Introduction
The adage, “it never rains but pours” plays out in the lives of Zimbabweans on a daily basis. The more
things change, the more they remain the same and the more the lives of citizens become tougher. The
beginning of a new year is ideally supposed to give citizens a glimmer of hope but not so for
Zimbabwe where nothing seems to be working. Natural disasters added agony to the already hard
pressed citizenry with areas such as Binga and Luveve (Bulawayo) experiencing floods and flash
floods respectively. According to an International Organisation for Migration (IOM) report (IOM
Situation report), 215 households were affected by floods in Binga and 33 of these completely
destroyed. Infrastructure that includes roads and school buildings were destroyed thereby adding
hardships to a district that is already ill equipped and under developed (read Section 56: A case of
Binga). It is unfortunate that a bridge that links the Chimanimani East community to Biriiri Hospital was
destroyed by heavy rains on 12 February. The bridge had initially been swept away by Cyclone Idai in
March 2019 and repaired. Communities in Zimbabwe seem to be facing one calamity after another.
The economy did not show any sign of improvement, if anything, the situation worsened. The parallel
market rate of the USD against the local currency, ZWL reached a high of 1:30 at the end of February;
triggering price increases with the price of bread increasing from ZWL18.50 to ZWL 21. Electricity
tariffs also increased from ZWL157 to ZWL186 for the first 200units. These increases are not being
backed by corresponding salary adjustments for workers and will only serve to strain citizens even
further.
The drought continued to be felt across the country in both rural and urban areas. Queues of citizens
seeking to purchase mealie meal continued, with the government announcing it would soon adopt a
coupon system to ensure that the vulnerable access subsidised mealie meal (video of citizens queuing
for mealie meal). The Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Ms Monica
Mutsvangwa announced that a data base compilation process was at an advanced stage. The
questions among citizens include how an individual gets registered on the database and whether or
not all deserving citizens, even those not affiliated to the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union
Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) will benefit from the subsidy.
The Monitory Policy Statement announced by the RBZ (watch video) revealed that 50% of total bank
deposits are tied up to about 200 entities in a country of more than 13 million people. This could
explain the root of the exchange rate manipulation as money is held by just a few. The statement also
revealed that the diaspora is still sending remittances with plus or minus USD 635 million coming
through each year; an indication of how Zimbabwean families are relying on those abroad for
sustenance. With such a significant contribution to the national fiscus, enjoyment of the right to vote by
those in the diaspora would only be fair; which is not the case under the current Zimbabwean voting
system. The RBZ governor also alluded to the fact that the country is on track in its de-dollarisation
efforts and would require five years to fully de-dollarise. This however is not in sync with the action of
the RBZ who licenced seven Zuva fuel service stations to sell fuel in USD.
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