The demolitions of poor people’s homes and other structures across the country to deal with illegal occupations of State land are mainly driven by three factors: politics, power and money.
The NewsHawks cited sources as saying President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi are using power and politics to create a new land market where money would be the main determinant of land occupations and settlements. One unnamed government official was quoted as saying:
The minister has made it clear to us in government what’s going on here. The land belongs to the President, which means he uses his power for its spatial distribution and his politics of patronage and loyalty influence the dynamics of it.
But in the end, money will take centre stage and the land will now be sold at market rates, creating a new land market which is driven by power and politics. It’s a symbiotic relationship.
Since the beginning of February this year, authorities have demolished houses and settlements built on land acquired illegally in peri-urban communities including, for example, Gutu and Mushandike in Masvingo province, Chipinge in Manicaland, Dema and Goromonzi in Mashonaland East and different other places.
The illegal settlers bought the land from village heads and land barons linked to ZANU PF.
The NewsHawks reported a source as saying it is also the government’s intention to sell the land after demolitions to create a new market in which ordinary people pay fair value for land even though Mnangagwa and other ZANU PF leaders got land for free. Said source:
To be sure, the demolition of informal houses and structures is not a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe and elsewhere.
What is new is some of the political actors, policy approach, frequency and intensity, as well as the motives and visibility which do vary.
What is new is the intensity, frequency, and agency (visibility and changing dynamics of its triggers and mechanisms of its unfolding in specific contexts).
There are three objectives of the demolitions: politics, power and money. These are the real underlying motives.
From the top, that is the Office of the President and Cabinet down to the minister’s office and government officials’ positions, they are all aware of the agenda.
The President and the Minister of Justice know very well what this is all about. It’s an elite project being driven by those who own land and houses which mostly they didn’t even buy in the first place. It’s hypocrisy of the worst order.
Of course, the rule of law must apply whenever there are illegal activities and criminality, but it must be applied even-handedly not just to the poor and vulnerable as the situation shows at the moment.
In 2005, the ZANU PF-led government launched “Operation Murambatsvina” (Clear Filth) which resulted in mass evictions of urban dwellers from housing structures and the closure of various informal sector businesses throughout the country.
According to the United Nations, 700 000 people were forcibly evicted from their homes, made homeless or lost their source of livelihood.
More: Pindula News
@ᴋɢᴏsɪ ᴅᴇ_ʀɪᴄᴄʜ💖 · 1 year ago
The President says a new structured currency is on the way, what’s that all about?
“If at first you don’t succeed, then dust yourself off and try again,” go the lyrics and all my millennials have the song playing in their minds right now.
It appears Aaliyah spoke to older generations too because the Zimbabwean govt announced some new currency measures. Apparently, there is a structured currency on the way. Talk about the art of dusting yourself off and trying again.
The govt is not hiding its head in the sand this time around, they admit that there is some work to be done. In Zimbabwe, we have had the govt deny what we saw with our own eyes. A good example being the 1:1 days, where the govt maintained that the ZW$ was equal in value to the USD.
The govt still does his to some extent, maintaining that the bank rate is the correct exchange rate when the parallel market screams otherwise.
Anyway, this time around the President admits that:
inflation is out of control and prices are rising wickedly
the foreign exchange is unstable beyond belief
the ZW$ is losing value like it’s in style
Zimbabweans are not saving any money
The govt has a number of measures that they believe will sort it all out. In fact, the President says “a raft of measures” so plan accordingly.
The end goal is the stability and growth of our economy and the President says this can be achieved in two ways – crafting prudent fiscal and monetary policies and promoting a conducive business environment.
Promoting a conducive business environment should be easy but alas, Zimbabwe still hasn’t gotten it right. It goes even beyond high taxation, unpredictable policymakers, high inflation, shortage of forex etc. We get even the small things wrong.
Now, what can we say about currency reforms in this country? We have seen it all. We are a case study for Economics majors across the world. While the results have been terrible, you can’t fault Zimbabwe for the audacity of trying new and novel currency reforms.
Structured Currency
President Mnangagwa said,
We shall soon be announcing the introduction of our structured currency
When he said that, Zimbos said “Oh, a structured currency, will that work?” Inside they were screaming, “What on God’s green Earth is a structured currency?”
We all must have bunked the particular Economics lectures where they talked about structured currencies. We turned to Google and even the big G tapped out.
That’s because there is no such thing as a structured currency in the sense that we would think about it. We dealt with bond notes that were classified as a quasi-currency and so were quick to think along those lines when we heard about the soon to be introduced structured currency.
I believe the structured currency he speaks of is the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has been working on.
Short timeline of the RBZ on CBDCs:
The RBZ first let us know that they were looking into CBDCs back in 2021.
In the Mid-Term Monetary Policy Statement of August 2022, the RBZ said it had conducted study tours to countries that are advanced in CBDC endeavours and had developed a roadmap for adoption of CBDC in Zimbabwe.
The RBZ released a consultation paper on CBDCs, inviting dialogue from the public.
Later that same year, 2022, the RBZ carried out consultations and ran a consumer perception survey
In early 2023, the RBZ was still inviting input from the public on the CBDCs
CBDC
We talked extensively about CBDCs before but here is the gist of what that is.
CBDCs are the digital form of a nation’s currency. The Reserve Bank RBZ) would issue, regulate and control the CBDC.
It is not a new currency. Rather, we would be introducing a digital token/virtual form of the RTGS$. So, it is backed by the full faith and credit of the RBZ, whatever that’s worth.
Ah, and there goes the excitement and/or fear. The structured currency is more of the same, whatever plagues the RTGS$ will also plague the CBDC because they are essentially the same thing in different forms.
You can dig into what CBDCs are all about here: Zim govt looking at central bank digital currency, what is that and why won’t it fix our problems
It could be something else
The structured currency remark could just mean currency reforms like changes in currency denominations, the introduction of new security features, or adjustments to the monetary policy framework.
Or maybe the President is talking about adjustments to interest rates, inflation targets, or foreign exchange policies as bringing structure to our currency.
Another possibility is that we will be pegging our currency to another currency, to stabilise exchange rates. I really hope it’s not this. We tried pegging our currency to the USD before and it didn’t work.
Or the Zimbabwean govt really is introducing a new currency. One not tainted by the failures of the ZW$ and RTGS$. I don’t think this will work either because the fundamentals are not right for the introduction of a new currency. It would just fail.
Anyway, it’s only a matter of time. We shall know what’s what soon enough when we start using the new structured currency.
#ᴅᴀᴛᴀ ɴᴏ ᴅᴀᴛᴀ
#ʀᴇᴀʟ ᴄɪᴍʀᴀᴅᴇ ᴅᴇsᴇʀᴠᴇ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ɴᴇᴡs
@ᴋɢᴏsɪ ᴅᴇ_ʀɪᴄᴄʜ💖
#sᴏᴄɪᴀʟʙʀɪᴛᴇ 4_ᴇᴅ
ᴄᴏᴜʀᴛᴇsʏ ᴏғ ᴋɢᴏsɪ ᴅᴇ_ʀɪᴄᴄʜ ɴᴇᴡs ғᴏᴜɴᴅᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
Anonymous · 1 year ago
You are confused. That quote applies to things that change after the first failure. The description of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result. The fundamental reason for the failure of the currency is that those who have access to real currency are dishing it through the back door to those who have "virtual"currency and making money off of it. Nothing will be done about these individuals as they act like drug kingpins, dishing out money to those the surround them and giving everyone a "share" whilst these individuals protect them for their own self interest. The only way that this currency will succeed is that it is backed by something physical (gold, platinum, etc). The problem with this method is that no-one has trust in the individuals that are the "shepherds" of these stores of value. There is such a distrust of these "shepherds" is that even if other nations acknowledge this currency, which is doubtful, most local people will look to trade it for another currency. Successive Zanu PF appointed finance professionals have robbed the local people of the value of their efforts that has now translated to an apathy for work as their efforts are constantly devalued to the whim of those who only show self indulgence. They have invited the hyena into the homestead with the cattle. Now the people do not trust those who bring in the cattle, only for them to be eaten. In the same thought, the people have constantly put their trust in these individuals with the change of face only to get the same result, so the people are also deserving of the loss as they have shown apathy to those to whom they give their trust for the value.