News / Local
Mzembi claims Mangudya, Chinamasa misled Mugabe
17 Aug 2022 at 06:44hrs | Views
FORMER Foreign Affairs minister, Walter Mzembi has made sensational claims Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor, John Mangudya, and then Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa shot down his proposal for Zimbabwe to join the Rand Union, which could have stabilised the economy.
The Rand Union, formally referred to as the Common Monetary Area (CMA), is a monetary agreement with South Africa that would have seen Zimbabwe using its currency, rather than revert to the worthless bond notes.
Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland are all part of the CMA, while Botswana pulled out.
Posting on Twitter, Mzembi said Mangudya and Chinamasa misled then President Robert Mugabe the plan was a ruse to ‘sell the country to Americans.
"From 2015, I took it upon myself to win over Cabinet, to Zimbabwe joining Rand Monetary Union. Cabinet received my papers on this. I failed. Later on Mugabe told me ‘Chinamasa and Mangudya are saying you want to sell the country to the Americans!'"
"In 2017 Mugabe asked the two ‘Do we go with the Mzembi proposal or not, does he make sense?'. Answer from the two ‘Yes Your Excellency, he makes sense but he lives well ahead of his time, we will get there eventually'. Subject closed.
"End of September 2017, Mugabe discussed the option of redeployment to finance or foreign affairs. I argued vigorously for the latter pressing that in finance I would struggle to get Cabinet support for a new economic direction – RMU. End of story!"
The late former president was later overthrown by the military in November 2017, and replaced by his deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Following his ascendancy, Mnangagwa in 2019 then scrapped the multi-currency system that had stabilised Zimbabwe's economy between 2009 and 2019, bringing back the ‘useless' Zimbabwean dollar.
The local unit has considerably lost value despite promises, at inception, it would compete with the US dollar.
The Rand Union, formally referred to as the Common Monetary Area (CMA), is a monetary agreement with South Africa that would have seen Zimbabwe using its currency, rather than revert to the worthless bond notes.
Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland are all part of the CMA, while Botswana pulled out.
Posting on Twitter, Mzembi said Mangudya and Chinamasa misled then President Robert Mugabe the plan was a ruse to ‘sell the country to Americans.
"From 2015, I took it upon myself to win over Cabinet, to Zimbabwe joining Rand Monetary Union. Cabinet received my papers on this. I failed. Later on Mugabe told me ‘Chinamasa and Mangudya are saying you want to sell the country to the Americans!'"
"In 2017 Mugabe asked the two ‘Do we go with the Mzembi proposal or not, does he make sense?'. Answer from the two ‘Yes Your Excellency, he makes sense but he lives well ahead of his time, we will get there eventually'. Subject closed.
"End of September 2017, Mugabe discussed the option of redeployment to finance or foreign affairs. I argued vigorously for the latter pressing that in finance I would struggle to get Cabinet support for a new economic direction – RMU. End of story!"
The late former president was later overthrown by the military in November 2017, and replaced by his deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Following his ascendancy, Mnangagwa in 2019 then scrapped the multi-currency system that had stabilised Zimbabwe's economy between 2009 and 2019, bringing back the ‘useless' Zimbabwean dollar.
The local unit has considerably lost value despite promises, at inception, it would compete with the US dollar.
Source - NewZimbabwe
