Argentina, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, South Korea etc. have all gone through similar problems. Then I look at the difference: in most of those countries people brought down the government within days. They made their leaders accountable.
While there is never an agreement on the cause of the crisis, the banks and/or the leadership of a country will be forced to be accountable. It is not acceptable for leaders to stash away billions of dollars in Hong Kong Accounts.
Why would a country borrow US$200 million dollars to support useless bond money when one person holds a multi-billion dollar account? When are we as Zimbabweans going to rise up and say enough is enough?
Sadly,
Sam
Today I write in awe of the cash crisis facing my beloved country of Zimbabwe. For the benefit of the reader who might not be in Zimbabwe or has not yet heard the news: Zimbabweans woke up to the news that the country was facing persistent cash shortages and
a. New measures had put in place to limit the amount of withdrawals,
b. The country was planning to print their own version of the US$ on bond paper
c. There will be policy discussions to come up with laws to arrest people responsible for cash shortages
As the news spread across the country like a hurricane, news started circulating on social media that a lucky Zimbabwean today is a holder of a multi-US billion dollar account in Hong Kong, yes multi US billion dollar account yet the country is busy crafting useless bond money supported by a meager US$200 million dollars borrowed from an international bank.
And we once again find themselves forming long queues at the banks. Without asking a single basic question of how this could be, we are spending hours and days trying to access $200 per day of our hard earned cash.
As I stand in the queue, I hear people talk about their struggles; sometimes an announcement come after just two hours of standing in the queue that the bank has run out of money. This make me upset but I don't know what else to do. I have many question that I have no answers to. I ask myself: what is real wrong with us? Why can't we demand accountability from our leaders? Why should we be the ones always to be on the receiving end of bad governance and bad decisions? When will this come to an end? Who will help us get out of this siege mentality we have been suffering from for so long? Was this the situation our Comrades faced before they decided to take up arms?
So with no money but curious, I go to the internet café and type "Cash Crisis" and wallaaaa! Greece, Indonesia, Uruguay, Argentina, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, South Korea etc. have all gone through similar problems. Then I look at the difference: in most of those countries people brought down the government within days. They made their leaders accountable.
While there is never an agreement on the cause of the crisis, the banks and/or the leadership of a country will be forced to be accountable. It is not acceptable for leaders to stash away billions of dollars in Hong Kong Accounts.
Why would a country borrow US$200 million dollars to support useless bond money when one person holds a multi-billion dollar account? When are we as Zimbabweans going to rise up and say enough is enough?
Sadly,
Sam
Source - Sam
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