The minister of finance and economic development in Zimbabwe,
Mthuli Ncube, as reported in the mainstream media, recently confirmed that government will soon introduce an
actual currency. This will be done in
order to augment what is referred to as
the bond note and the ZWL or electronic RTGS money that is currently being used.
Surprisingly in the immediate placement of the report, no
one quite went apoplectic. At least not business (private capital), the workers
unions, opposition political parties nor the general public. At
least for now.
A week before, a local newspaper had carried an interesting
story about the ‘cost’ of actual physical money for everyday use by urban commuters. The story outlined in part how the cost of actual
money was rising for those that were using either mobile money platforms such
as Ecocash. Especially if they wanted
the money for public transport which still accepts cash. So basically mobile money is rated at a
certain percentage in order to purchase actual physical cash. And how such transactions had already spawned
a fast paced informal banking system.
A number of issues then emerge from the instances I have
cited, that is, Ncube’s reported statement of intent and the purchasing of physical
bond notes by mobile money users.
The first is that he public anticipation let alone activism for
the return of the United States dollar is now dissipating. Yes, it may remain at the back of the minds
of many Zimbabweans- particularly urbanites- but it most certainly no longer a
popular/populist priority. An issue that
can be attributed to the fact that exchange rates between the RTGS and United States Dollar (USD) have
remained relatively steady and also somewhat equal to those of the parallel
exchange market.
The second is the emerging reality of the illegality of exchanging
local goods and services in the USD. Or alternatively the capitulation of
private capital to the inter-bank exchange rate and the ‘ring fencing’ of their
foreign currency accounts. So if private
business is not legally accepting USD the rapacious consumer cannot use it as
tender. And this will also change how
they whet their appetites ( I don’t really remember any recent stories of consumer
hording in recent times.
The third issue that is significant is the class dimensions
to money. It is working peoples- the
worker, informal worker, peasant, civil servant- that really use any forms of
local currency. Hence the biggest requests for physical liquidity is coming
from these quarters, a development that Mthuli and his team only knows too well
at the moment. The upper classes- the comprador bourgeoisie, the bourgeoisie
(actual owners of private capital), middle classes (corporate managers, NGO
workers, senior civil servants) are probably more reliant on RTGS and for now
ring fenced foreign currency accounts.
Essentially
Mnangagwa is intending to put everyone in their ‘class place’. Initially in relation to accessing foreign
currency, but more significantly and with the passage of a bit more time, your
work, your capital and your lifestyle.
This is the promulgation of Zimbabwe’s full return to a class based society.
Even if without the critical class consciousness. Especially of the working
class.
It is also least likely that there will be any direct or
major resistance to the re-introduction of an exchangeable outside of our borders
Zimbabwean currency in the immediate and near future. This is because the pragmatics of every day
existence in Zimbabwe would point to its increasing necessity. Hence the queues for bond notes outside banks
and its necessity for basic public services and essential commodities.
It would also appear that a grudging (but still politicized)
acceptance of this exchangeable Zimbabwe dollar is beginning to set in. And the leaders of this grudging acceptance are
not ordinary Zimbabweans but private capital.
A development which directly explains why Mnangagwa is easily pro-free market
economics.
And this is a big dilemma for those that would have wanted
the re-introduction of the exchangeable Zimbabwe dollar on the basis of the democratization
of the national political economy. The
ease of access to a local currency, even as experienced by the working poor in
the country, does not mean the edifice of societal inequality goes away.
Instead, it fortifies and domesticates it rather more systematically by
reinforcing an establishment composed of political leaders and those in charge
of private capital. Agreement between
the latter and the former then become the priority.
So yes, the government has placed a strategic timeline for
the introduction of this new exchangeable local currency. All in keeping with what they consider regional
and international global best practices.
Much to the delight of the Bretton Woods institutions and global private
capital. And yes, Zimbabweans will come
to initially and grudgingly accept it for lack of evident options. Yes, there will still be currency exchanges
and shady players in the money market but expectations of catastrophe would be
far- fetched.
For ordinary citizens, the issue is to contend with the
neo-liberal fundamentals that are informing their government’s national
economic policy. Beyond political party
loyalty, with full knowledge of class, and with considerations of people
centered economic alternatives. And not
the trickle-down effect that government naively expects and (global) private capital
silently scoffs at.
*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity
(takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)
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